Bulgaria, The Peasant State 



7^3 



Photo from "The Balkan Trail," by Frederick Moore (Macmillan) 

 SCENE IN THE MARKET PEACE OE SOEIA, THE CAPITAE OE BUEGARIA 



transportation business, and 6 per cent in 

 various work. 



Of the area, 33 per cent is under culti- 

 vation ; 29 per cent is covered by forest 

 or wood ; 10 per cent is pasture land, and 

 27 per cent is covered by the roads, beds 

 of rivers, fallow and waste lands. 



Agriculture, the main source of wealth 

 of the country, is still in a primitive con- 

 dition. Want of capital has retarded im- 

 proved methods and machines, but the 

 Bulgarian government is diligently striv- 

 ing to educate the peasants by agricul- 

 tural schools, by sending out itinerant 

 professors and inspectors of agriculture, 

 and by distributing better kinds of 

 seeds, etc. 



Large estates held by individuals are 

 unknown. The land is owned by the 

 peasants, the average holding being 

 about 18 acres. There are no paupers 

 except in the large towns. 



"The character of the Bulgarians pre- 

 sents a singular contrast to that of the 

 neighboring nations. Less quick-witted 

 than the Greeks, less prone to idealism 

 than the Servians, less apt to assimilate 

 the externals of civilization than the Ru- 

 manians, they possess in a remarkable 

 degree the qualities of patience, perse- 

 verance, and endurance, with the capac- 

 ity for laborious effort peculiar to an 

 agricultural race. The tenacity and de- 

 termination with which they pursue their 

 national aims seem likely in the end to 

 give them the advantage over their more 

 brilliant competitors in the struggle for 

 hegemony in the Peninsula. Unlike 

 most southern races, the Bulgarians are 

 reserved, taciturn, phlegmatic, unrespon- 

 sive, and extremely suspicious of for- 

 eigners. The peasants are industrious, 

 peaceable, and orderly ; the vendetta as 

 it exists in Albania, Montenegro, and 



