Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/1000

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GERMANY : — HESSE

Area and Population

Provinces

Sq. Miles

Population

Pop. per sq.

1905

1910 1919

mile, 1910

Starkenburg

Upper Hesse (Oberhessen) Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen).

1,169

1,269

530

542,996 296,755 369,424

590,380 59S,358 309,233 1 322,270 382,438 I 370,621

511-8 253 9 699-2

Total

2,968 jl,209,175

1,282,051 1,291,249

435 -n

There were 616,882 males and 674,367 females in 1919. Increase from 1910 to 1919 was at the rate of - 08 per cent, per annum.

The largesttowns are Mayencc or Mainz (including suburbs), with 107,930 ; Darmstadt, the capital, 82,368 ; Offenbach, 75,380 ; Worms, 44,290 ; Giessen, 33,409 inhabitants, 1919.

Religion and Instruction. — At the census of 1910 there were 848,004 Protestants, 397,549 Catholics, 6,707 of other Christian sects, 24,063 Jews, and 5,728 unclassified, or of no religion. The Protestant Church is governed by a synod, and its affairs are administered by a consistory (Oberkonsistorium). The Roman Catholic Church has a Bishop (at Mainz).

Instruction is compulsory. The elementary schools are maintained by the communes, but with contributions by the State. There are (1920) 979 public elementary schools with 4,282 teachers, and 204,709 pupils. Con- tinuation schools (Fortbildungsschulen) ; winter, 1919-20, 28,259 pupils. Hesse has 11 gymnasia, 3 progymnasia, 3 realgymnasia, 9 Oberrealschulen, 18 realschulen, 1 Agricultural College (Landwirtschaftschule), and 22 in- complete realschulen (hohere Burgerschulen), with 855 teachers, and 15,566 pupils ; 7 higher girls' schools with 4,408 pupils ; and 49 private schools with 5,029 pupils. The University at Giessen had 2,143 matriculated students (140 women), and a Technical High School at Darmstadt, with 2,206 students. There are many industrial, technical, agricultural and other special institutes.

Finance- — The ordinary revenue and expenditure were estimated for the year 1920 to balance at 12,474,707/.

Public debt 23,791,275/!., 1917, nearly all railway debt.

Production and Industry.— Of the area, 63*4 per cent, is under cultivation ; 315 per cent, forests ; 5 1 per cent, uncultivated (houses, roads, water, &c. ). Arable land occupies 923,403 acres; meadows and pastures, 252,602; vineyards, 36,087; and forests, 599,790 acres; of the latter. 186,382 belong to the State, 123,155 to the communes, 7,247 to other bodies, and 189,885 to private persons.

Areas and yield of chief crops, 1919 :— Rye, 135,070 acres (yield 99,717 tons); summer barley, 87,688 acres (56,335 tons); potatoes, 110,410 acres (453,827 tons) ; 33,245 acres under vines, yielding 7,388,480 gallons of wine to the value of 213,021,796 marks in 1919.

Domestic animals, March 1, 1920 :— Horses, 56,191 (March 1, 1919); cattle, 276,152 ; sheep, 97,994 ; serine, 120,769 ; goats, 142,993.