It is estimated that i',th of the area of Norway lies within the region of perpetual snow, while elevations exceeding 2,000 feet above the level of the sea are unfitted for human habitations, although for a portion of the brief summers, the herdsmen can occupy sat•e or huts at elevations of 3,000 feet and upwards. A large extent of the. mountain districts yields no produce beyond scanty grasses, mosses, lichens, and a few hardy berry-yield ing plants. Only birch and juniper grow D. of 67, which is the of the pine. The Scotch Fir. Pinus sylvestris (Norwegian, Fern), and Spruce, P. abies (Nor wegian, Gran). cover extensive tracts, and with birch. constitute the principal wealth of Norway. The hardier fruits, as strawberries, gooseberries, cherries, and raspberries, are abundant and excellent of their kind. Demp, flax, rye, oats, and barley are grown as far north as 66; but although agriculture has been more systematically pursued of late years, the crops are not always sufficient for home consumption, and hence it is found absolutely necessary annually to import considerable quantities of corn and potatoes. The frugal peasantry do not, however, rely wholly upon importation, but prepare a species of cake or bread from the bark of the pine when corn is scarce, and in plentiful years store away some of the produce of the harvest in the national corn-magazines, which are established in every part of Norway by way of a provision for an unfavorable season. Agriculture is most successfully prosecuted m the amts of Jarlsberg and Laur vik, and in the south generally; while in the northern parts, in the upper valleys, the rearing of cattle constitutes an important branch of industry. The herds and tlocks are driven from the distant farms to the pasture-lands in these high mountain valleys, known as Satterdale, where they remain till the approach of cold weather obliges the herdsmen to return with their charges to the shelter of the farms. Although the cattle and horses are small, they are generally strong and capable of bearing much hard labor.
Products, etc.—Fish arc caught in almost every stream and lake of the interior, as well as in the fjords of the coast, and in the bays and channels which encircle the numerous islands skirting the long sea-line of Norway. Salmon, and cod are of the importance. and together give occupation to upwards of 507900 men, who pursue theherring and cod fishing in the spring, and again in the summer, while cod is also fished in the winter-time. The value of the fish, fresh dried, exported from Norway in 1870, was 7,981,000 sp. d.,* although that year was unfavorable in regard to the returns of deep-water fish. The average annual value of the fish and oil produce is between 9 and 10 millions of sp. d. In 1869 there were 38,000 men employed in the herring fisheries, and the value of the fish for that year was 250.000 sp. d. In the same year 15 Norwegian ships were engaged in the Jan 'Mayen (70° n. lat.) seal fisheries, when 33.000 young and 29,000 old seals were taken, and the profits of the captures were 45,080 sp. d. Next to the fisheries, Norway derives its greatest sources of wealth from the pro duce of its woods. In 1870 there were 850,000 tons weight of timber (both deals nail
nnhewn trunks) exported, of the net value of 7,600,000 sp. d. Within the last few years the Norwegian forests have yielded a new product of industry, known as wood-paste, extensively employed in the manufacture of paper, for which it promises to serve as a cheap and efficient substitute for rah .
The fauna of Norway includes thebear, wolf, lynx, elk, otter, reindeer, red-deer, seal, the eider•tek and many other kinds of sea-fowl, blackcock, eapercailzie, and a great variety of small game. According to the census of 1865, there were in Norway 149,167 horses, 953,036 horned cattle, sheep, 290,985 goats, 96,166 swine, 101,768 reindeer The mineral produe:s, which comprise silver, copper, nickel, cobalt, iron, chrome ironstone, etc., yield a large annual return. The value of the metal exports was, in 1870, 835,000 sp. d. for raw and partially worked ores, and 16,060 sp. d. for wrought metals. The richest mines are situated in the south, and chiefly in the district of the Glommen, as the celebrated and ancient silver-works of Kongsberg, the copper mines of Itortias, Alten, and Vigsnses, the nickel Mines of Modum and Bamhle, and the cobalt works of Buskerud, and the numerous iron shafts on the southern declivities of the mountains between Kongsberg and the Glomtnen. Latterly, however, some productive copper-works have been opened in the northern districts of Kaaflord in Fitimark.
Ship-building in all its branches is almost the only industrial art that is extensively and actively prosecuted. In many parts of the country there are absolutely no special trades, the inhabitants of the small fishing-ports, no less than the inmates of the widely separated farms, employing their compulsory leisure during the long winter in weaving, spinning, and making the articles of clothing and the domestic implements required in their households.
Trade, etc.—The principal seats of trade are Christiania, Drammen, Arendal, Bergen, Stavanger, and Trondhjem. The merchant fleet numbered, in 1874, 7,447 vessels of 1,220,000 tons, manned by 56,147 seamen. In 1873. 13,404 vessels cleared the ports of Norway. The exports, which consist mainly of limber, fish. minerals, furs, feathers, and down, amounted in 1873 to 33.987,000 sp. d., or about £7,000,000; while the imports for the same year were 45,859.000 sp. d., or £10,300,000 sterling. The value of the exports to Great Britain in 1877 was £5;295,000, the imports thence being valued at R1,728,000. The imports consist not only of the ordinary colonial goods, and objects of luxury. but in a large proportion of the most necessary articles of consumption, as cereals to the annual amount of 2,000,000 tons, salt in nearly half that quantity, fresh and salted meat, butter, soap, hemp, and flax, sailcloth, tow', oil, wine, tobacco, mid manufactured goods of all descriptions. The most important commercial relations of Norway are with Great Britain and Germany. 'Russia and Denmark stand next in order as importers to Norway, while the Catholic countries of the Mediterranean are the principal pur chasers of the smoked and dried Norwegian fish.