82 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



Distinct over largo areas, but too gradual for comparison 

 within narrow bounds. The outskirts of one zone 

 transfuse with the adjacent climes ; but the zone itself 

 emerges, in its own unique character, as distinct as a 

 band of the rainbow, from the lines with which it blends. 

 Receding, therefore, further from the tropics, the glare 

 of southern lands is subdued by green pastures, the 

 sustenance of fine cattle and sheep ; the brilliant blue 

 of the skies is sobered with grey clouds, from which 

 pour more frequent showers, if not such torrents of 

 rain, and the ocean assumes duller greenish tints. The 

 varied surface of the zone favours the production of 

 excellent crops of all kinds of cereals, and fine 

 timber. The appearance of the vegetation is the com- 

 bined effect of meadow-land and forest, of cereal and 

 root-husbandry, of orchard fruits and fibres. Vineyards 

 rapidly become fewer and mature only quite inland, 

 and wine is no longer a common drink. Before 

 reaching the mean limit of wine produce, the hilly 

 districts of Germany present interesting illustrations of 

 the climatic conflict of plants. The vine-clad hills of 

 the Upper Rhine and Moselle strike the beholder as 

 much as the farming of their vicinity, which is that of 

 a more northerly zone. Over the plateaus of Bavaria 

 and Bohemia also, lofty and graceful curls of hop, with 

 loose hanging cones of fruit, challenge comparison with 

 the vineyards of the Rhine and the trellised gardens of 

 Italy. Choice wines are made in a few places, but 

 Bavaria is most celebrated for its beer, of which the 

 inhabitants consume a great quantity. A wag in 

 Munich once described a well-known toper as " a beer- 

 barrel in a morning, and a barrel of beer every 

 night." 



In this zone, more than in any other, cultivation has 

 changed the aspect of nature ; for it includes the busy 

 hives of England and France, and the chief mining and 

 manufacturing localities of the Continent. Except in 

 Russia, towns are closely packed, kingdoms are crossed 

 by numerous roads, highways, railways, and waterways, 

 and the seas are crowded with ships for every purpose 

 of war, commerce, fishing, and pleasure. Each country 

 reflects its own character, notwithstanding a tolerably 

 uniform climate and vegetation. France is laid out 

 with the precision of a surveyor's plan ; the departments 

 and communes are intersected by trees planted at exact 

 intervals. Ancient Armorica (Brittany) produces apples 

 and pears in abundance, and the orchards are pleasanter 

 than the southern vineyards. By the law of equal divi- 

 sion of property at death, in France, the country has 

 become covered with small allotments, and the hedges, 

 which make England a garden, have disappeared. There 

 is thus a monotony in French husbandry, from which 

 the north only escapes by the profusion of fruit trees. 

 Every homestead, however, contains poultry, providing 

 eggs, and large stores of food, besides an immense 

 surplus for export. Early garden and orchard produce 

 are sent to England. 



Holland and Belgium. The Netherlands are cut into 

 chequers by canals, fringed with perspective lines of 

 poplars, whose greenness and many vanishing points 

 make an otherwise tame country attractive. The 

 same beaver-like industry which protected the Low 

 Countries from inundation, has enabled the semi-marine 

 inhabitants to extort wealth from the rescued lands, and 

 to make the unlikeliest places of human residence the 

 densest-peopled parts of Europe. Flax, hemp, and grain 

 culture especially oats cattle rearing, and dairy work, 

 are all important industries. Holland had once the 

 commerce of Europe in its own hands, and still 

 retains an eminent share. Its surplus for interchange 

 consists of butter and cheese, provisions, cattle, and 

 hides; flax, tow, oats, and p^eds a description of produce 

 which extends also to the alluvial lands of Hanover and 



Denmark. The canals of Holland serve the double 

 purpose of inland communication and drainage. 



Belgium. Where Belgium adjoins Holland it partakes 

 of the same features, but further south it is hilly and 

 woody ; minerals are numerous and abundant, including 

 almost all the metals of economic value, together with 

 coal, limestone, and freestone. Its mines of coal and 

 iron, especially, create a hive of industry competing with 

 England. The kingdom is a succession of busy towns, 

 so near together, and connected by such populous farms, 

 that it is like the metropolis of a great empire. The 

 animal and vegetable produce of Belgium corresponds 

 with that of the countries adjacent early garden stuff 

 and eggs as with France, and dairy produce as with 

 Holland. Rabbits are specially a Belgian product, 

 millions coming from Ostend to the London market 

 during the cold months. 



Germany. Germany, until recently, was split up into 

 many minor states, under different rulers, all claiming 

 old feudal rights and privileges. The husbandry of 

 its varied surface reflected these political features, rather 

 than the rapid advance in science and the arts of produc- 

 tion exhibited by other countries. Princes and grand 

 dukes owned inalienably the greater part of the soil, 

 and claimed powers of iree grazing after harvest upon 

 the fields of their tenants. This led to a persistent 

 uniformity of tillage, and checked improvement. The 

 various states are now united under one empire; the 

 petty jealousies and restrictions which hampered produc- 

 tion and transport have been removed, and the country 

 has been immensely benefited. 



Nowhere are green vegetables so fine. The cabbage 

 flourishes as a national dish, and, under the name of 

 sauer leraut, is esteemed worthy of export. The beet is 



frown, as in France, for the sugar manufacture, which 

 emands an excessive produce. Rye was the common 

 grain consumed, but is no longer the staple of food, and 

 wheat of a high quality is exported by way of Dantzic, 

 which name it commercially bears. The plains of 

 Northern Germany Pomerania, Brandenburg, Meck- 

 lenburg, Hanover, and the adjacent portions of Prussian 

 Saxony are not generally fertile, consisting chiefly of 

 sandy heaths, forests of fir and pine, with marshes 

 towards the Baltic, and inexhaustible bog, or turf, used 

 for fuel. The Baltic coast of Prussia has to be 

 protected from the sea, like Holland. Along these 

 low shores the fossil resin called amber is found, 

 being abundant in the long narrow tongue of land shoot- 

 ing out from near Konigsberg to Memel, whence it is 

 dredged from, the submerged forests. Further west, the 

 Rhine provinces of Prussia, and the adjacent territory, 

 present a remarkably diversified surface of hill and dale, 

 with a soil largely consisting of the decomposed material 

 of volcanic rock, notable for its fertility. These dis- 

 tricts possess a climate, and yield products approach- 

 ing very nearly in their character to those of the more 

 southerly belt. 



Germany is remarkably well watered by small 

 streams, and has good rivers for navigation, their 

 courses throughout the north being mostly slow, along 

 the flat and sandy plains. The central mountain 

 range makes an admirable watershed, dividing the 

 basins of the Danube and the Rhine, and determining 

 the course of the smaller rivers to the North and 

 Baltic Seas. These rivers, and numerous lakes, abound 

 with fish, compensating for the comparative lack of sea- 

 board and marine fisheries. 



In lower Germany that is, the portion lying north 

 of the central watershed cavalry horses are largely 

 reared, as well as numerous sheep and cattle. The 

 Saxony fleece fetches the highest price in the wool 

 market, being long and silky in fibre, and producing a 

 fine cloth. 



