Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1938, Blaðsíða 164

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LE NORD
or the spade, and only 0.7 per cent. consists of natural meadows.
To this must, however, be added her mountain pastures, utilized
by means of the so-called “sæter” system of summer grazing. The
best agricultural areas are situated around Lake Mjosen and the
Oslo Fiord, where they partly consist of raised sea-bottom, in
the district of Jæderen, and in the country adjoining the Trond-
heim Fiord to the South and East. These areas are densely popul-
ated; their agriculture is based on quite modern technical me-
thods, and they employ machines and fertilizers to a great extent.
For many centuries Norway has not been able to supply her-
self with corn, and the corn imports, which consequently cannot
be dispensed with, have exercized a certain pressure on the
domestic corn production. At the middle of the i9th century her
agriculture could still supply three fourths of her consumption
of corn, leguminous crops, and potatoes, but by 1901—05 the
figure has fallen to 42.5 per cent. The rise in prices called forth
by the Great War caused the home production of corn to increase.
In former times, when Danish agriculture was corn-exporting,
it had a safe market in Norway. As long as the two countries
were under the same king, Danish corn enjoyed a privileged
position on the Norwegian market, somewhat to the detriment
of Norway herself. Nevertheless, the Dano-Norwegian monarchy
was not self-sufficient as regards bread corn: there was a surplus
of oats, and an approximate balance as regards barley, but a defi-
cit as regards rye and wheat.1) After the political separation be-
tween the two countries corn continued to be exported to Nor-
way from Denmark, especially barley and rye, but this trade
has ceased long ago. Norway still buys small quantities of Danish
barley (to a value of a couple of million kroner in 1937), but her
rye and wheat requirements she covers, as one would expect, by
imports from Sovjet Russia and various overseas countries.
As far as dairy produce is concerned, Norway has always
been self-sufficient under normal conditions. The country is ex-
cellently adapted for animal husbandry by nature. Dairy produce
is protected by high tariffs, and there are practically no imports.
On the other hand, Norway exports not inconsiderable quantities
*) Ewald Bosse: Norwegens Volkswirtschaft vom Ausgang der Hansa-
periode bis zur Gegenwart. Probleme der Volkswirtschaft. Jena 1916. I,
pp. 258—266.