360 GERMANY. 



Flax and lump are grown extensively, more especially in the plains of 

 Hanover, in Prussia, and Posen. Beet-root sugar is largely made in the basins 

 of the Elbe and Oder, and near the manufacturing districts.* The hops not 

 only supply numerous breweries, but form an article of export, whilst malt has to 

 be imported.! The 50,000 tons of tobacco produced in the country are far from 

 supplying the wants of the smokers, and nearly an equal amount has to be imported 

 annually. The cultivation of fruit trees and of market gardens is being carried on 

 with increasing success, especially near the large towns. Germany has about 

 304,000 acres of vineyards, and the vine grows as far north as Berlin, but the 

 wine produced outside the valleys of the Rhine, Moselle, Neckar, and Main is of 

 very inferior quality. 



The number of domestic animals is proportionately somewhat larger than in 

 France, and some of the breeds are of superior merit.J The borses of Mecklenburg 

 and Schleswio--Holstein are justly valued for their muscular strength and motion. 

 The horse was formerly held sacred in these countries, and barbarians though 

 they were, the old Saxons were most careful breeders, keeping their brood mares 

 and stallions in Schicerins, or " sacred enclosures." The largest stud of Germany 

 is at present at Trakehnen, in East Prussia, close to the Russian frontier. That 

 province supplies the army with its best cavalry horses. The breeds of Hanover 

 and Oldenburg are likewise held in high estimation. 



The cattle of Germany are less known abroad, although the breeds of the 

 Bavarian Alps and of the Voigtland are notable for the quantity of milk they 

 give. The sheep are for the most part merinos, which have retained their 

 characteristics more firmly in Germany than in Spain. The breeding of sheep is, 

 however, on the decrease, and German wool has in a large measure been supplanted 

 by South African and Australian produce. The breeding of pigs is of impor- 

 tance, especially in Westphalia, that land of hams. 



In former times most of the land of Germany was held by a comparatively 

 small number of landowners, who were at one and the same time the legislators, 

 iudo-es, and employers of the country. The peasants have now become the 

 proprietors of the land they till, and large estates, for the most part heavily 

 mortgaged, are getting fewer. There are properties now of every size, though 

 the subdivision of the land has not yet been carried to the same length as in 

 France. In Prussia small properties preponderate only in the Rhenish provinces, 

 and one-half of the soil is still in the hands of proprietors who own at least 185 

 acres each.§ It has been asserted that in the fertile parts of Germany the land 

 of small proprietors yields heavier crops than that of large ones, the domains of 



* The annual produce of sugar rose from 28,163 cwts. in 1834 to 6,932,900 in 1876. 



t In 1875 862,400,000 gallons of beer were made, or 19 gallons to the head of the population. 

 95,513,000 gallons of spirit were distilled in the same year, whilst the average produce of wine only 

 amounts to 80,000,000 gallons. 



X Live stock in 1873 :— 3,357,200 horses, 3,708 mules and asses, 15,777,000 head of cattle, 25,140,000 

 sheep, 7,124,000 pigs, 2,320,000 goats. 



^ In Prussia there were in 1869 2,141,486 landed proprietors, of whom 18,289 were in possession of 

 43 per cent, of the total area, and 1,099,261 owned less than 3 acres each. In Bavaria there are 947,010 

 landowners. 



