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 49.49 to 52.04, 

 and from east longitude 31.21 to 36.56. It is divided into three admin- 

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

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

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

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

 ous ; the rest of the province is flat, 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 land, 1.09 

 pasture land, and 29.07 woodlaud- 



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 

 + 18.3 O., and the annual mean +7—8 C. In the highlands of the Sude- 

 tics and in Upper Silesia, at an elevation of 650 to 1,300 feet, the mean 

 'winter temperature is — 1.7 to —3.7 C, and that of summer +15 to 

 + 17.2 0, On the highest peak of the mountains, the Schneekoppe, 

 5,292 feet above the sea, the mean summer temperature is +8 0.; win- 

 ter observations have only recently been made, and the mean has 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 Eiver, a 

 small 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 flows 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 being within 

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

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

 infrequently the water overflows the banks. Within the banks the soil 

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

 is gpod meadow land and yields fine crops of hay. 



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

 fruitful loamy soil of no great 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, but 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 and red sandstone (coal forma- 

 tion). The altitude ranges from about 328 feet 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 feet, the highest point of sum- 

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

 Giant Mountains, over 5,000 feet, and the Schneebergf in the Glatz 

 Mountains, over 4,500 feet. (These names are applied to certain sec- 

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



CATTLE FEEDING IN SILESIA. 



Grasses.— The grasses cultivated are red clover, white clover, timothy, 

 rye grass, esparsette (on limestone soU), lucerne, and serradella. In 

 addition to these grasses, Indian corn, sown in drills, is cut green for 



