each occupy about V4 of the total of the cultivated area of Sweden, the rest, or about
Vs, being distributed among farms with from 10 to 50 hectares, of arable land. I
The way in which the land is distributed varies greatly, however, in different I
parts of the country. It has already been pointed" out that on the open plains I
of Sweden, with fertile elay-soils, large estates are comparatively numerous, I
while the greatest number of the small farms is to be found in the highland I
districts or the hilly tracts, where the soil is of a lighter ^character and is I
broken by hills, forests, bogs, and other irreclaimable land. For example, the 1
land in the Malaren districts, and in the plains of Ostergotland and Vastergotland I
is occupied for the most part by large estates and large and medium-sized peasant- I
farms, while small farms of less than 20 hectares are incomparably most nume- I
rous in Smaland, Dalarne, and Norrland. In the neighbourhood of large towns I
and industrial centres, where there, are plenty of other occupations besides far- I
ming, there have grown up, especially during the last few years, numerous I
independent farms of such limited areas that they could not of themselves pos- I
sibly support their owners, being often little larger than building-plots.
While, in previous years, the number of large estates increased by small I
farms being bought up, there has arisen during the last few decades a contrary I
tendency to split up the large estates for the purpose of forming small farms I
and especially small holdings (Sw. smabruk).,- This development has been made I
possible by the increasing removal of the obstacles that legislation previously I
placed in the way of the cutting up of the large landed estates into farms I
whose f; area was below the limits of support for a family (besutenhet) and of I
capability of paying taxes, and also by the creation of a new and convenient i
legal form of cutting up estates, called “estate-dismemberment” (Sw. agostyck- I
ijing). But, in addition to this, the formation of small holdings has been pro- I
moted directly by the dismemberment and sale of Crown domains, the letting I
out of small holdings on lease from the Crown forests (Forest holdings; Sw. I
skogstorp) and by the granting of public means to form loan-funds for the I
purpose of assisting the “own home” movement. In Norrland, on the other I
hand, there, was still 'continued, in connection with the development of the I
lumber trade, the throwing of the farms into large estates, the’ saw- mill companies
buying farms with forest-land, in order' to dispose of the timber, the culti- I
vated ground being usually leased to the former owner, or, in many cases, af- I
forested. It was especially in order to prevent the disappearance- of the indepen- I
dent peasant that the said enactment —- “the - estate dismemberment procedure”
(Sw. agostyckningsforfarandet), H- was passed, according to which forest land I
can be sold from the farm separately from the farming land; but as this led I
to the creation of farms which possessed no timber for home use, a state; of I
things which, in Norrland, is considered as being ruinous to agriculture, the 1
estate dismemberment procedure in Norrland has been suspended and a prohibition
has been issued against the sawmill-owners purchasing landed estates Qiee 1
the section concerning Agricultural Legislation: the Norrland Enactments).
One favourable circumstance is that, as a rule, the Swedish farms are in the 9
hands of the owners themselves. Of the total number of farms in 1911, only a I
little more than 14 / were leased', a very small number of the farms of the I
smaller classes especially (10 and 13 %, respectively) are held on leases, but; of I
the larger estates, with a cultivated area exceeding 20 and 100 hectares of cul- ]
tivated ground, greater proportions (31 and 35 %) are let out on lease. It is I
especially such land that is let on lease as, in consequence of its distant situa- I
tion, is inconvenient for the owner himself to farm, or as is owned by persons I
who devote themselves to other occupations than agriculture. Farms held on I
lease are more numerous, therefore, in connection with the larger estates, espe- I
cially such as belong to ironworks or sawmills.
T a b l e 9. The Distribution of the Area of Cultivated Land by Lans, in 1911.
Entire
Whereof in sq. kilometers In % of area
L ä n land area 2
Sq. km
cultivated
land
natural
meadow
woods
other
land
cul*
tivated
land
meadow
woods other
land
S to c k h o lm 1 . . - • 7 474 1679 294 4104 1397 22-6 3-9 54-9 18-7
5121 1573 287 2 727 534 30-7 5 6 53-8 10'4
Södermanland . . . 6237 1773 138 3 992 334 28-4 2-2 64-0 5-4
Östergötland. . . , 9 968 2 492 597 6 079 800 25-0 6-0 61-0 8-0
Jönköping................ 10617 1399 986 5 759 2 473 13-2 9-3 54-2 23-3
Kronoberg................ 8 906 925 910 2 654 4417 10-4 10-2 29-8 49-fi
I Kalmar.................... 10 961 1795 592 6 482 2 092 16-4 5-4 59-1 19-1
G o ttla n d ................ 3118 712 165 1419 822 22-8 . 5-3 45-6 26-4
| Blekinge . . ■ . H - 2 896 652 147 1164 933 22-5 5-1 402 32-2
Kristianstad . . . . 6 222 2 502 389 2 535 796 40-2 63 40'7 12-8
Malmohus . . . . . 4 729 3A02 158 449 620 74-1 3-3 9-5 131
j Halland . . . . . . 4 771 1382 277 848 2 264 29-0 5-8 17-8 47-4
Göteborg och Bohus 4 897 1006 115 1294 2 482 20'6 2;3 26-4 50-7
Älvsborg . . . . . 11678 2 203 525 7196 1754 18-9 4-5 61-6 15-0
Skaraborg ................ 8 075 3 452 283 3 076 1264 42-7 3'5 38-1 15-7
Värmland................ 17 549 2 048 451 13 632 1418 11-6 2*6 77.7 8-1
[ Örebro . . I . . . 8318 1566 292 5355 1105 18-8 35 64’4 13-3
Västmanland . . . 6 436 1544 215 3 505 1172 24-0 33 54'5 18 2
Kopparberg . . . . 28150 1043 958 20 719 5 430 3-7 34 73'6 19-3
Gävleborg................ 18314 1023 779 14 944 1568 5-6 4-2 81-6 8-6
Yästernorrland. . . 24128 854 483 19 921 2 870 35 20 82-6 11-9
' Jäm tlan d ................ 47 512 578 385 29 187 17 362 1-2 0-8 61-4 36-6
Västerbotten. . . . 55 769 920 1800 27 500 25 549 1-7 32 49-3 45'8
Norrbotten................ 99166 383 1830 29 241 67 712 0-4 1*8 29-4 68*4
1 The whole Kingdom 411012 37 006| 13 056 213 782 147168 9-0 3 2 52-0' 35 8
1 Stockholm city and la n ;- ^ 2 Cf. Table 1, Part I with more recent figures.
The figures showing the number of farms does not include crofters’ allotments
and other non-independent holdings, the number of which amounted in 1911 to
¡138 677. The crofter-system has on good soils been considered as a form
of agricultural employment for farm-labourers which is extremely favourable both
jfor the landowner and for the crofter, but it has been falling out of use ever
jsince the middle of the 19th century. At first the crofters’ holdings were
¡thrown into the mother-estate again, in consequence of the growing opinion that
¡the land would give greater returns if it was cultivated together with the rest
iof the estate. During the last few decades, it has become necessary to do this
[more and more, in consequence of the difficulty experienced in finding labourers
¡willing to ¡pay for their holdings in days’ work, and no difference has been caused
1D- respect by the decided improvement in the position of the crofter brought
jabout by the new Tenants Act of June 14, 1907. Crofters’ holdings, therefore,
are being more and more turned into farms held on ordinary leases, with
phe rent payable in money, in such cases where the land is not again thrown
into the mother-estate.
The extent of cultivated ground
¡in Sweden at the present day is shown by Table 9. More precisely stated,
p amounted in 1911 to 3 700 644 hectares, of which 45 719 hectares were
garden land and 3 654 925 hectares farmed land. In addition to this, there
pore 1 305 698 hectares of natural meadow-land, so that, with the inclusion of