Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/467

Rh Bavarian territory, and afterwards receives the Salza, a large river flowing from Upper Austria. The Isar does not become navigable till it has passed Munich ; and the Lech is a stream of a similar size. The Main traverses the northern regions, or Upper and Lower Franconia, with a very winding course, and greatly facilitates the trade of the provinces. The district watered by the southern tribu taries of the Danube consists for the most part of an extensive plateau, with a mean elevation of 2390 feet. In the mountainous parts of the country there are numerous lakes, and in the lower portions considerable stretches of marshy ground. The climate of Bavaria differs greatly according to the character of the region, being cold in the vicinity of the Tyrol but warm in the plains adjoining the Danube and the Main. On the whole, the temperature is in the winter months considerably colder than that of Eng land, and a good deal hotter during summer and autumn. Sketch Map of Bavaria Proper.

The extent of forest is more than twice that of the land under wood in Great Britain. It forms more than a fourth of the total area of Bavaria, while in Britain the proportion is less than a twenty-sixth. This is owing to various causes the extent of hilly and moun tainous country, the thinness of the population, and the necessity of keeping a given extent of ground under wood for the supply of fuel. Nearly a third of the forests are public property, and furnish a considerable addition to the revenue. They are principally situated in the provinces of Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, and the Upper Palatinate. .il- The level country, including both Lower Bavaria (extending northwards to the Danube), and the western and middle parts of Franconia, is very productive in rye, oats, wheat, barley, and millet, and also in hemp, flax, hops, madder, and (in warm situations) in vines. The last are grown chiefly in the vicinity of the Lake of Constance and on the banks of the Main, in the lower part of its course, while the most extensive hop-growing district is central Franconia. Potatoes are cultivated in all the provinces, but especially in the Palatinate and in the Spessart district, which lies in the north-west within a curve of the Main. The southern division of Swabia and Upper Bavaria, where pasture-land predominates, form a cattle-breeding district, and the dairy produce is extensive, no less than 11,000 tons of cheese and 2386 tons of butter being sold in the course of a year. The former finds a market all over Germany, and is also exported to Austria, France, and other countries, while Northern Germany is the chief consumer of the latter. The greater proportion of the land throughout the kingdom is in the hands of peasant proprietors, the extent of the separate holdings differing very much in different districts. The largest peasant property may be about 170 English acres, and the smallest, except in the Palatinate, about 50.

According to the returns for 1863 the number of cattle in the kingdom was 3,185,688 ; sheep, 2,058,638 ; swine, 926,522; and goats, 150,855. Oxen are largely employed in agricultural operations instead of horses. The cattle, as a general rule, are kept in sheds, and not pastured in the fields.

Of mineral deposits Bavaria possesses a great variety. The quantity of iron ore is very large both in the south and north, the number of mines being between 200 and 300. Coal-mines are likewise numerous, especially in the districts of Amberg, Kissingen, Steben, Munich, and the Rhine Palatinate. The produce in 1867 was nearly 351,000 tons. Of quicksilver there are several mines, chiefly in the Palatinate of the Rhine ; and small quantities of copper, manganese, and cobalt are obtained. There are numerous quarries of excellent marble, alabaster, gypsum, and build ing stone ; and the porcelain-clay is among the finest in Europe. To these may be added graphite, emery, steatite, barytes, felspar, and ochre, in considerable quantities ; excellent lithographic stone is obtained at Soluhofen; and gold and silver are still worked to an insignificant extent. Salt is annually prepared on a large scale, being obtained partly from brine springs and partly from mines. The principal localities are Halle, Berchtesgaden. Traun- stein, and Rosenheim. The gross production in 1866 was 41,119 tons, and the value at the works amounted to 62,869. In the following year the Government monopoly, which had existed so long, was abolished, and free trade was established in salt between the members of the customs-union, a change which has led to a considerable import of salt from Prussia.

A great stimulus was given to manufacturing industry in Bavaria by the law of 1868, which abolished the last remains of the old restrictions of the guilds, and gave the whole country the liberty which had been enjoyed by the Rhine Palatinate alone. The chief manufacturing centres are Nuremberg and Munich for hardware, and Augsburg for cloth goods ; but various other towns are rising into importance. In Franconia are numerous paper-mills, and saw-mills are naturally common in the forest districts. A considerable quantity of glass is manufactured, especially in the Bohmerwald, and wooden wares are largely pro duced at Ammergau and Berchtesgaden. The preparation of the favourite national drink forms an important industry, the breweries throughout the kingdom numbering upwards of 5000. Among the most remarkable are the breweries of Erlangen. Other articles of manufacture are leather, tobacco, and earthenware.

The exports from Bavaria consist chiefly of salt, timber, cattle, pigs, corn, and madder ; and the imports comprise sugar, tobacco, raw cotton and cotton-goods, silks and linen, iron and iron-wares. As most of the imports are introduced indirectly through other Zollverein states, no custom-house register is kept of the total amount.

The highroads in Bavaria extend in all over 9000 miles. In 1869 there were rather more than 1600 miles of railway in operation, and nearly 300 were in course of construction. The greater proportion is in the hands of the Government, and the remainder belongs to the Eastern Company and the United Railway Companies of the Rhine Palatinate. The principal canal in the kingdom is the Ludwigs-canal, which connects the Rhine with the Danube, extending from Bamberg on the Regnitz to Dietfurt on 