Page:Maury's New Elements of Geography, 1907.djvu/109

Rh '''4. Denmark,''' like the Netherlands, is occupied in the cultivation of the soil, in cattle raising, and in making butter and cheese. These last, with grain, are largely exported.

Many of the people are engaged in fishing.

Copenhagen, the capital, is a handsome city.

5. Belgium is one of the smallest countries in Europe, but it is the most thickly peopled of the European countries.

The people are as busy as bees, and they cultivate their farms as carefully as gardens, and are very skillful manufacturers. They have some of the greatest iron works in the world. Many of the women are lacemakers. Some of the lace that they make is worth as much as $250 a yard.

Brussels is the capital. It is a gay city, and for this reason is sometimes called Little Paris.

6. France is a beautiful country. The people are remarkably industrious and economical. Like the Belgians, they are busy farmers and manufacturers.



Northern France produces grain and root crops. Immense quantities of beets are grown for making sugar.

Middle France is a great vineyard.

It is interesting to be there in the merry season when the grapes are gathered. The ripe clusters are picked by men, women, and children, and carted to great vats, where the juice is pressed out and allowed to stand until it ferments and becomes wine. The wines of France are sold all over the world and yield a very large amount of money.

In Southern France, which borders on the warm Mediterranean, we find many of the people occupied in raising silk-worms, and making olive oil, or pickling olives for export.



The chief manufactures of France are silk goods. The silk factories of Lyons are the most important in the world. They employ one hundred thousand persons.

France is a republic. Paris, the capital, is the most splendid city of Europe.

It is noted for the manufacture of articles requiring taste and delicate workmanship. Its porcelain, jewelry, instruments, and kid gloves are famous.

Marseilles has a larger commerce than any other port of France.



7. Austria-Hungary is one of the empires of