The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

AGRICULTURE—STOCK-BREEDING- FORESTRY. 145Goteborg, but in 1875 the number of strangers who obtained rights of domicilewas only 103, while 75 received trading licenses, and 54 permission to purchasereal property. The waste lands in the northern pi - ovinces are being slowlyoccupied by Finnish immigrants ; but the number of Scandinavians migratingin the same direction is much greater, and even in Lapland they have alreadybecome the prevailing element. The Norwegians of Tromso and Finniark,16,500 in 1845, had increased threefold in 1805, and fivefold in 1875.The density of the population agrees on the whole with the mean temperature,rising in proportion to the distance from the pole and the relief of the land.commercial pursuits act powerfully in certain favoured districts, and along theshores of the Sound facing Copenhagen the population is relatively higher thanin France. Some of the Scanian, Blekinge, and Halland lands have been solong settled and under cultivation that they have got completely rid of theirerratic boidders, and the surface is uniformly covered with productive soil.As in all civilised countries, the urban element increases more rapidly than therural, and this is particularly the case in Norway.ButHere the advance is restrictedexclusively to the industrial, maritime, and fishing zones, the inhabitants of theagricultural and pastoral tracts diminishing, while those of the forest lands remainvery nearly stationary. The Norwegian towns, which attract all the overflow,had no more than 8 to 100 of the people in 1665, but in 1875 the proportion hadrisen to 18.So many new buildings are in progress that they all seem like placesthat had sprung up yesterday. In Sweden the ratio is 14 to 86 : this countryabounding more in agricultural lands, the rural element has been able to maintaina relatively higher proportion.Agriculture.— Stock-breeding. — Forestry.Agriculture, which has made rapid strides since the middle of the century,promises soon to receive still greater expansion, thanks to the large tracts ofhitherto unproductive soil which are still capable of being reclaimed. The greaterpart of the peninsula is doubtless unsuited for the plough.Lakes, rocks, heaps ofstones, snow-fields, and glaciers cover vast spaces, while the climate of the northernprovinces is too severe to allow of any development except in a few well- shelteredspots.Thus, while about half of Denmark is capable of cultivation, not more thanone-fifteenth of Sweden is reclaimable, diminishing gradually northwards fromtwo-thirds in the province of Malmo to the Lapland wastes, where a few gladesalone have been reduced to cultivation.to less than one hundredth part of the entire area.In Norway the arable zone is restrictedBut on both sides of the ScandinavianAlps agriculture is continually encroaching on the heaths and woodlands.In 1865 the land under cultivation was estimated at about 5,767,600 acres, and tenyears later at 6,763,500, showing an annual increase of nearly 100,000 acres. A largeportion was recovered directly from swamps and lakes.Thus the Swedish Governmentalone contributed by public grants to the draining of 490,000 acres offlooded lands, and private enterprise has also drained extensive tracts. Norway