SOME AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS IN DALMATIA (S5 



Dalmatia has an area of 1,283,000 hectares (2) distributed as follows 



Arable land 137,238 hectares 



Vineyards 81,853 



Olive plantations .' . . . 31,992 



Gardens 37.024 



Prairie-land 10,492 



Pasturage • 562,900 



Woods 329,627 



Marshy lands 63,383 



Roads, water-courses, buildings, etCi . . . 29,000 



The terms pasturage and woods need explanation. The official statistics 

 include as woods all lands once wooded, even in a somewhat remote past 

 and even if to-day they are bare save for occasional shrubs and bushes. 

 The name pasturage is applied even to lands on wliich grass grows sparsely 

 for three or four months of the year while for eight or nine months the}' are 

 completely bare. 



The table we have given shows that 22 per cent, of the whole area is 

 cultivated while 78 per cent, is formed of uncultivated land. 



With respect to the soil's natural fertility the total area of Dalmatia 

 can be divided into land of three categories : 



1. The land of the first category has an area of from 180,000 to 

 200,000 hectares. It comprises the so-called " polja " strips of land b'ing 

 along the shores and the banks of the water-courses. This land is excep- 

 tionally fertile. 



2. The second category includes all the woodland and most of the 

 pastureland and may be considered to have a minimum fertility. 



3. Between these two extremes is a third category, that of the marshy 

 lands and the mountain slopes. In point of natural fertility these lands ap- 

 proximate to those of the first category. But before they can be brought 

 under cultivation preliminary measures are necessary — the draining of the 

 marshy lands and the reforestation of the mountain lands. Without these 

 improvements these lands approximate rather to those of the second cate- 

 gory, remaining lands of minimum fertility. 



The facts stated point to the first agricultural problem which has to 

 be solved in Dalmatia, that namely of extending the cultivated area. For 

 this improvements of two kinds are needed — works of drainage and of 

 reforestation. 



§ 2. The distribution^ of landed property. 



With respect to the distribution of landed property Dalmatia presents 

 two extremes : properties are very large or very small. This is due to spe- 



(2) I hectare = 2.47 acres. 



