174 



GERMANY 



and Hanover are celebrated for their cattle. The 

 forests of northern and central Germany abound 

 in small game of various kinds; and a" few still 

 shelter wild boars. The Bavarian Alps afford 

 shelter to the larger animals, as the chamois, the 

 red deer and wild goat, the fox and marten. 

 Wolves are still found in Bavaria, the eastern 

 provinces of Prussia, and in Lorraine. The bear is 

 now extinct, and the beaver nearly so. In all the 

 plains in the north storks, wild geese, and ducks 

 are abundant. Among the fishes of Germany the 

 most generally distributed are carp, salmon, trout, 

 and eels ; the rivers contain also crayfish, pearl- 

 bearing mussels, and leeches. The oyster, herring, 

 and cod fisheries constitute important branches of 

 industry on the German shores of the Baltic and 

 North Sea. Germany stands next to Great Britain 

 in regard to the care and success with which its 

 agricultural, mining, and other natural capabilities 

 have been cultivated. All the German states, 

 and especially Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria, 

 encourage agriculture, and have endeavoured, by 

 the establishment of agricultural colleges and 

 exhibitions, to diffuse among the people a know- 

 ledge of recent scientific appliances. Forestry 

 receives almost as much attention in Germany as 

 agriculture ; and, like the latter, is elevated to the 

 rank of a science. The larger woods and forests in 

 most of the states belong to the government, and are 

 under the care of special boards of management, 

 which exercise the right of supervision and con- 

 trol over all forest lands, whether public or private. 

 Manufactures. The oldest and most important 

 of the German industrial arts are the manufactures 

 of linen and woollen goods. The chief localities for 

 the cultivation and preparation of flax, and the 

 weaving of linen fabrics, are the mountain-valleys 

 of Silesia, Lusatia, Westphalia, and Saxony (for 

 thread-laces); while cotton fabrics are principally 

 made in Rhenish Prussia and Saxony. The same 

 districts, together with Pomerania, Bavaria, Alsace, 

 Wiirtemberg, and Baden, manufacture the choicest 

 woollen fabrics, including damasks and carpets. 

 The silk industry has its central point in Rhenish 

 Prussia, with a special development in the district 

 of Diisseldorf. Germany rivals France more keenly 

 in the production of satins than in that of heavier 

 all-silk goods. Jute-spinning is carried on in Bruns- 

 wick, at Meissen, ana at Bonn ; thread is manu- 

 factured in Saxony, Silesia, and the Rhine pro- 

 vinces ; and hosiery is most largely produced in 

 Saxony and Thuringia. The making of toys and 

 wooden clocks, and wood-carving, which may 

 be regarded as almost a speciality of German 

 industry, flourish in the hilly districts of Saxony, 

 Bavaria, and the Black Forest. Paper is made 

 chiefly in the districts of Aix-la-Chapelle, Arnsberg, 

 and Liegnitz, and in Saxony. Tanning, especially 

 in the south-west, is an ancient German industry. 

 The best iron and steel manufactures belong to 

 Silesia, Hanover, and Saxony; in 1893, 4,986,000 

 metric tons, representing a value of 10,800,000, 

 were handled in the foundries of Germany. Silesia 

 probably possesses the finest glass-manufactories, 

 but those of Bavaria are also important ; while 

 Saxony and Prussia stand pre-eminent for the 

 excellence of their china and earthenware. Augs- 

 burg and .Nuremberg dispute with Munich and 

 Berlin the title to pre-eminence in silver, gold, and 

 jewelry work, and in the manufacture of philo- 

 sophical and musical instruments ; while Leipzig 

 and Munich claim the first rank for typefounding, 

 printing, and lithography. The trading cities of 

 northern Germany nearly monopolise the entire 

 business connected with the preparation of tobacco, 

 snuff, &c., the distillation of spirits from the 

 potato and other roots, and the manufacture of 

 beet-root sugar ; while vinegar and oils are pre- 



pared almost exclusively in central and southern 

 Germany. In 1885-86, 918,948,000 gallons of beer 

 were brewed in the German empire, the chief pro- 

 ducing states being Prussia (477,138,200 gals.) and 

 Bavaria (278,645,400 gals.). The annual consump- 

 tion per head of the population is 19 '3 gallons. 

 According to the industrial census of 1882, the 

 number of persons in Germany engaged in manu- 

 factures and commerce was 7,966,783. The follow- 

 ing figures, showing the distribution of that total, 

 afford a view of the comparative importance of 

 the various industries : Clothing, washing, &c. , 

 1,334,007; building and related industries, 946,583; 

 retail trading, 853,827 ; textile industries, 850,859 ; 

 metal-working, carriage and ship building, &c., 

 813,906 ; preparation of food and food-materials, 

 663,226; mining (including founding and salt- 

 winning), 552,020; workers in wood and wicker, 

 521,660; postal service, transport, &c., 437,040; 

 lodging and refreshment, 279,451 ; industries in 

 stone, earth, clay, 221,006; paper and leather 

 working, 220,039 ; "chemicals and lighting materials, 

 88,397; printing, &c., 69,643; art industries, 

 23,893; miscellaneous, 91,226. Besides these, 

 8,065,350 were engaged in agriculture, 91,630 in 

 forestry and hunting, 55,168 in horticulture, and 

 24,348 in fishing. 



Commerce and Shipping. The multiplicity of 

 small states into which the German land was long 

 broken up opposed great obstacles to the develop- 

 ment of commerce ; but the difficulty was to some 

 extent obviated by the establishment of the Zoll- 

 verein (q.v.), or Customs and Trade Confederation, 

 and partly also by the absorption of several of the 

 smaller states by Prussia. In 1871 a Zollund 

 Handels-Gebiet (Customs and Trade Territory) was 

 formed in Germany, including Luxemburg ( 1010 sq. 

 m. ; 213,283 inhabitants in 1885) and the Austrian 

 district of Jungholz (212 inhabitants), but exclud- 

 ing Hamburg, Bremen, and parts of Oldenburg, 

 Prussia, and Baden (together 140 sq. m. ; 754,705 

 inhabitants). On October 15, 1888, however, all 

 these districts entered the union, with the excep- 

 tion of the Baden territory (4054 inhabitants), and 

 part of the old free-port of Hamburg ( 152 inhab- 

 itants). The old Zollverein parliament is repre- 

 sented by the Reichstag, and the Zollverein council 

 by the Bundesrath, which appoints three perman- 

 ent committees for finance, for excise and cus- 

 toms, and for trade. The revenues of the union are 

 derived from customs duties upon imports, and 

 from excise duties on tobacco, salt, beetroot-sugar, 

 brandy, malt, &c., and are divided among the 

 different states according to the populations. 



The following table shows the exports of home 

 produce and the imports for home consumption in 

 1888, for the customs union as constituted before 

 October of that year : 



