Ársrit Verkfræðingafjelags Íslands - 01.01.1915, Qupperneq 25

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exact. All llie grassland, which does not lie higlier
above sea level than the home-fields of the most
elevated farms, is considered as fit for cultivation as
it may be converted into either manured field or
watered meadow. From the above mentioned íigure
must be deducted the area already brought under
cultivation. This is very small, it can be estimated
al aboul 14 sq. miles (dfi sq. km).
In order to give a better view of tlie arable
land, the lecturer intends in the following to com-
pare its size to that of the cultivated land in Nor-
way. In Norway the total area of cultivated land in
1910 was 4300 sq. miles, that is only 4,? times as
large as the arable area of the South-Plains. Of this
area 3360 S(j. miles was mown field, the remaining
940 s(|. miles were corn- and rootcrop íields.
Norway is divided into 18 counties, the Akers-
hus-county where the capital is siluated being that,
which contains the widest area of cultivated land,
viz. 390 sq. miles, conseíjuently the size of the arable
land in the Soulh-Plains exceeds the size of the cul-
tivated land in any two counties of Norway. No-
where in Norway is there continuous arable area of
the size of thal of the Soulh-Plains.
The value o/ ihe iand.
How mueh is this Iand worth at present? It will
be of some import to investigate this (jueslion. By
calculating a normal juice for the existing farms in
their present condition, the tolal amount of their
value was found to be about £ 129000, houses and
other works of man included, hut exclusive of the
houses in the trading places Eyrarbakki and Stokks-
eyri. The value of tlie farmliouses might be estimated
at V8. an(l the value of olher works of man together
with llie value of jiastureland al ]/c of the value of
the farm. Then the jiresent value of the arable land
only will not exceed £ 64500, that is 2 sh. 5 d. an
acre (4 kr. 90 au. pr. ba).
Tlie quality o/ ihe land.
Il is a inatter of an importance too, whether
this country on account of its geographical jiosition
or its distance from other countries, is so mueh more
unjiroductive than cultivated land elsewliere, as to
niake railway huilding unadvisable here, although it
would be considered as a malter of course to build
railways in other countries where similar local condi-
tions exist. In order lo ascertain this, a comparison
belween the yield of cultivated land in Norway and
in Iceland sliall be drawn in the following.
I comjiare the manured fields in Iceland with
•the Norwegian meadows. In Norway the harvest in
1910 was according to the official stalislical rejiorls,
worth £ 16—2—0 pr. ha (1 ha = 2llz acre). If vou
deduct from this amount the value of the seed and
the exeess cost of the labour necessary in cornfields
as comjiared with thal reíjuired in tlie manured
field, there will be £ 12—16—0 left.
This ainount shall be compared with the value
of the hay yielded by 1 ha of manured field in Ice-
Iand. I assume this yield lo be 4100 kg, decreasing
by 20 °/o in the barn. \\'orking on the normal quanti-
ly re(juired for the feeding of cattle, and estimating
llie jirice of milk at lV-t d. (9,2 au.) jir. kg, jtou will
lind, after reasonable deduction for the tending of
the cattle and according to the rejiorts of various
associations for the jnomotion of cattle breeding,
that the value of the hay is 7 sh. 5’/2 d. (6 kr. 70
au.) pr. 100 kg, and consequently the harvest worth
£ 12—5—6 (kr. 221,00) pr. ha, or very near to the
value of the Norwegian harvest.
A eomparison of the harvest of the watered
meadow gives a resuit very similar lo this. Conse-
(juently tlie (juality of the land ouglit not to furnish
gronnds for objections to the construction of railways
liere under conditions similar to those jirevailing in
other counlries.
The cultivation o/ the land.
Among the projects for cultivating the land the
proposed watering of the Floi may be mentioned,
a tract of land of the size about 66 sq. miles (17000
ha). The lecturer has calculated that this area, when
all of it has been brouglit under cultivation, will feed
at least 7000 cattle more than al present. Tlie manure
from this cattle will be sufficient for cultivaling in
20—30 years all the other land lying too high for
irrigation. The same chances for successful watering
and cultivation exist in various otlier districts of the
South-Plains. Under jnesent conditions all these
districts are cut oll' from every market for more
than half the vear, and of course these circum-
stances paralyse every enterprice. By assuming a
jirice of l’A d. pr. kg of milk, the milk of an
average cow in this part of Iceland will be worth
about £ 11—8—0 (205 kr.) jier annum. Now the
dairies are worked only during the summer, whereas
during the winter are compelled to close down
owing to lack of communications. The value of the
bulter jiroduced in these dairies from the milk of an
average cow figures at about £ 1—19—0 (35 kr.).
The remaining jrart of the milk is almost unsaleable.
Only some butter made at home during the winter
can be sold in the lioine market at comparativeljr
low prices. — That is why thc land eannot be cul-
tivated at a profit wliile our communieations are in
their present state.
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