Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1055

 COMMERCE

699

While there are a few large proprietors in Greece, the land is to a large extent in the hands of peasant jjroprietors. On the whole, agriculture is in a backward state, though the soil is of unusual fertility. The average production of cereals for the whole of Greece is :— wheat, 7,000,000 bushels; l)arley, 3,000,000 bushels; rye, 825,000 bushels; for the old provinces 2,700,000 bushels of maize ; mezlin, 1,380,000 bushels. The most favoured and best cultivated crop is the currant, which covers vast districts. The yield in 1896 was estimated at 150,000 tons ; in 1897, 146,000 tons. By the Reten- tion Law of 1895 15 per cent, of the crop is retained Ijy the Government, so that in 1897 the quantity available for export was about 124,000 tons. The Retention Law, intended to maintain the price by reducing the quantity of exports, was originally passed for one year, but has been renewed annually. The crop of figs (dried) in 1897 reached 10,000 tons; of valonea (the acorn cup of the Quercus AcgiUops, used in tanning) 9,000 tons. Silk culture is confined to Messenia, where, in 1897, the cocoon produce was 150,000 kilo- grammes, besides 8,000 kilogrammes of silk. The wine and olive industries are important. In 1892 there were in Greece 100,000 horses, 360,000 cattle, and 2,900,000 sheep. There were in 1896, 29 powder and dynamite mills, producing annually about 843 tons of powder and 112 tons of dynamite. For the manufacture of soap (olive) there were in 1896 37 factories employing 480 men and 11 women, and producing 8,240 tons of soap i^er annum.

In the Laurium district the marketable ores produced in 1897 were : manganese iron ore, 192,789 tons ; hematite, 136,811 tons ; zinc ore, 24,830 tons; silver lead ore, 9,660 tons ; dressed rich galena, 6,912 tons; dressed blend of lead and zinc ore, 3,084 tons ; lead smokes, 2,508 tons ; besides 409,085 tons of poor lead ore from which 16,074 tons of marketable pig lead were obtained. There are 26 smelting furnaces at work (1897) in French and Greek foundries. Other minerals worked in Greece are silicate of mag- nesia, barytes, sulphur, emery, gypsum. Magnesite ore is worked in Euboea.

Other considerable industries are the manufacture of engines, glass, leather, thread, cloth, flour, and spirit.

Commerce.

The total value of the special commerce of Greece in 1896 was : — Imports, 116,275,516 drachmai gokl ; exports, 72,477,295 drachmai gold; in 1897, imports, 114,761,525 ; exports, 80,734,074 drachmai gold. The special commerce for 1895 and 1896 was as follows with the leading countries : —

Imports from

Imxiorts from

Exports to

Exports to

(1895)

(189(5)

(1805)

(1890) Drachmai

Drachmai

Drachmai

Drackmai

Russia

28,446,089

24,140,783

5,310,294

7,616,517

United Kingdom

30,773,918

29,447,472

16,833,009

18,196,956

Austria-Hungary

13,886,716

11,842,079

5,957,206

6,941,553

Turkey and Egypt

10,058,345

14,980.776

9,975,117

10,636,576

France

6,791,022

8,523,420

7,974,573

6,504,648

Italy ....

2,448,802

2,905,776

6,840,565

3,968,828

Germany.

8,440,279

10,208,723

5,086,449

3,334,394

Belgium

1,434,568

2,744,815

7,830,674

8,229,232

United States

3,707,216

4,501,670

2,349,758

2,680,488

Holland.

467,093

939,152

3,107,459

3,230,290

Other countries.

1,513,050

6,040,850

1,905,048

i

1,137,813

109,610,203

116,275,516

72,183,221 j

72,477,295