PRUSSIA 



4So3 



PRUSSIA 



curely established, to prevent too great a loss 

 of water through the leaves. Fruit-producing 

 plants must be kept from putting forth too 

 many buds. Larger and better fruits result 

 when the nourishment from the plant is con- 

 centrated in a few vigorous buds, and this prin- 

 ciple holds true for flowering plants. The ex- 

 traordinary specimens of fruits and flowers 

 often seen in exhibitions are produced by care- 

 ful pruning during the budding season. It has 

 also been found that pruning is often necessary 

 to permit proper spraying of plants threatened 

 with disease. Large wounds left in plants by 

 the pruning knife should be covered with paint 

 to protect the exposed areas from insect pests, 

 fungus spores and bacteria. 



Consult Bailey's The Pruning Book. 



PRUSSIA, prush'a, in German, PREUSSEN, 

 proi'scn, was the largest of the four kingdoms, 

 which, with twenty-two smaller divisions grand 

 duchies, duchies and principalities formed the 

 German Empire. Of all of the German states 



TERRITORY LOST TO PRUSSIA 

 The entire black area shows the Prussia of 1914. 

 The peace treaty of 1919 gave to Poland the 

 long, narrow area between the white lines in the 

 east. More land may later be lost In Schleswlg- 

 HoUtein. 



it was the most important economically, politi- 

 >rically. After 1871 its king was 

 German emperor, and its capital, Berlin, 

 was the scat of the government of the Um- 

 pire. The name Prussia is derived from the 

 Slavonic Po-russia, meaning near Russia, which 

 was given to the provinces, East and West 

 Prussia, on the Russian border. 



The kingdom, embracing three-fifths of all 

 Germany, and including thirteen states and the 

 i'.orlin, almost entirely surrounded the 

 grand duchies of Mecklenburg and Oldenburg, 

 <iuchies of Anhalt and Brunswick, the prin- 

 cipalities of Lippe and Wai deck, and the free 



towns of Hamburg, Bremen and Liibeck. In- 

 cluding Hohenzollern, a principality of 441 

 square miles in the south of Germany, which 

 belonged to it politically, its area was 134,650 

 square miles. When Germany signed the treaty 

 of peace in 1919 Prussia surrendered consider- 

 able territory to Poland. 



The growth of the kingdom, its supreme po- 

 sition in Germany and its importance as a 

 world power were the result of "Prussian mili- 

 tarism" the development of a great and well- 

 organized army by universal service and iron- 

 bound military policies. It was this vaunted 

 Prussian principle that led the country to ruin. 



The People. Almost two-thirds of the people 

 of the Empire are inhabitants of Prussia. The 

 population, exceeding 40,000,000 before the War 

 of the Nations, is but slightly less than the 

 total population of England, Wales and Ire- 

 land under normal conditions. The inhabit- 

 ants include the High Germans of the south- 

 western uplands and the Low Germans of the 

 northern plain, besides many Poles, Czechs, 

 Wends and Mazurs in the eastern provinces, 

 and Danes, Dutch and Frisians in the north- 

 west, who, together with other non-German 

 races, number about 4,000,000. Nearly all the 

 non-Germans were freed from Germany in 1919. 



The rural population has been steadily de- 

 creasing, owing to the great industrial develop- 

 ment in the urban centers, and over one-half 

 of the population now live in cities. Berlin, 

 .the fifth city in the world in population, has 

 over 2,000,000 inhabitants; Cologne, Breslau, 

 Frankfort-on-the-Main, DUsseldorf, Charlotten- 

 burg, Hanover, Essen, Magdeburg, Dortmund, 

 Konigsberg, Stettin, Neukoln, Duisburg and 

 Kiel are cities with a population of over 200,- 

 000 each. 



Relation between the Land and the Indus- 

 tries. Prussia may be divided into two distinct 

 sections the great northern plain, the granary 

 of the Empire, and the southwestern highlands, 

 important for their mineral wealth and scenic 

 beauty. About three-fifths of the kingdom lies 

 within the vast, low plain of Central Europe, 

 which slopes gmt I;. the Rilno Sea, The 



western region bordering the North Sea is a 

 flat, marshy pasture land, and, unlike the rest 

 of Prussia, is almost bare of trees. It is noted 

 for its dairy farms nnd fino horses, a larpr ]>:ut 

 of the mounts for the German cavalry being 

 furnished by Hanover. This section contains 

 the chief ports of entry for western trade and 

 tourists, and it is crossed by two of Germany's 

 great rivers, the Weser and the Elbe. 



