Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/468

Rh 450 abounding in natural waterways, the total length of them being estimated at 7000 miles. But it is only the Rhine, in its middle course, that has at all times sutlicient volume of water to meet the requirements of a good navigable river. Lul-cs.—Tl1e regions which abound in lakes have already been pointed out. The Bodensee or Lake of Constance (136 s.1nare miles) is on the front.ier of the empire,—— p.)l‘l:l0l1S of the northern banks belonging severally to Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, and Baden. The largest lake en- tirely on German territory is the Chiemsee (75 square miles) ; the .-Xmmersee and the 'i'1rmsee are, however, but little less. A good many smaller lakes are to be found in the Bavarian Alps. The North-German plain is dotted with upwards of 500 lakes, covering an area. of about 2500 square miles. The largest of these are the three Haff's,—— the Oderhaff covering 370 square miles, the l"rische Haff 332, and the Kurische I-Iaff 626. The lakes in the Prussian and Pomeranian provinces, in Mecklenburg, and in Holstein, and those of the Havel, l1ave already been mentioned. In the west the only lakes of importance are the Steinhuder Meer, 14 miles north-west of Hanover, and the Diimersee on the southern frontier of Oldenburg. C'limate.—The climate of Germany is to be regarded as intermediate between the oceanic and continental climates of western and eastern Europe respectively. It has nothing in common with the Mediterranean climate of southern Europe, Germany being separated from that region by the loft.y barrier of the Alps. Although there are very con- siderable differences in the range of temperature and the amount of rainfall throughout Germany, these are not so great as they would he were it not that the elevated plateaus and mountain chains are m the south, while the north is occupied by low-lying plains. In the west no chain of hills intercepts the warmer and moister winds which blow from the Atlantic, and these accordingly in- fluence at times even the eastern regions of Germany. The mean annual temperature of south-western Germany, or the Rhine and Danube basins, has in recent years been about 52’ to 51°, that of central Germany 48’ to 50°, and that of the northern plain 46° to 48°. In Pomerania and “rest Prussia it is only 44° to 45°, and in East Prussia 42° to 44°. The Warmest districts of the German empire are the northern parts of the Rhine plain, from Carlsruhe downwards, especially the Rheinthal ; these are scarcely 300 feet above the sea-level, and are protected by mountainous tracts of land. The same holds true of the valleys of the Neckar, Main, and Moselle. Hence the vine is everywhere cultivated in these districts. The mean summer temperature there is 66° and upwards, while the average temperature of January does not descend to the freezing point (32°). The climate of north-western Germany (west of the Elbe) shows a pre- domimting oceanic character, the summers not being too hot (mean summer temperature 60° to 62°), and snow in winter remaining but a short time on the ground. West of the Weser the average temperature of January exceeds 32° ; to the east it sinks to 30°, and therefore the Elbe is generally covered with ice for some months of the year, as are also its tributaries. The further one proceeds to the east the greater are the contrasts of summer and winter. While the average summer warmth of Germany is 60° to 62°, the January temperature falls as low as 26° to 28° in West Prussia, Posen, and Silesia, and 22° to 26° in East Prussia and Upper Silesia. The navigation of the rivers is regularly interrupted by frost. Similarly the upper basin of the Danube, or the Bavarian plain, has a rather inclement climate in winter, the average for January being 25° to 26°. As regards rainfall, Germany belongs to those regions where atmospheric precipitation takes place at all seasons, but chieﬂy in the form of summer rains. In respect to the quantity of rain the empire takes a middle position GrE.lt".[-I’Y [CLI:u_TE. 6 between the humidity of north-western Europe and the aridity of the east. There are considerable diflcrenecs between particular places. The rainfall is greatest in the ,Bavarian table-land and the hilly regions of western Germany. For the Eifel, Sauerland, Ilarz, '1‘l1ii1'in_r_rcr I Wald, lthon, Yogelsberg, Spcss-art, the Black l"m‘L‘st, the . Vosrres &c. the annual averave ma ' be stated at 34 inches 5 7 3 D or more, while in the lower terraces of south-western Germany, as in the Erzgcbi1'ge and the Sudetic range, it is estimated at 30 to 32 inches only. The same average obtains also on the humid northwest coast of Germany as far as Bremen and Hamburg. In the remaining parts of western Germany, on the shores of l"urther Pomerania, and in East Prussia, it amounts to upwards of 24 inches. ln western Germany there is a district famous for the scarcity of rain, and for producing the best kind of wine: in the valley of the Rhine below Strasburg, in the Palatinatc, and also in the valley of the Main, no more than from 16 to 20 inches fall. Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, and Lusatia, Saxony and the plateau of Thuringia, West Prussia, Posen, and Lower Silesia are also to be classed among the more arid regions of Germany, the annual rainfall being 16 to 20 inches. YJ:GE1'.t'r1ox, -L.'r__Ls, AND A«;1:1cL-'LTL'n15. The ﬂora of Germany comprises about 3000 species of phanerogamic and about 4000 cryptogamic plants. The country does not, however, form a single natural region, and cannot be characterized distinctively by any of the principal botanical types. No uniform returns for the whole empire have been pub- lished, furnishing details regarding the distribution of the soil in respect of its cultivation, and thus statistics can only be collected from the official returns and estimates or valuations for separate districts. The following tabular statements must therefore be regarded as only approximately accurate :— C'zIItz'z'ablc and L'm’z4lt1'-rrlblc -1/‘C0. Cultivuble. ' L'neulti'ublc. States or Groups. ‘—""" ‘I ' _‘ Square Percent. Square ' l‘crc-cnt. nu.-5, Io; 'r..m1_ I Miles. of Total. I I Prussia, lneluding the I mino1' states of North 134,400 91'? I 122,130 8'3 Germany ............... .. ! Thuringia ..................... .. 4, 450 93 '7 300 (S Saxony ....................... .. 5,570 96 '0 I 230 4 '0 Bavaria ...................... .. 27,500 93'S 1,800 6'2 Vii1'te1nbe1'g ................ .. 7, 200 95 '6 330 I 4 '4 Baden ......................... ..' 5,200 89-1 0-2:» 10-6 Alsace-Lorraine ............. .. 5,200 SW9 I 5'20 9'1 Ilcssc ......................... .. 2,550, 90-0 . 1'10 4'0 Total ....... ..' 19-2,370, 9-2-3 |1G,o50 7 7 I I)[.slrz'bution of the C'uIl[mblc Arm. .~.%.'a;'..°:.*:..'::::1...i ' States. Square Pcreent. Square Percent. Square Pent-int Miles. of Total. Miles. of Total. illlL§. of ’lutal_l Prussia, ac.  44,150 50-7 26.870 18-3 , -‘>'3.I_‘--*0 3'-"7' Thuringia .............. .. 2.500 -'I'3'6 ‘H0 "'3 1-" 1" "'l " S-non)’ ............ .. 3.200 65-2 770 13'? 1-W’ '—’7'" ria}-nu-:aIiITII.I............. 12.3.20 42-1 5.120 17-5 lwﬁiv 34"-' Wiirtemberg .......... .. 3.600 42-8 1.300 11' '-’.I55[_'0 linden ................ .. 2.390 3.-9 l.0=»0 1-1 | "-31" :,"'_", Alsace-Lorraine ....... .. 2,4 .0 48-5 660 11-1. 1.. .0 :0 .~: Ilcsse  1,530 5l'G 350 12-9 | am ..1-(» Total ..... .. . 10-2 300] 49-0 30.570 ' 17-6 :53.-700 ' '-’-3'7 ' - I From these tables it will be seen that the extent of un- cultivable ground in Germany is ineonsiderable; and that the arable land, including garden ground and vineyards, amounts to about one-half of the area.