only and weak guns. Their arc of fire is very restricted. The Siegfried and Odin types are coast defence ships that call for little notice. They are large targets and not very powerfully armed. The Hagen has lately been lengthened in order to allow of more coal being carried, and her sisters have been similarly treated. The Baden class have been reconstructed, but the old guns are retained, it having been found impossible to substitute modern pieces. The Braunschweig class are similar to the Wittelsbach type, except that the heavy axial fire has been reduced, and the main guns are carried at the same height as in British ships, instead of, as in the Wittelsbachs and Kaisers, at a greater elevation. The Deutschland class do not greatly differ in design. Of the cruisers the Hertha class have their guns protected by armour, and beyond being large targets are fine vessels. Little or no wood is used in them. The earlier cruisers are of obsolete type, and the Gefion's armour deck is partial only. The Gazelle is a small vessel of useful type. Prinz Heinrich is an armoured cruiser, with her Q.F. guns massed amidship and protected by 4-6 inches of Krupp armour. With very slight deviations all the armoured cruisers are of this type. They compare in power with the British County class.

The

A 6.7-inch quick-firer was in 1901 adopted as the secondary armament of new ships.

Germany subsidises, as auxiliary merchant cruisers, five vessels with a nominal speed of from 18 to 24 knots or more, viz. the Fürst Bismarck (10,500 tons), Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse (20,000 tons), Kaiser Wilhelm II. (24,000 tons), Deutschland (23,000 tons), and Trave.

The German navy is manned by the obligatory service of the maritime population (seemännische Bevölkerung)-sailors, fishermen, ships' carpenters, and others; and also of the semi-maritime population-that is, of those who have smaller experience of the sea. All these are freed on this account from service in the army. Great inducements are held out for able seamen to volunteer in the navy, and the number of these in recent years has been very large. The total seafaring population of Germany is estimated at 80,000, of whom 48,000 are serving in the merchant navy at home, and about 6,000 in foreign navies. The naval personnel is 33,500 plus a reserve of about 110,000

men.

Production and Industry.

I. AGRICULTURE.

In Prussia, by a series of ordinances from 1807 to 1850, complete free trade in land has been established, and all personal and material burdens removed that would stand in the way of this. With the exception of the Mecklenburgs, similar legislation has been applied to the land in other parts of Germany. Generally speaking, small estates and peasant proprietorship prevail in the West German States, while large estates prevail in the north-east. In Prussia, large estates, with an area of 250 acres and more, prevail in Pomerania, Posen, East and West Prussia; while the districts of Koblenz, Wiesbaden, Treves, Baden, and Württemburg are parcelled out into small estates.

Of the whole area of Germany, in 1883, 92 per cent. was classed as productive, and only 8 per cent. as unproductive. According to the latest returns (1893 and 1900), 91 per cent. is productive and 9 per cent. unproductive. The extension of the unproductive

area is, however, only apparent, the waste lands in one portion now classed as such having formerly been included with the permanent pasture. The subdivision of the soil, according to the latest official returns (1900), was as follows (in hectares; 1 hectare 2:47 acres):-Arable land, vineyards, and other cultivated lands, 26,392,523; grass, meadows, permanent pasture, 8,662,874; woods and forests, 13,995,869; all other, 5,013,519.

=

On June 14, 1895, the total number of agricultural enclosures (including arable land, meadows, cultivated pastures, orchards, and vineyards) each cultivated by one household, was as follows:

Their total area was 43,284,742 hectares.

These farms supported 18,068,663 persons, of whom 8,156,045 were actually working upon them.

The areas under the principal crops, in hectares (2·47 acres), were as follows:

The total yield of their products in the years indicated, in metric tons (1 metric ton = 2,204 lbs. or 984 an English ton), or hectolitres (hectolitre 2.75 bushels), and in tons or hectolitres per hectare, was as follows:

=

In 1900 there were within the Empire 168,432,000 fruit trees, comprising 52,332,000 apple-trees, 25,116,000 pear-trees, 69,436,000 plum-trees, and 21,548,000 cherry-trees.

The number of provisional domestic animals in Germany on December 1, 1900, was:

Total, 1900

Total, 1897

4,195,361 18,939,692 9,692,501 16,807,014 3,266,997| 4,038,485 18,490,772 10,866,772, 14,274,557

II. FORESTRY.

Forestry in Germany is an industry of great importance, conducted under the care of the State on scientific methods. About 13,995,869 acres or 25'9 per cent. of the area of the empire, were estimated to be occupied by forests in 1900. In South and Central Germany from 30 to 39 per cent. of the surface is covered with forests: and in parts of Prussia 237 per cent. From forests and domains alone Prussia receives a revenue of about 4 millions sterling.

III. MINING.

The great bulk of the minerals raised in Germany is produced in Prussia where the chief mining districts are Westphalia, Rhenish Prussia, and Silesia, for coal and iron, the Harz for silver and copper, and Silesia for zinc. Saxony has coal, iron, and silver mines; Lorraine rich coal and iron ore fields; and the Grand-Duchy of Luxemburg rich iron ore fields.

The annual quantities of the principal minerals raised in five years are shown in the following table, the returns for 1902 being provisional only :

1899

1900

1901

1902

1903

Coal
Lignite.

Iron ore

Metric Tons Metric Tons Metric Tons Metric Tons Metric Tons 101,639,800 109,290,200 108,539,400 107,473,900 116,637,800 34,204,700 40,498,000 44,480,000; 43,126,300 45,674,300 17,989,600 18,964,300 16,570,200 17,963,600 21,230,600

Zinc ore

664,500

639,200

647,500

702,500

682,900

The total value of the minerals raised in Germany and Luxemburg in 1902 was 1,236 million marks; in 1903, 1,312 million marks.

The following table shows particulars of the production of the foundries

Ꮓ Ꮓ

in Germany and Luxemburg in 1902 and the number of foundries engaged principally or partly with each metal in 1902 :

In addition to the above, about 2,664 kilograms of gold, valued at 7,431,000 marks, were produced. Nickel, bismuth, vitriol, and other chemical manufactures were produced to a total weight of 41,021 tons, and to a total value of 17,414,000 marks.

The total value of the productions of the foundries of all kinds in 1902 was 672,824,000 marks. The total quantity of finished iron produced in Germany and Luxemburg in 1902 was 9,892,756 metric tons, and its value 1,230,197,000 marks. In 1902 there were in Germany and Luxemburg 1,673 works producing finished iron, including steel-works. Over 270,846 men are employed in connection with the various stages of iron (including pig iron), besides 39,202 iron-miners. In connection with coal and lignite mining alone the average number of hands engaged was 504,927 in 1902.

IV. FISHERIES.

The German fisheries are not important. In 1895 the persons engaged in fishing numbered 32,199, of whom 12,224 were employed in sea and shore fishing, and 19,975 on inland waters. In 1902 (January 1) 533 boats (35,566 tons gross tonnage), with an aggregate crew of 3,733, were engaged in deep-sea fishing in the North Sea for fresh fish and herrings. The Baltic fisheries are more developed. In 1903 fresh fish to the value of 5,726,000 marks were exported, while the imports of fresh fish were valued at 28,547,000 marks, of salted herrings at 36,053,000 marks, of other salted, preserved, and dried fish at 6,071,000 marks.

V. MANUFACTURES.

The chief seats of the German iron manufacture are in Prussia, AlsaceLorraine, Bavaria, and Saxony. Steel is made in Rhenish Prussia. Saxony is the leading State in the production of textiles, but Westphalia and Silesia also produce linen; Alsace-Lorraine, Württemberg, Baden, and Bavaria produce cotton goods. Woollens are manufactured in several Prussian provinces; silk in Rhenish Prussia, Alsace, and Baden. Beetroot sugar is an important manufacture in Prussia, Brunswick, and Anhalt; glass, porcelain, and earthenware in Silesia, Thuringia, and Saxony; clocks and wooden ware in Württemburg and Bavaria; and beer in Bavaria and Prussia,

The following table shows the number of persons engaged in the principal manufactures in the larger States according to the census of occupation in 1895. Additional information should be looked for under the various States:

The following are the statistics of the beetroot sugar manufacture in the Zollgebiet :

The total amount of refined sugar produced in 1902-03 was 1,459,371 metric tons; in 1901-02, 1,345,448 tons; 1900-1, 1,292,167 tons; 1899-1900, 1,215,205 tons.

In 1902-03 there were 27 manufactories of sugar from starch, which yielded 9,617 tons of dry sugar, 54,530 tons of syrup, and 3,998 tons of colour.

The following table shows the quantity of beer brewed within the customs district at various periods. The Beer-excise district (Brausteuergebiet) includes all the States of the Zollgebiet, with the exception of Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, and Alsace-Lorraine, in each of which the excise is separately collected. The amounts are given in thousands of hectolitres (1 hectolitre = 22 gallons)::