164 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
indoors, and consist mainly of the Holstein breed. On the Harz, 
however, the cows, which belong chiefly to the woodmen and miners, 
are of a distinct class, brown in colour, of a size and make between 
the Ayrshire and shorthorn, and their appearance would indicate 
them to be fair milkers, and susceptible to easy fattening. 
The roads being on the whole of a level character, the haulage 
is easy, and the horses, for that and other reasons, are light, and 
are usually worked in pairs in four-wheeled carts. Cows, how- 
ever, are also used as draught animals, and dogs are frequently 
yoked in suitable vehicles, especially in towns. 
Small holdings appear to be the rule, and are either owned or 
rented by the peasantry. The system of peasant proprietorship 
has, it is said, been found to work well, and it is the intention of 
the Government to extend the system as opportunity offers. 
Large estates are, where possible, bought up and divided into 
50 to 70 acre holdings. These are taken up by the peasantry, who 
pay a fixed sum annually for the holding until its original cost, 
with interest, is paid off. With the view of preventing these 
holdings being subdivided among the families of deceased owners, 
it is enacted by statute that the eldest son becomes the inheritor. 
The houses of these peasants are usually in groups or villages, 
and their ground-floors, as a rule, are occupied by the families in 
one end, while in the other, on each side of an open passage 
leading to the living rooms, are located the live stock, the upper 
storeys being used for storing grain, fodder, ete. 
The poor are treated very much in the same way as our own, 
but there are old-age pensions which tend to lessen the number 
of those in need of relief in their old age. Others again are 
assisted by the State in colonising sections of land provided for 
that purpose. 
The climate of Germany is perhaps not so diversified as one 
might be led to expect, as the greater heats of the southern 
latitudes are modified by the hilly character of that part of the 
country, while the cold of the more northern plains is mitigated 
by their vicinity to the sea. The following figures give a com- 
parison of the average annual temperatures of Germany, as taken 
at various stations, with those of the British Isles over the last 
twenty-nine years :— 
Summer. Winter. Average. Rainfall. 
Germany, . . 64°°66 F. 29° FF. 46°83 20 ins. 
British Isles, . 54°°75 F. 42°-1 F. 48°:42 34°7 ins, 
The question of wind-force has an important bearing on forestry 
