Page:EB1911 - Volume 09.djvu/947

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914
EUROPE
[PRODUCTS


the Spanish coast and in Sicily, and appears less frequently in southern Italy and Greece.

Special interest attaches to the two main bread crops of Europe, wheat and rye, the average annual production of which in the different countries of the continent at three periods is shown in the following tables.Wheat and rye.

Average Production of Wheat in Millions of Bushels.

 1872–1876.[1]   1881–1890.[2]   1894–1903.[3] 




 Austria-Hungary[4] 137  161  191 
 Belgium 22 18 15
 Bulgaria[5] .. 40 36
 Denmark    4.7  5    3.6
 France 277  309  335 
 Germany 101  93 127 
 Greece ..  7  4
 Italy 140  122  131 
 Netherlands  6  6  6
 Norway    0.3    0.3    0.4
 Portugal  9  8  8
 Rumania[5] .. 50 57
 Russia[6] 275  242  325 
 Servia[5] ..  8 11
 Spain[7] 168  73 101 
 Sweden  3    3.7    4.5
 Switzerland  2    2.6  5
 Turkey in Europe[5]  .. 38 18
 United Kingdom 91 78 57


Average Production of Rye in Millions of Bushels
in the chief Rye-producing
Countries of Europe.[8]

 1872–1876.   1881–1890.   1894–1903. 




 Austria-Hungary  129  122  124 
 Belgium 16 17 20
 Denmark 15 17 22
 France 69 69 73
 Germany 209  228  368 
 Netherlands 10 11 16
 Russia[9] 715  713  971 
 Spain 32 21 23
 Sweden 18 20 27

Perhaps the most striking facts revealed by these two tables are these; first, that the United Kingdom is the only great wheat-growing country which has shown a great decline in the amount of production in two successive periods; and, second, that both Germany and Russia show a great advance under both wheat and rye between the last two periods. This gives interest to statistics of acreage under these two crops, and some data under that head are given in the adjoining tables.

Acreage under Rye.

Period.  Germany.  Russia
 (ex-Poland). 



 1881–1890  14.50 ..
 1883–1887 .. 64.6
 1899–1903 14.74 65.5

These figures show that the increased production is only in part, in some cases in small part, attributable to increase in area, and the following figures giving the average annual yield of wheat per acre (a) in the period preceding 1885, and (b) generally in the period of five years preceding 1905, shows that an improvement in yield in recent years has been very general.

(a) (b)



 Austria  15.8  17.3
 Hungary  15.5  17.5
 Belgium  24.5   34.5 
 France  18.0  19.2
 Germany  18.5  28.2
 Italy  12.0  12.8
 Netherlands  25.0  30.7
 Russia   8.0   9.7
 Poland ..  14.8
 United Kingdom  29    29.9

When the Aryan peoples began their immigration into Europe a large part of the surface must have been covered with primeval forest; for even after long centuries of human occupation the Roman conquerors found vast regions where the axe had made no lasting impression. The account given by Julius Forests. Caesar of the Silva Hercynia is well known: it extended, he tells us, for sixty days’ journey from Helvetia eastward, and it probably included what are now called the Schwarzwald, the Odenwald, the Spessart, the Rhön, the Thüringerwald, the Harz, the Fichtelgebirge, the Erzgebirge and the Riesengebirge. Since then the progress of population has subjected many thousands of square miles to the plough, and in some parts of the continent it is only where the ground is too sterile or too steep that the trees have been allowed to retain possession. Several countries, where the destruction has been most reckless, have been obliged to take systematic measures to control the exploitation and secure the replantation of exhausted areas. To this they have been constrained not only by lack of timber and fuel, but also by the prejudicial effects exerted on the climate and the irrigation of the country by the denudation of the high grounds. But even now, on the whole, Europe is well wooded, and two or three countries find an extensive source of wealth in the export of timber and other forest productions, such as turpentine, tar, charcoal, bark, bast and potash.

Acreage under Wheat.[10]

Period. United
 Kingdom. 
 France.  Italy.  Germany.   Austria.   Hungary.  Russia
 (ex Poland). 
 Rumania. 









 Average, 1881–1885  2.8 17.2  11.7[11]  4.6 2.6 6.5  28.9[12] ..
 Average, 1886–1890 2.5 17.3  10.9[11] 4.8 2.8 7.1 .. ..
 Average, 1891–1895 2.0 16.7  11.3[11] 4.9 2.7 8.3 32.5 3.5
 Average, 1896–1900 2.0 16.9  11.3[11] 4.9 2.6 8.2 36.9 3.8
 Average, 1901–1903 1.7 16.3  12.0 4.4 2.6 9.0 42.8 3.9

The following estimates of the forest areas of European countries are given in G.S. Boulger’s Wood:—

Countries.  Thousands 
of Acres.
 Per cent. of 
 Total Area. 



 Russia 469,500  34
 Sweden 43,000  24
 Austria-Hungary  42,634  29
 France 20,642  19
 Spain 20,465   16.3
 Germany 20,047   25.6
 Norway 17,290  25
 Italy 9,031  18
 Turkey 5,958  14
 United Kingdom 2,500    3.8
 Switzerland 1,905   18.8
 Greece 1,886   11.8
 Portugal 1,107   5
 Belgium 1,073  12
 Holland 486   6
 Denmark 364    4.6

Horse-breeding is a highly important industry in almost all European countries, and in several, as Russia, France, Hungary and Spain, the state gives it exceptional support. Almost every district of the continent has a breed of its own: Russia reckons those of the Bashkirs, the Kalmucks, the Domestic animals. Don-Cossacks, the Esthonians and the Finlanders as among its best; France sets store by those of Flanders, Picardy, Normandy, Limousin


  1. Based on Scherzer, Das wirtschaftliche Leben der Völker, p. 12.
  2. From the Fifth Report of the United States Department of Agriculture, Division of Statistics, Miscellaneous Series, p. 13.
  3. Based on the Corn Trade Year-book (1904), p. 284.
  4. Exclusive of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which the average production in 1894–1903 was about 21/2 million bushels.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 The estimates for Bulgaria, Rumania, Servia and Turkey in Europe for 1872–1876 are not comparable with those of the two later periods on account of the territorial changes since that date. Those for Bulgaria in the period 1881–1890 include Eastern Rumelia.
  6. Including Poland.
  7. Spanish statistics very imperfect.
  8. Based on the same authorities as the wheat table. In the original, however, the figures for 1894–1903 are given in “quarters of 480 ℔,” while the figures given above are calculated on an average quarter of 462 ℔.
  9. Including Poland, but not Finland, in which the average production of rye is estimated at about 11,000,000 bushels.
  10. Mainly from or based on the Agricultural Returns for Great Britain, 1905.
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Single years.
  12. Period 1883–1887.