Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/643

* TURKEY. 557 TURKEY. Adriatic coast is heavy the year around, but decreases toward the cast and is small in the southeast. The soils are extremely fertile ex- cept among the mountains of the western lime- stone district. Flora and Fauna. The typical Mediterra- nean vegetation is luxurious along the Adriatic coast, but is poorly developed in the south, and is entirely lacking in the interior. The climate, liowevcr, permits the cultivation on the southern plains and among the mountain valleys of all the Central Jiuropeun plants, while many of those of South Europe thrive along the .Egean plains. The fruits of Central Europe abound in the interior. Many of the mountains are cov- ered with forests. Animals of European, Asiatic, and Mediterranean origin abound; the wolf and bear are found among the mountains, jackals on the southern plains^ and but^'alocs and fat- tailed sheep are roared on the same farms with ordinary cattle and sheep. Geologt and Mi^erai, Resoubces. The folded limestone (Dinaric) mountains of Albania extend parallel to the Adriatic coast, showing in many regions the subterranean channels and sink holes peculiar to the Karst. In contrast with these younger folded mountains is the very irregular relief of the intricate mountain region in Thrace and ilacodonia, formed of erj'stalline rocks. In the extreme southeast the whole pen- insula on which Constantinople stands belongs geologically to Asia. Its hills are separated from the granitic mountains of Europe by a wide plain covered with recent formations. The rocks on both sides of the Bosporus are Devonian, con- taining the same fossils, and there is no doitbt that this European peninsula was at one time a portion of Asia Minor. Turkey is rich in min- erals, especially in the Asiatic provinces, but they are little worked. Considerable manganese ore (45,000 tons in 1S98) is mined near Saloniki. In Asia Minor there are mine* of chrome, silver- lead ore. copper, antimony, coal, etc. Large quantities of meerschaum are obtained at Eski- Shehr, in Asia INIinor. A small royalty is paid on all minerals exported. Agriculture, etc. Though the inhabitants live almost exehisively by farming and cattle- raising, agriculture is in a very primitive con- dition. The reasons are the oppressive ta.xation, ■which consumes one-third of the liarvests,, the wretched government, the lack of roads, the low standard of civilization, and the unfavorable di- vision of the soil. As nearly all the land belongs to the Crown or the Church, there is little free- hold property, and the peasantry are over- whelmed with poverty. The great ecclesiastical estates (vakuf) are farmed in as primitive a manner as the humblest peasant's leasehold. Fertilizers are rarely applied to the soil. The fact that in spite of these drawbacks the soil is able to produce more than suflficient to meet the wants of the country is proof of the fertility and capabilities of the^e lands. The chief agrietil- tural productions of Turkey in Euro])e and Asia are cereals (maize, wheat, and barley being the most important), of which there is usually a surplus for export ; wine, figs, and raisins, olives for oil produced on the coasts ; roses for the manufacture of attar: tobacco of superior qual- ity; flax, hemp, cotton, opium, and silk. After vears of decline the culture of silk in 1895 be- gan to revive, and in 1901 203,075 ounces of silkworm eggs and 11,600,000 poinids of cocoons were produced in the provinces of Briisa and Ismid in Asia Minor. A very small amount of raw silk is consumed in the home industries, the re- mainder being exported, chielly to France, Turkey and Bulgaria supply most of the oil of roses in the general trade, and the Turkish production in 1901 was about 5800 pounds. Forestry is entirely unknown, and foresl.s have been pre- served only in those districts where the want of roads has made their destruction diliicult. Elsewhere wide mountain tracts are perfectly bare and are used for pasturage. Over 3,- 000,000 acres are still under forests in European Turkey, which is about one-seventh of the forest area of the empire. The raising of live stock is the chief occupation of the inhabitants of the central and western parts of the country. This industry more than meets the local require- ments, though little is done to improve the breeds of cattle. The small, but sturdy, Turk- ish horses are used for riding and as pack ani- mals, and buffaloes for draught purposes. Goats' flesh and mutton are the chief meats consumed, and Albania exports a considerable quantity of wool. The fisheries are prominent, those of the Bosporus alone i-epresenting a value of over $1,000,000 a year, while the Mediterranean coast produces sponges of excellent quality, and the Ked Sea mother-of-pearl. Manufacture.?. The manufacturing indus- tries are chiefly represented by hand-loom weaving and the work of artisans, who transform brass and copper into household utensils. Concessions have been granted for glass manufactures, paper mills, and textile looms, but the numerous at- tempts to establish factories with Western cap- ital in order to utilize the raw produce of the country have nearly all been wrecked by the pasha system of government and the religious fanaticism of the inhabitants, Constantinople and Saloniki still retain a few steam mills, silk factories, and a factory for fezes, but this na- tional headwear is chielly im])orted. Even the few articles in which Turkey formerly claimed preeminence, such as Turkey leather, some grades of silk fabrics, carpets, Turkish yarns, etc, can no longer compete in their own home with the products of foreign factories. Commerce, The result of the conditions above mentioned is that Turkey is an important market for the manufacttircs of Western Europe. The Turks are deficient in trading spirit, and both the domestic and the foreign trade are chiefly carried on by Greeks, .Jews, Armenians, and other foreigners. In part, Turkey pays for the cotton, the groceries, woolen fabrics, metal goods, gen- eral manufactures, and coal and petroleum that it imports with the grain, wpol, skins, raw silk, tobacco, wine, southern fruits, gall nuts, attar of roses, leather, and carpets that it sends abroad. The imports are always much larger than the exports. The commercial statistics of Turkey are very tuisatisfactory. but the following table shows the approximate amount of its foreign IniportR.. Exports.. 1891 1898 $100,ROO.(X»| $:03,100.000 $117,100,000 66,4aO.O<X)| f4.800.000 59,000.000