sized and larger farms, one or several cotters’ places aré attached.
The cotters (husmsend) are a class of farm labourers who for a
longer or shorter period (often during the time of their natural
lives) have leased a small, and not separately registered, part of the
farm, as a rule on one of its outskirts. The size of these cotters’
places, as well as the rights and privileges enjoyed by the tenants,
are very different in the different parts of the country. In Some
localities they consist only of a leased building-lot with a plot of
ground attached, while in other localities they consist of several
acres of ground on which may be kept a horse and several cows,
and on which most of the things necessary for the family in the
way of grain and potatoes may be produced. In some cases the
houses are owned by the cotter, and in others by the landowner.
The former is especially the case where the place has been leased
for a life time. In the latter case it was in former days very
common to pay a tenant’s fees, and in addition a small annual
rent which might be paid partly in cash and partly in work of
different kinds. In many cases the cotter is also obliged to work
on the farm at different times, of the year for a wage regulated
by contract and which is usually somewhat lower than the average
pay of free labourers. On the other hand the rent is as a rule
low, and in most cases there is connected with the place the right
of grazing cattle and sheep in the outlying pastures of the farm,
and to gather the necessary amount of firewood.
In 1890 there were 33,469 cotters in Norway, but of late
their number has been decreasing, a circumstance which, as a rule,
is considered to be injurious to agricultural interest, inasmuch as
this system, more than anything else, produces capable, experienced
and reliable workmen not only for agriculture, but also, for the
other trades.
■ Husbandry naturally falls into two divisions, agriculture and
cattle-raising. Both of these pursuits are almost everywhere carried
on, in connection with each other, and this is the case in all districts
throughout the country, with the exception of some of the
northernmost districts where agriculture is limited to a very small
production of potatoes.
I t is a consequence of the extension of the country over
thirteen degrees of latitude that the conditions under which agriculture
is carried on are extremely diverse. Thus, while in the
south-eastern part of the country, cultivated plants and fruits such
as walnuts, grapes, tomatoes, peaches, apricots and edible chestnuts
may, under favourable circumstances, be ripened in the open air,
in the northern parts and in tracts of high altitude, cultivation
of even the most hardy plants is impossible on account of insufficient
summer warmth.
Of cereals, the following species are cultivated in Norway:
Oats, barley, rye and wheat, but, as far as the first mentioned is
concerned, only to an extent sufficient for the needs of the country.
Although oats, as a bread-cereal, is: gradually being replaced by
barley and rye, it still remains the chief grain sown in most of
the districts of the country. Inasmuch, however, as it needs
two of three weeks more, of growth than barley, its cultivation
decreases in the higher altitudes and latitudes. The average time
of growth from sowing to ripening may be estimated at sixteen
weeks. The area annually sown with oats amounts to about
240,000 acres, and the yield is about' 9.5 millions of bushels.
The species of harley that is cultivated is almost exclusively
the six-rowed kind, most of which is utilised as human food. I t is
pretty certain to mature every year up to the 70th degree of latitude,
where it ripens in about eight weeks, while in the country
as a whole, it needs as an average time of growth 13 or 14 weeks.
The area annually sown with barley is somewhat more than 125,000
acres, and the yield about 4 millions of bushels, i. e. about 2
bushels for each individual.
In connection with the two species of grain mentioned, reference
should also be made to mangcorn, by which in Norway is
always understood a mixture of barley and oats. Experience
shows that these two species by being cultivated together give a
greater yield than when cultivated separately. Mangcorn is utilized
partly as human food, and partly as fodder for cattle, especially
for fattening swine, for which purpose it is considered peculiarly
adapted. I t covers annually an area of. about 35,000 acres and
yields about 1.4 millions of bushels. Like oats, mangcorn is as
a rule .cultivated without direct manuring.
Wheat. On account of the greater requirements of this species
of grain both as concerns soil and climate (length of the summer)
it is cultivated to a less extent than the preceding kinds of grain.
I t is rarely found north of the Trondhjem Ejord, and even in the
more southern and by nature more favoured districts, the wheat areas
are rather small from the fact of wheat being less hardy and