T able 1. Distribution of Swedish Soil.
Parts of th e country I Total area
of land
Hectares
T h e r e o f , i n h e c t a r e s Area in percentage
Arable land
and natural
meadow
Porest ~
land Other land
Field
and
meadow
Forest
land
Other
land'
Sk&ne ........................
Sm&land....................
Rest of Grdtaland . .
East Svealand . . .
West Svealand . . .
South Norrland . . .
North Norrland . . .
1095 124
3048551
4540147
3 358 572
4509983
8 995303
15493453
650861
662 065
1398 044
936 714
449 979
408152
491562
292 735
1479 410
2109 662
1970 303
3 435 125
6 428 856
5 674 086
151528
907 076
1032 441
451555
684879
2158355
9 327 805
59'4
21-7
30-8
27-9
9-8
4-5
3-2
26-7
48-5
465
58-7
75-2
71-5
366
13-9
29-8
22-7
13-4
15-0
24-0
60-2
The whole country 1910 41101193 4997 377 21 390 177 14 713 639 1 2 2 52 0 358
present in bold outlines a picture of tbe present industrial life of the
Swedish people.
It will be notecf that Agriculture is the staple industry of-Sweden, the
mother industry”,2 as has been its honorable appellation from olden times.
It is true that only 12 % of the soil is given up to tillage and meadows,
whereas the average figure in Western Europe is 44 %. But the vast
extent of Sweden in proportion to its population must be borne in mind.
Sweden has 1 hectare of cultivated soil or meadow to every inhabitant,
whereas Western Europe has on an average not quite % hectare. These
figures show painly that agriculture plays a more important part in
the industrial life of Sweden than in most other countries of Western
Europe. But we also learn from Table 2 that agriculture is rapidly
decreasing in importance in Sweden too. Not merely relatively, but
also absolutely, it employs and supports a considerably smaller number
o f people than it did forty years ago, in spite of the pretty large increase
of population during that time. The relative decrease shows that,
industry and trade have now developed into leading occupations alongside
of agriculture, which formerly dominated the field. The absolute
decrease in the numbers of the agriculture population points to changes
which have taken place within agriculture itself. Machinery has pushed
its way into the service of agriculture in Sweden, superseding human
labour, which tends to become more and more expensive, and conducing to
impart to agriculture itself a more and more industrial character. The
results of this transformation also appear in the magnificent development
of dairyfarming, and, in Skane, in the cultivation of the sugar-beet, for
a sugar industry on a scale of great magnitude. Agriculture has thus,
both in its methods and in its products; been carried along in the triumphal
march of industrialism which is now passing through the world. And it.
evidently tends to proceed further along the same lines, in spite of the
movement in favour of small holdings, which partially trends in the
Sm&land here also includes Oland. West Svealand. the Lans of Varmland and’
Kopparberg. North Norrland = The Laus of Vasterbotten and Norrbotten.
2 Swedish: >Moderndring.»
A GENERAL SURVEY.
Table 2. Population of Sweden in Main Groups according to Occupation.
Professions
Population Percentage of entire population
1870— 1800 1910 1 1870 1900 1910
Agriculture and fishing .
Industry2 ........................
Trade and transport . .
Public service, etc.3 . , .
2 995 844
613414
210 940 ~
348327
2 756 704
1484 230
544 324
351183
2 663000
1831 000
670000
358 000
71-87
14-71
5-06
8-36
53-67
28-90
10-60
6-83
48-23
33*16
12-13
6*48
Total 4 108 525 5 130 441 5 522 000 lOOoo lOOoo lOO-oo
¡opposite direction, though without prejudice to the “intensity” of the
| farming.
The greater part of the soil of Sweden is occupied by forests. I t is
[thus quiet natural that forestry should constitute one of the principal
¡occupations of the country. I t does not require the employment of so many
¡hands as does agriculture, and consequently supports only a comparatively
¡small number of the population. But it is one of the greatest sources of
(wealth in the country. Timber in fact constitutes well-nigh one half of
¡the total exports of Sweden; and Sweden is one of the greatest seller
[ of timber in the world’s markets. Thanks to methods of forestry
{that are improving in efficiency year by year (since 1903 backed
.by an incipient legislation on the subject), the enormous capital con-
jtained in the forests is being better administered, and this source of
wealth is secured and preserved for all time. Moreover with the increasing
development of paper and pulp mills, furniture factories, and other industries
in which the raw product is manipulated into finished articles
: of commerce, the wealth of the forests is being utilized more and more
for the benefit of Sweden herself.
It will be noted in Table 1 that nearly 15 millions of hectares are entered
as other land, that is, land not under cultivation. However, a considerable
portion of this vast area comprises mosses, which are now-
being increasingly applied to useful purposes, in the shape of fuel and
[moss-litter. A fair amount of this land will doubtless one day be found
fitted to serve for cultivation or growth of timber. The major portion
(of it, however, is rock and mountain, and thus “ uncultivable” land; but
| not worthless. For in these desert regions Nature has buried one of
(Sweden’s greatest treasures: the boundless iron ore fields. They form
a belt extending across the central part of the country, and contain the
! purest ores in the world. The main mass of ore, however, is to be found
¡in Lappland, which until quite recently was inaccessible, but which the
[railway has now opened up to the world’s markets. Many other mineral
[treasures lie buried in the Swedish mountains, Thus, as might have been
| expected, Mining has been from time immemorial the leading industry of
[the country. Sweden was in fact long the biggest producer of iron in
[ 4PProxi“ ate estimate. — 2 Includes forestry and mining. — 8 Includes the literary,
| artistic, and medical professions, the administration of charity etc.