ave no real property to come into the
possession of land, especially tenants and cotters. The yeomen farmers
themselves, he reports:

'bring forward as a substantial reason for the increasing
subdivision of land the fact that, owing to the growing
difficulty of obtaining labourers, _it does not pay to
remain in possession of a larger estate than can be worked
by the family itself_.'

Consequently, the number of holdings was increased in that province by
nearly 10 per cent. between 1876 and 1880. A corroboration of this view
is to be found in other Reports, particularly in the Report from the
Province of North Trondhjem, in which the yeomen farmers are declared to
be compelled to 'cultivate the land with the resources of their own
households.' The effect of the conversion of cotters into small
proprietors may be estimated from the following opinion of another
Prefect: 'The burden of bad times is often felt more heavily by the
proprietor than by the cotter;' and all the Reports show that 'the
times' are as bad in Norway as they are in the United Kingdom, with this
aggravation, that 70 to 80 per cent. of the population of Norway is
settled on the land, and steeped in debt.

Most of the Prefects report unfavourably on the condition and prospects
of agriculture, and on the depressing influence of American competition
in corn, which began to make itself distinctly felt about the year
1875,[16] when also the forest industry, so intimately connected with
agriculture, first encountered the effects of a greatly increased
shipment of timber from America and other countries to Europe. But these
are not the only reasons, over and above the subdivision of property
already dwelt upon, to which they ascribe a very general decline in the
economic condition of the yeomen farmer. In one province, 'habits of
thrift and providence had been awakened and replaced by new habits of
life, with greater demands for comforts and enjoyments.' High prices
previously realized for timber had caused luxury to enter into all the
circumstances of life, stimulating in many quarters a reckless waste of
money earned.' In another, 'the demand for comforts of life has risen,
and it is not all that have found it easy to limit the satisfaction of
their wants,' and 'more has been consumed than means allowed.' The
female part, more particularly, of the population of North Bergen, is
reproached with an inability to withstand the temptati