Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/333

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. sylvania, Bohemia, and Tyrol, and quicksilver in Carniola (Idria). Iron is the most important metallic product of the monarchy, and is worked mainly in Bohemia, Moravia, Styria, and in many parts of Hungary, Copper is found in Tyrol, Salzburg, Transylvania, and Hungary Proper; lead occurs mainly in Bohemia, Carinthia, Galicia, and Hungary. The most important and the most common mineral of Austria-Hungary is coal, which constitutes over 80 per cent. in value of the total mineral production of Austria and over 40 per cent. of that of Hungary. While coal is found in almost every province of the Empire, the greater part of the output comes from Bohemia, which produces more than one-half of the mineral products of Austria and nearly one-third of its metal products. Rock salt exists in immense beds on both sides of the Carpathians, in the county of Mármaros in Hungary, in Transylvania, and in Galicia. The salt mines of Wieliczka in Galicia are the most famous in the world. Salt is also made by State salt-works by evaporating the water of salt-springs, and from the sea-water on the coasts of the Adriatic. The sale of salt in Austria is a Government monopoly. Of other salts, alum, sulphate of iron, and sulphate of copper are the most important. The useful earths include all sorts of clay up to the finest porcelain earth (in Moravia, Bohemia, and Hungary). Of precious and semi-precious stones the most abundant are the Hungarian opal (which passes in commerce as Oriental), Bohemian garnet (the finest in Europe), carnelian, agate, beryl, amethyst, jasper, ruby, sapphire, topaz, etc. In 1885 oil-wells of great productiveness were opened at Kolomea, in Galicia, and heavy import duties were soon laid on petroleum for the benefit of these wells and in order to encourage refining. Considerable deposits of zinc, tin, manganese, bismuth, sulphur, arsenic, uranium, nickel, and graphite are also found in the various parts of the monarchy.

The following table, compiled from official reports, shows the progress of mining in Austria and Hungary during the last decade of the century:

The annual value of the products of the mines of Austria increased from about $55.000.000 at the beginning of the decade to nearly $75.000.000 at its close. The annual value of the metallurgical products amounts to about $20.000.000. The total annual value of the mineral output of Hungary for the same period advanced from about $20.000.000 to nearly $25.000.000. The number of persons employed in both the mines and the furnaces in Austria is nearly 150,000, about 5 per cent. of this number being women and less than that boys. In Hungary about 55.000 persons are employed in the same industries, with a similar proportion of women and boys. About 36 per cent. of the men are employed in the metal mines, 36 per cent. in the coal mines, and 25 per cent. in the iron and steel works.

Rich soil, abundance of water, and a mild climate have combined to make Austria-Hungary one of the foremost agricultural countries in Europe. Its crops are remarkable for their variety, embracing, besides all the common European products, a great many sub-tropical plants and fruits. The most fertile lands are those in Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, Lower and Upper Austria, and Galicia. Fully 95 per cent. of the total surface of the monarchy is productive, and is distributed as follows:

With the great variety in climatic and topographical conditions of the monarchy, ranging from the sunny slopes of the Adriatic coast-land to the snow-clad Alpine mountains, and from the vine-laden hills of the Tyrol in the west, to the broad, fertile plains of Hungary in the east, the agricultural products of Austria-Hun-

gary offer as great contrasts as can be found between those of any two countries of Europe. The eastern half, or Hungary with its dependencies, serves as the granary of the monarchy, besides exporting considerable quantities of grain to South Germany and Switzerland. The western half, or Austria, produces everything from wheat Vol. II. - 19.