484 



CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



a narrow strip of Prussian territory, while tholUiine flows between tbe 

 two southern provinces, which provinces are known as Starkenburg, 

 lUiine-llesse. and Upper liesse. The area of the entire duchy amounts 

 to 1,897,254.71 square acres, 746,285.22 in Starkenburg; 339,535.06 in 

 Rhine-Hesse, and 811. 4o 1.43 in Upper Hesse; upon which, in 1880, lived 

 (>;>b'.340 human beings; 394, 574 in Starkenburg. 277,152 in Rhine Hesse, 

 and LMl. Oil in Upper Hesse. Of the 1.897,254.71 acres mentioned, 

 1,812, 008. 03 were devoted to agricultural, pasturage, vineyard, or forest 

 purposes, as follows : 



Starkenburg can be best designated as the district lying between the 

 lUiine, Main, and Iseckar, by which rivers it as almost completely en- 

 circled. The valley of the lihine forms the western part of the province, 

 to which on the north the valley of the Main is adjoined, while to the 

 east of the former of these valleys and in a southerly direction from the 

 latter runs the Odenwald Mountain range. This Odenwald is a wooded 

 mountain district between Darmstadt and Heidelberg, and has a length 

 of about 40 miles and a breadth of from 21 to 30. Its highest points' are 

 1,059, 1.809, 1,83-4, 1,GZ9, and 1,024 feet, respectively. More than one- 

 half of Starkenburg is of a ilat character, consisting, for the most part, 

 of a sandy soil, which toward Odenwald seems to be much mixed with 

 the remains of rocks of a primitive and volcanic origin, by which its 

 bearing capacity is materially raised. Small scattered tracts of clay, 

 clay marl. loam, and turf also appear, which bring about a high degree 

 of fertility. In its most northerly part, in its foreparts, and throughout 

 the Gersprenz Valley the Odenwald exhibits an exceedingly rich loamy 

 soil; in its entire western part, so far as agriculturally available, it pos- 

 sesses chietl.y a loamy to clayey soil ; while in its entire eastern and 

 southeastern parU a commoner loamy soil of colored sandstone pre- 

 vails. 



IJhine-IIesse is the most fertile of the three provinces, and the small- 

 est. It is of a hilly nature, and is bounded on the north and east by 

 the lihine. Its soil is composed of intermingled areas of calcareous 

 marl, clay marl, porous silicious earth, and chalky loam, not plastic, and 

 quartz-sand. The soil of the- province, is throughout very rich, but suf- 

 fers in certain places from dryness. 



Upper Hesse lies high above the sea, and has no large plains. It is 

 in part; of an undulating character, and partly of a rough, unfertile 

 mountainous nature. The eastern and western divisionsof the province 

 are wholly unlike, the soil of the, ^estrrn portion being very fertile, 

 while that of the eastern is very poor. 



CLIMATE C'K JIKSSK-DAKMSTADT. 



In Starkcnbnrg, in the valleys of the lihine, and Main, the climate is 

 in general of a mild South-German type, which, in consequence of the 

 vicinity of the, wooded Odenwald and the influence of the lihine and 



