432 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



SILESIA AREA, CLIMATE, SOIL, TOPOGRAPHY, ETC. 



Silesia, the southeastern province of the Kingdom of Prussia, has an 

 area of 15,550 square miles, extending from north latitude 40. 49 to 52.04, 

 and from east longitude 31. -1 to 30.50. It is divided into three admin- 

 istrative districts, Upper, Lower, and Middle Silesia, officially known 

 by the names of their capitals, Oppeln, Liegnitz, and lireslau. The 

 county of Cilatz, still known by its old designation, belongs to Middle 

 Silesia. The southern parts of Middle and Lower Silesia are mountain- 

 ous ; tbe rest of the province is Hat, with the exception of some spurs 

 of the Giant Mountains, which rise abruptly from the lowlands, the 

 Trebnitz Hills, and the hilly portions of Upper Silesia. About 54 per 

 cent, of the area is hilled land and gardens, 9.07 meadow laud, 1.09 

 pasture laud, and 29.07 woodland. 



The temperature, both summer and winter, is uniform throughout the 

 province, the winter mean being 1.4 to 2.4 C., the summer + 17.3 to 

 + 1S.3C., and the annual mean +7 8 0. In the highlands of the Satie- 

 ties and in Upper Silesia, at nn elevation of 050 to 1,300 feet, the mean 

 winter temperature is 1.7 to .3.7 (\, and that of summer +15 to 

 + 17.2 C. On the highest peak of the mountains, the Schneekoppe, 

 5.292 feet above the sea, the mean summer temperature is + 8 C.; win- 

 ter observations have only recently been made, and the mean lias not 

 yet been fixed. Breslau, situated nearly in the center of the province, 

 at an altitude of nearly 400 feet, has a winter mean of 1.9 C. and a 

 summer mean of +17.3 C. 



The greater part of the province is drained by the Oder River, a 

 s.^iall portion in the southeast by the Vistula, the wedge-shaped western 

 extremity and the mountain district near the source of the Elbe (Sile- 

 sian side of the Giant Mountains) by the latter river. As the country 

 through which the. Oder Hows is for the most part but little higher than 

 the surface of the river at ordinary high water, the stream has had to 

 be diked nearly its entire length, the dikes at some places buing within 

 a few yards of the river bed, at others nearly half a milo distant. Once 

 or twice in each year all the land within the dikes is inundated, and not 

 infrequently the water overflows the banks. AVithin the banks the soil 

 may be termed alluvial not much ellbrt is made to cultivate it, but it 

 is good meadow land and yields line crops of hay. 



The highlands of the Sudctic range, with their valleys, possess a 

 fruitful loamy soil of no groat depth, being underlaid by granite, green 

 sandstone, slate, basalt, and old limestone. 



The soil on the left bank of the Oder is mostly clayey, with a consid- 

 erable admixture of sand, bui is esteemed for all agricultural purposes 

 superior to that on the right bank, which is mainly sand and sandy loam, 

 resting principally on recent limestone :>nd red sandstone (coal forma- 

 tion). The altitude ranges from about 32-S fed at the point where the 

 Oder leaves the, province, to about 2,139 feet, the highest cultivated 

 point in the Giant Mountains, and 4,200 iVet. the highest point of sum- 

 mer pasturing. The. two highest peaks are the Schneekoppe, ill the 

 Giant Mountains, over 5,000 feet, and the. Schnecberg/ in the Glatz 

 Mountains, over 4, 500 feet. (These IKM.^S an-, applied to certain sec- 

 tions of the mountains; the entire range is known as the Sudetics.) 



Grasses. The grasses cultivated ;-re p-d clover, white clover, timothy, 

 rye .grass, esparset te (on lim'-shiiic soil), im-crm*, aisd perradella. in 

 addition to these grasses, Indian con:, sown in drills, is cut g'reen for 



