Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/1433

 PRODUCTION AND INDUSTRY 1311

The Ottoman Navy has been in the course of reorganization for the last two years under two British Admirals and a British staff of navigating, torpedo and gunnery officers. When the war with Italy broke out (1911) there were 8 effective destroyers and 14 torpedo-boats, all under ten years old. There are also torpedo gunboats, Peik-i- Shevket and Berk-i-Savfet (1906), of 22 knots, Pclenkideria (1890), of 19 knots, and a variety of small gunboats. Two scouts, nine 900 ton destroyers and some submarines are on order or projected.

Production and Industry.

Land in Turkey is held under four different forms of tenure — namely, 1st, as 'Miri,' or Crown lands; 2nd, as 'Vakuf,' or pious foundations; 3rd, as 'Mulikaneh,' or Crown grants; and 4th, as 'Miilk,' or freehold property. The first description, the 'miri,' or Crown lands, which form the largest portion of the territory of the Sultan, are held direct from the Crown. The Government grants the right to cultivate an unoccupied tract on the payment of certain fees, but continues to exercise the rights of seigniory over the land in question, as is implied in the condition that if the owner neglects to cultivate it for a period of three years it is forfeited to the Crown. The second form of tenure, the ' Vakuf, ' was instituted originally to provide for the religion of the State and the education of the people, by the erection of mosques and schools ; but this object has been set aside, or neglected, for several generations, and the 'Vakuf lands have mostly been seized by Government officials. The third class of landed property, the 'mulikaneh,' was granted to the spahis, the old feudal troops, in recompense for the military service required of them, and is hereditary, and exempt from tithes. The fourth form of tenure, the 'miilk,' or freehold property, does not exist to a great extent. Some house property in the towns, and of the land in the neighbourhood of villages, is 'miilk,' which the peasants purchase from time to time from the Government.

The system of levying a tithe on all produce leaves no inducement to the farmer to grow more than is required for his own use, or in his immediate proximity. The agricultural development of the country is further crippled by custom dues for the exportation of produce from one province to another.

Agriculture is most primitive. The soil for the most part is very fertile ; the principal products are tobacco, cereals of all kinds, cotton, figs, nuts, almonds, grapes, olives, all varieties of fruits. Coffee, madder, opium, gums are largely exported. In 1911, the produce of wheat was 164,979,000 bushels ; barley, 119,903,600 bushels; oats, 20,995,400 bushels ; rye, 17,939,000 bushels ; corn, 33,339,700 bushels. Of these amounts Turkey in Asia pro- duced 145,519,000 bushels of wheat, 106,271,000 bushels of barley, 14,456,000 bushels of oats, 12,093,700 bushels of rye, and 18,856,200 bushels of corn. Flour-milling in Smyrna is being improved and extended. Coffee is grown in the Hodeida region ; opium is an important crop in Konia. Tobacco is grown buth in European and Asiatic Turkey, the 1911 crop having been the largest gathered since 1903. The abolition of the monopoly in 1914 will increase the production still more. In 1911, 54,468,034 pounds were exported. The forest laws of the empire are based on those of France, but restrictive regulations are not enforced, and the country is being rapidly deprived of its timber. About 21 million acres are under forest, of which 3^ million acres are in European Turkey. The forests consist of pine, fir, larch, oak, cedar and other timber trees. Extensive mulberry i)lantations have been founded both in European and Asiatic Turkey, and about 250,000 plants are annually distributed to the