APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110018-4
FIGURE 5. Drainage canals are numerous on the low-lying wet plains dispersed throughout the country. This canal in east-central Jutland is about 20 feet wide and 1 feet deep. Banks are low and soft. (C) (photo)
lowest areas of southwest Jutland. Bogs, also comprising only small areas, consist of a thick, soggy cover of mosses. Heath, consisting of low evergreen shrubs, is most widely distributed in northern and western Jutland (Figure 7). Low, tufted grasses and sedges and low spiny shrubs comprise the sparse vegetation in the belt of sand dunes along the northern and western coasts of Jutland (Figure 8).
The soils of Denmark are chiefly sandy and deep. In addition, there are clay soils of considerable extent. The ground in most of Denmark is prevailingly wet or moist during November through April; for short periods during this time it is frozen and snow covered. The ground is prevailingly moist or dry, with occasional wet spells, during May through October. In two general areas, however, the state of the ground varies little throughout the year—in the sand dune areas of narrow coastal plains, chiefly in western Jutland, the ground is mostly dry and never frozen, and in the marsh, peat bog, and meadow areas, the ground is mostly wet, and soft. It is frozen (only near the surface) several times, mainly in 1- to 3-day periods, during January through March. Bogs are soft, spongy, and highly compressible below the surface at all times.
The settlement pattern of Denmark is characterized by numerous rural villages and farmsteads and a few large urban centers. The rural villages are most numerous in eastern Jutland and the larger islands and are of two general forms—a round or oval type and a linear type. The former is characterized by buildings clustered around an open space of green and is predominant in Sjaelland, Falster, and part of eastern Jutland; ordinarily there are several winding streets
FIGURE 6. A mosaic of small cultivated fields interspersed at random with diminutive dense forests (background) constitute the landscape of most of Denmark. This view is in eastern Jutland. This village is the linear type. (C) (photo)
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110018-4
