314 AN OBJECT-LESSON FROM SERVIA 



of about 5 acres, which he cannot dispose or be deprived 

 of for the payment of personal debts. It has likewise 

 been made illegal for cultivators to give bills of 

 exchange. 



The number of those engaged in agricultural pursuits 

 in Servia represents 84 per cent, of the entire popula- 

 tion. The cereal most largely cultivated is maize, 

 which forms the chief item of food for about three- 

 fourths of the people, and is also largely used for the 

 feeding of live-stock. After maize come wheat, barley, 

 oats, rye, etc. Among leguminous plants the haricot 

 is extensively grown, both for domestic consumption 

 and for export. But fruit-growing is the industry that 

 claims, perhaps, the greatest degree of attention in 

 Servia, and here the influence and direction of the 

 Government have been especially active. 



Fruit is regarded in Servia as a distinct source of 

 national wealth, and everything possible is done to 

 foster its production. Plums, apples, pears, nuts, 

 cherries, peaches, apricots, and medlars are all grown, 

 but plums receive a degree of attention far in excess of 

 that shown to the other varieties of fruit. They are 

 exported fresh or in the form of prunes; they constitute 

 the basis of a 'plum brandy,' and they are also exten- 

 sively made up and sold as preserve. The value of the 

 prunes exported from Servia in 1904 was 240,000, an 

 increase of 40,000 as compared with 1903, though 

 a substantial reduction on 1902, when the value was 

 close on 360,000. Of plum preserve, the exports in 

 1904 were of the value of 120,000. 



Here, then, is a business well deserving attention in 

 a small country, and the Government have seen to the 

 organization of it on systematic lines. 



In the first place, they have their special officers at 

 all the principal markets to examine the prunes on sale 



