This circumstance is also affected by the fact that all cultivable land
has not been brought under operation. Obviously no doubt can be entertained
that the acreage will gradually become more widely extended.
During the 41 years, 1865—1909, it has been increased by about 1-3-
millions of hectares, or nearly 36 %, but no great extension of cultivation
must be expected in the future, partly on account of the lack of really
suitable soil, partly because the land is often better adapted to forestry,,
which, when a rational system of forestry has made its influence felt,,
is more profitable, under the constantly increasing price of timber, than
farming poor ground that is expensive to cultivate.
The other important factor of production is climate. It is incontestable
that Sweden, considering its northerly position, is wonderfully favoured
in point of climate; its temperature in January is 12 to 13 degrees higher
than the mean temperature of other countries in corresponding latitudes.
It is this happy circumstance that endows the country (in spite of its geographical
situation compared with South Greenland, the lands round Hudson
Bay, etc) with the possibility of winning a place among those nations
that are in the van of human culture.
But the life-giving warmth of the South is lacking. Most of the cultivated
species in Sweden have to be grown in the neighbourhood of latitudes
further north than which they cannot exist. The feeble sunshine
of the North allows of only a comparatively short vegetative period;
night-frosts are frequent. On the whole it may be said that the farther
north the greater the cost of production of the crop from cultivated plants.
It is therefore no marvel that agriculture is difficult, in rivalry -with
countries that possess a more beneficent sunshine, nor that specific precautions
have had to be adopted at times e. g., duties on cereals, in order
to distribute over a longer period the effect of the disadvantages that
competition in the markets of the world has brought with it.
The vegetable foods cultivated in the country produce on the whole,
carbon hydrates (pre-eminently starch, as in cereals and potatoes, or, in
the most favourable instances, sugar, in the form of beet), while the more
valuable fatty substances are produced in a roundabout way through
cattle. It is chiefly in v/armer climates that vegetables can be profitably
cultivated to generate fatty matter directly. Slowly but surely vegetable
fat is pushing its way into household economy. This may eventually
threaten the output of butter; but pasturage, one of Sweden’s, most valuable
resources, has by no means on that account sunk in value, but advanoes
more and more in usefulness than heretofore though it will be utilized in
other ways. The production of meat, so far as can be judged, will in
future times be of more importance for the country than it is now. Here
is most surely a most favourable line of development for Sweden, for with
reference to the extension and quality of the pasturage, the country stands
undeniably in the forefront. There is a need, nevertheless, that more
productive and improved kinds should be cultivated from the prevailing
species of natural grasses. With the great increase in density of population
of the great grainproducing countries, and their much greater
immediate consumption, the stern rivalry between countries, in point of
cereal production, seems likely to get equalised, and most certainly with
definite advantages to Swedish agriculture.
In the cultivation of fruit-trees, whose products have attained a much
wider use in the household, with increasing prosperity, and to a manifestly
higher degree than in the case of agricultural products, it is true
that Sweden enjoys no specially favoured position. These come to an
overwhelming extent from warmer climes, but not a few of them can
be reared in Sweden with financial success, though with difficulty. It
is undeniable that, as yet, those possibilities have not been quite exhausted,
which exist in some parts of South Sweden especially, and that is the
only part of the country which can come under consideration here.
The soil and climate of Sweden, therefore, as regards farming, are to
be reckoned in the category of countries by no means especially favoured,
but are to be classed with those that possess such passable advantages as
will enable an industrious population to face with calmness the changes
of. the future.
However, the prospects of forestry look brighter and more hopeful
than in other countries, if it is possible to direct it prudently. Half of the
soil of Sweden is covered with forests; though barren Rs farmland, the
soil is well-adapted, on the whole, as timber-land. The climate is excellent
for sylviculture in the South and Middle of Sweden, satisfactory in the
southern and central regions of Norrland, but evidently less satisfactory
in its northern regions. Bor centuries enormous capital has been derived
from virgin forests, both for home use and for sale; during the 40 years
1871—1910, statistics of exports abroad show a sale of timber and other
products of forestry amounting to 5'340 millions of kronor, an immense
amount for a country of which the total national wealth in 1908 was
computed at 14 000 millions. During this period the great virgin forests
of Norrland were opened up, and very large portions were brought into the
market from the treasures stored by nature during the last 300 years
or so. But no error will have been made, and no risk taken, if only a few
of the millions that have been derived from the forests are sunk there
again. For it is beyond argument that the forest-land in Sweden, with
the conditions secured by nature, can, with reasonably care, produce far
more than virgin forests have done. Meanwhile a brighter prospect is
already dawning, and the coming generations will experience in
fullest measure the truth of the adage: •—j “ the future of Sweden lies
in her forests”. I f properly nursed, they can at some future time
bestow on the country and her industries a powerful financial position in
the world, far more certainly than any other of her natural resources.
Even centuries ago an incalculably great change for the better began
to make itself felt in the position of Sweden, when the countries of Central