484 



CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



a narrow strip of Prussian territory, while the Ehine flows between the 

 two southern provinces, which provinces are known as Starkenburg, 

 Ehine-Hesse, and Upper Hesse. The area of the entire duchy amounts 

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

 lEhine-Hesse, and 811,434.43 in Upper Hesse; upon which, in 1880, lived 

 636,340 human beings ; 394,574 in Starkenburg, 277,152 in Ehine Hesse, 

 and 264,614 in Upper Hesse. Of the 1,897,254.71 acres mentioned, 

 1,812,358.63 were devoted to agricultural, pasturage, vineyard, or forest 

 purposes, as follows : 



Provinces. 



Farm and 

 gOiTden land. 



Grass, mead- 

 ow, and 

 pasture land. 



Vinoland. 



Forest land. 



Starkenljurg 



KUine-Hesae 



Upper Hesse 



Total in duchy 



Square acres. 

 312, 8t)9. 105 

 264, 536. 165 

 368, 088. 125 



Square acres. 



85, 453. 69 



15,150.65 



147,800.45 



Square acres. 



1,604.36 



23,101.40 



45.27 



Squa/re acres. 



313, 937. 13 



16,337.40 



262, 714. 83 



946, 093. 39 



248, 464. 79 



24, 811. C 



592, 989. 36 



Starkenburg can be best designated as the district lying between the 

 Ehine, Main, and ]l!feckar, by which rivers it is almost completely en- 

 circled. The valley of the Ehine 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 24 to 30. Its highest points ai e 

 1,959, 1,869, 1,834, 1,679, and 1,624 feet, respectively. More than one- 

 half of Starkenburg is of a flat 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 chiefly a loamy to clayey soil ; while in its entire eastern and 

 southeastern parts a commoner loamy soil of colored sandstone pre- 

 vails. 



Ehine-Hesse 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 Ehine. 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 divisions of the province 

 are wholly unlike, the soil of the western portion being very fertile, 

 while that of the eastern is very poor. 



CLIMATE OE HESSE-DARMSTADT. 



In starkenburg," in the valleys of the Ehine and Main, the climate is 

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

 Yicinity of the woocjea Oileuwaia m(] the influeucp of tbe Ehine aucj 



