172 GERMANY. 



these means in reservoirs, is utilised in the summer for the purposes of irrigation 

 and manufacture. The number of these artifical lakelets is great, and was greater 

 still formerly. In Upper Lorraine some natural lakes and swamps have been 

 utilised for the same objects. Many swamps have been drained, but others still 

 remain, and impede communication. 



The 111 is the only important river which belongs to Alsace, from its source in the 

 Swiss Jura to its confluence with the Ehine, and it can hardly be doubted that the 

 whole country was named after it.* It drains a basin of 1,770 square miles. On 

 debouching upon the plain of Miilhausen, instead of flowing direct to the Rhine, 

 it takes a northerly course, parallel with that river, and only enters it below 

 Strassburg, after a course of 70 miles. In this respect it resembles the remarkable 

 lateral streams of the Loire. We have reason to suppose that the 111, in the time 

 of the Romans, entered the Rhine above Strassburg. It is a very erratic stream, 

 often changing its course, f and its floods are much dreaded. Strassburg has 

 frequently suffered fro4n inundations, and it is proposed now to construct an 

 "outfall" canal above that town, to prevent their recurrence. + 



The mud deposited in Alsace by the ancient glaciers and the Rhine is distin- 

 guished for its fertility, and yields rich harvests, but there are also sandy or gravelly 

 tracts, which produce only trees. One of these lies to the east of Miilhausen, and 

 is known as the Hart, or " forest," but the oaks which grow there are stunted, and 

 many parts of it are only covered with coppice or shrubs. . Farther north, where 

 sand takes the place of gravel, we meet with luxuriant forests, one of the finest 

 of which is that of Hagenau. A hundred and fifty years ago it was an oak forest, 

 but at the present day hardly anything except pines is seen there. 



The climate of Alsace is not as equable as that of France. It is determined in 

 a large measure by the Vosges, which form a barrier to westerly winds, and by the 

 broad valley of the Rhine, which is open to northerly ones. The summers are 

 warm, the winters cold, and sudden clianges of temperature frequent. Down in 

 the plain the winds alternate between north and south, but in the mountains the}'- 

 follow the direction of the valleys. The rainfall is far heavier there than in the 

 plain, although the number of rainy days is about the same in both. In Lorraine 

 the rains are more frequent than in Alsace, and dense fogs, impregnated with the 

 vapours rising from swamps and bogs, fi'equently hang over the country. Though 

 unpleasant on account of their peculiar odour, these fogs are said not to be injurious 

 to health. They certainly are beneficial to vegetation, for they protect the sandy 

 soil from the scorching rays of the sun, thus enabling it to retain its moisture. § 



* lUsass, EUsass. 



t " The 111 goes where it will," says an Alsatian proverb. 



X Delivery of the 111 at Strassburg : —Average, 1,590 cubic feet ; n:inimum, 70 cubic feet ; maximum, 

 8,480 cubic feet a second (Ch Grad). 



Mean Temperatiu'e. 



Deg' Fahr. Rainfall. 



January. July. Year. In. 



§ Miilhausen ... .30 70 52 30-0 



Strassburg 31 66 .51 26-4 



Hagenau 37 72 53 26-4 



Metz 31 67 49-5 26 



