274 EUROPE 



with a meagre sprinkling of succulent salt-bushes, is 

 almost identical with that of the Algerian shotts. On 

 the edge of the steppe are to be seen frequently de- 

 ciduous scrubs of thorny or prickly bushes, not unlike 

 the common blackthorn or the juniper. These establish 

 a transition to the forests of oaks which surround the 

 grass-lands. 



Apart from its pastures on which especially fine horses 

 are bred, the Hungarian plain has been largely laid under 

 cultivation and is noted as one of the granaries of the 

 world. The dry, sunny hills, covered by a rich carpet of 

 feather-grass, have been utilized for vine-growing and 

 yield a famous wine (Tokay). The lowlands and foot- 

 hills which encircle the puszta display the characteristic 

 vegetation of central Europe. The oak forests which 

 partly clothe them offer the same types as our own, but 

 in a much greater wealth of species and a larger variety 

 of forms. They are mixed with forests of black pine, 

 with lush meadows and other varied formations. Be- 

 hind this belt of lowland and forehills rise the wooded 

 highlands of the Alps and Carpathians. 



Balkan Peninsula. North of the Rhodope range the 

 Balkan lands offer a type of climate and vegetation 

 intermediate between those of the Mediterranean, central 

 Europe, and the steppe ; indeed the three types of plants 

 of the steppe, the Mediterranean, and the cold temperate 

 forests struggle here for predominance. 



The broad, low valleys, especially that of the Danube, 

 display much of the steppe character. Apart from the 

 river- woods and lower swamps, the steppe still largely 

 clothes the plains, intermixed, now with flood meadows, 

 now with dry sand prairies. The natural pastures deter- 

 mine the occupation of the inhabitants, but the more 

 fertile parts offer a scope for the growing of hemp, beet- 



