Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/27

Rh  The climate of Roumania is one of extremes as regards temperature. Winter and summer are almost equally trying. In the former season the thermometer may sink to — 15° Fahr., while in the latter it may rise to from 90° to 95°. The mean temperature of spring at Bucharest is 53°, summer $72 1⁄2$°, autumn 65°, winter $27 1⁄2$°. Spring, however, scarcely exists except in name, the interval between the cold winter and hot summer being very short. The autumn, on the other hand, is long and is the most genial season of the year. It lasts to the end of November. Being continuous with the Russian plain, Roumania is exposed to the bitterly cold wind from the north-east by which southern Russia is also scourged. In Roumania this wind, known as crivets, blows on an average 155 days in the year, while a west or south-west wind, called the austru, equally disagreeable for its scorching heat, blows on an average 126 days. The rainfall is not excessive. The number of rainy days in the year is about 74, or only about two-fifths of the number round London. The summer months are those in which the rains are most abundant. Snow is unfrequent (12 days in the year). As regards salubrity the low-lying plains near the Danube are the worst part of the kingdom. Marsh fever is there prevalent, and the tendency to suffer from disease is increased by the miserable character of the dwellings occupied by the peasantry of that district. The houses are mere pits dug out in the ground and covered over with sloping roofs formed of branches and twigs.

Three-fourths of the population are dependent upon agriculture. The plains covered by loess and black soil are admirably adapted for the growth of cereals, and of these the most important are maize, wheat, and barley. The methods of cultivation are to a large extent primitive and imperfect, but great improvements are taking place through the application of se capital to the development of the native resources. Improved agricultural implements of all kinds have been introduced of late years in great numbers. The old plough, which has a share resembling a lance head, which enters the ground horizontally and thus merely scratches the surface, is being rapidly superseded by ploughs of English and Austrian manufacture. These improvements, which have been greatly stimulated by the alteration in the status of the Roumanian peasantry brought about by the law of 1864, and like-wise by the introduction of railways, have resulted in an enormous increase in the amount of the production of cereals. Roumania is one of the principal grain-exporting countries in Europe, and the increase in the production just alluded to is sufficiently well indicated by the figures given below relative to the exports of grain to the United Kingdom. The great variations in these figures, though obviously due in part to political causes, likewise serve to illustrate the chief drawback under which Roumanian agriculture labours—namely, the liability to drought.

Besides forming a valuable article of export maize furnishes the chief food of the people. The great body of Roumanians seldom cat meat except on feast days, and the favourite food is a dish called mamaliga, made by boiling maize-meal and flavouring it with a little salt. It thus resembles the hominy of the Americans. In addition to cereals many kinds of vegetables, including garlic, melons, and cucumbers, are grown. Hemp and colza are also important products, and tobacco furnished a considerable article of export until it was made a monopoly of the state in 1872. As already mentioned, wine and numerous fruits are produced on the foot-hills of the Carpathians, but owing to neglect the products are greatly inferior to what they ought to be. Nothing, it is said, but care in the cultivation of the vine and the preparation and pre- servation of the wine is necessary to make Roumania a wine- growing country of the first rank. As it is, vines are estimated to cover only about 250,000 acres, or about ;}5 of the entire surface. From plums the Roumanians extract a strong spirit known as tsuica, and it is chiefly for this that the plum-tree is cultivated.

The rearing of domestic animals is likewise an important industry, but it has not advanced so much of late years as the growth of cereals. The exports of cattle are almost stationary. Oxen are of much more importance than horses, being chiefly used in field labours. Buffaloes also are reared for the purpose, and are much valued for their strength. Sheep and cattle rearing forms the chief occupation of the sparse population of the Dobrudja.

About one-sixth of the total surface of Roumania is estimated to be covered with forests producing valuable timber trees. Oaks, firs, and beeches are said to be met with having a diameter of more than 8 feet at the height of 33 feet above the ground. The warm summers and cold winters are favourable to the quality of the wood, which is hard and lasting. Unfortunately there is a good deal of recklessness in the way in which the forests are utilized, and they are said to be fast disappearing ; but it is to be hoped that the influence of the College of Agriculture and Sylviculture at Ferestreu, 2 miiles from Bucharest, will help to put a check upon this improvidence, as it is without doubt contributing greatly to the promotion of Roumanian agriculture.

The mineral wealth on the Roumanian side of the Carpathians is considerable, but at present there are only three minerals that have any great industrial importance. hese are rock-salt, petroleum, and lignite. The salt mines are a state monopoly, and two of them, at Ocna-Mare aud Telega, are partly worked by convicts, The depth from which the salt is extracted nowhere exceeds 300 feet. The average quantity of salt sold annually is about 62,000 tons. Lignite is important inasmuch as it is used aloug with wood on the railways, as well as in, brick and lime kilns. Coal is also found, in some places even at the surface, but, though one or two mines have been opened, the total production is insignificant. Ozocerite, or fossil wax, is frequently found in association with lignite, but is used only in small quantity by the peasantry. Among other minerals are anthracite, iron, gold, copper, lead, sulphur, cobalt, and arsenic ; and there is little aodi that some of these at least might be made economically valuable if the resources of the country were adequately developed.

So far the manufacturing industries of Roumania are hardly worthy of mention. There are petroleum refineries, one or two sugar refiuerics,- numerous steam-mills for grinding flour, besides large numbers of floating maize-mills on the Danube ; but in addition to these there are only a few manufactories at Galatz.

From the account just given of the products of Roumania it follows that the exports of the kingdom consist chiefly of, raw produce, and above all of cereals, while the imports are mainly composed of manufactured articles. The countries with which the trade is chiefly carried on are Austria (with about 40 per cent. of the whole trade in 1888), Great Britain (about 30 per cent.), France (about 10 per cent.), Germany (about 8 per cent.), Turkey, and Russia. The foreigu commerce of Roumania is centred in Galatz, which is situated at the bend of the Danube where the river once more turns eastward on reaching the northern extremity of the Dobrudja plateau. From this centre there is one line of rail- way leading into Russia, while others pass through the interior of Roumania and connect with the Austrian liues in the north and south of Hungary. The first Roumanian railway was that from Giurgevo to Bucharest, opened in 1869. In 1884 there were about 1000 miles of railway in the kingdom. The internal trade of Roumania is almost entirely in the hands of the Jews. It is greatly hampered by the existence of the octroi in all the large towns, almost all the necessaries of life as well as luxuries being taxed when introduced within the municipal boundaries.

See Samuelson, Roumania, Past and Present (London, 1882); Ozanne, Three Years in Roumania (London, 1878); Kanitz, Donau-Bulgarien und der Balkan (1875); and R. Roesler, Rumänische Studien. (G. G. C.)

Statistics. The anproximate proportion of cultivated and uncultivated land in Roumania is given in pogones (=$1 1⁄4$ acres) as follows:—

Cereals, gardens, vines ..... ..........ssse00e+ 4,945,708 Pasture and hay 7,698,910 Forests.......-...+ .. 4,029,947 Uneulti vated ...cccsese ss oe ees 7,574,336

The annual yield of cereals of all kinds is roughly estimated at 15,000,000 quarters. The number of horned cattle in the conntry is about 3,000,000.

In 1883 the following were the values of the principal articles of import and export :—

Imports. | Exports. Imports. Exports.

£ £ £ £ Textiles... .-+-| 4,706,063 | 248,504 || Minerats, pottery..} 455,510 12,760 Metals... .| 2,926,576 | 73,196 || Oils, fat, d&c. 374,337 5,992 Skins, leather-......| 1,749,674 | 257,136 || Cereals... 281,377 | 6,902,280 Wood and man Animals. 159,420 | 465,692 factures......-.-+. 754,754 | 823,372 || Fruits, vegetables.| 62,846 | 171,381 Exotic products...| 713,000 | 24,080

The total imports of British home produce, mostly cotton goods, &e., and iron, into Roumania in 1883 amounted to ₤1,344,619, and the total exports, mostly barley and maize, of Roumania to Great Britain to ₤3,516,442.

There were in 1884 about 1000 miles of railway complete in the kindgom, and 3000 miles of telegraph lines.

The estimated population of the country is 5,376,000, including about 400,000 Jews and 200,000 Gipsies. About four and a half millions of the population belong to the Roumanian branch of the Greek Orthodox Church, and there are 114,000 Roman Catholics and 13,800 Protestants.