72.5°; autumn, 65°; winter, 27.5°. For about 155 days in each
year, Rumania suffers from the bitter north-east wind (crivets)
which sweeps over south Russia; while a scorching west or south-west
wind (austrǔ) blows for about 126 days. Little snow falls in
the plains, but among the mountains it may lie for five months.
The frosts are severe, the Danube being often icebound for three
months. The rainfall, which is heaviest in summer, averages
about 15-20 in.
Fauna.—In its fauna, Walachia has far more affinity to the lands lying south of the Danube than to Transylvania, although several species of Claudilia, once regarded as exclusively Transylvanian, are found south of the Carpathians. Moldavia and the Baragan Steppe resemble the Russian prairies in their variety of molluscs and the lower kinds of mammals. Over 40 species of freshwater mussels (Unionidae) have been observed in the Rumanian rivers. The lakes of the Dobrudja likewise abound in molluscs; parent forms, in many cases, of species which reappear, greatly modified, in the Black Sea. Insect life is somewhat less remarkable; but besides a distinctive genus of Orthoptera (Jaquetia Hospodar), there are several kinds of weevils (Curculionidae) said to be peculiar to Rumania. Birds are very numerous, including no fewer than 4 varieties of crows, 5 of warblers, 7 of woodpeckers, 8 of buntings, 4 of falcons, and 5 of eagles; while among the hosts of waterfowl which people the marshes of the Danube are 9 varieties of ducks, and 4 of rails. Roe-deer, foxes and wolves find shelter in the forests, where bears are not uncommon; and chamois frequent the loftiest and most inaccessible peaks.
Minerals.—The mineral wealth of Rumania lies chiefly in the mountains. Petroleum, salt, lignite and brown coal are largely worked. Deposits of rock-salt, a valuable government monopoly, stretch from the department of Succava in northern Moldavia to that of Gorjiu in Walachia, and are mined in the departments of Bacau, Prahova and Râmnicǔ Sǎrat. The presence of petroleum, indicated by many ancient workings in the shape of shallow hand-dug wells, can be traced continuously at the foot of the Transylvanian Alps, from Turnu Severin into Bukovina. Rumans claim for their product a higher percentage of pure oil than is found in the American, Galician and Caucasian wells; and, although American competition nearly destroyed this industry between 1873 and 1895, improved methods and legislation favouring the introduction of foreign capital enabled it to recover. At the beginning of the 20th century the Rumanian petroleum deposits were among the most important in the world. The industry is carried on by private producers as well as by the state, the American Standard Oil Company being largely interested. The total output, coming chiefly from the departments of Bacau, Buzeu, Dimbovitza and Prahova, was 250,000 metric tons in 1900, 615,000 in 1905, and 1,300,000 in 1909. Associated with petroleum is ozokerite, converted by the peasantry into candles. Lignite is used as fuel on the railways. The chief anthracite beds, those in the Gorjiu department, are leased until 1975 to an English capitalist, who has the right to construct railways. Extensive coalfields exist in the Dobrudja, and the Dimbovitza, Mehedintzi, Muscel, Prahova and Vâlcea departments. Iron, copper, lead, mercury, cinnabar, cobalt, nickel, sulphur, arsenic and china clay also occur. Among the mountains, gold was perhaps worked under Trajan, who first appointed a Procurator Metallorum, or overseer of mines, for Dacia; certainly in the 14th century, when immigrant Saxon miners established a considerable trade with Ragusa, in Dalmatia. Under the Turks, gold-washing was carried on by gipsy slaves, but it has long been abandoned as unprofitable. Until 1896 building materials were chiefly imported; but, after that year, many quarries were opened to develop the native resources of limestone, sandstone, serpentine, red, yellow and green granite, and marbles of all colours, including the white marble from Dorna in Suceava, said by Rumans to rival that of Carrara in Italy Clear amber is found beside the Buzeu and its affluents, with brown and grey clouded amber, and a blue fluorescent variety, of considerable value.
Rumania has long been noted for its mineral springs. Ruins of a Roman bath exist near Curtea de Argesh. In the Vâlcea department, besides many other iodine, sulphur and mud baths, there are the state-supported spas of Calimanesciǐ, Caciulata and Govora, situated among some of the finest Carpathian scenery. Most famous of all is Sinaia (q.v.), the summer residence of the Court; while important springs exist at Lake Sarat, near Braila; at Slanic, in the Prahova department, where flooded and abandoned salt-mines are fitted up as baths; at the Tekir Ghiol mere, near Constantza; and at Baltzatesti (Balţateştiǐ), in the Neamtzu (Neamţǔ) department, a favourite resort of invalids from many parts of eastern Europe.
Agriculture.—That, in 1900, Rumania ranked third,[1] after the United States and Russia, among the grain-growing countries of the world, is due partly to the fertile soil, whose chemical constituents are the same as in the “black earth” region of Russia, though even richer in nitrates; partly also to the improved methods and appliances introduced in the last quarter of the 19th century. The frail wooden ploughs with a lance-headed share that only scratched the surface soil, were then superseded by iron ploughs; steam threshers replaced the oxen which trod out the corn, and modern implements were widely adopted. Vast harvests of wheat and maize ripen on the plains and lower hills. Apart from cereals, the principal crops are beans, potatoes, beetroot and tobacco. Among the wine-producing countries of Europe, Rumania stood fifth in 1900, despite the ravages of phylloxera, old-fashioned culture, lack of storage and other drawbacks. The red wines of Moldavia, especially the brand known as Piscul Cerbuluǐ, resemble Bordeaux. The best white wines came from Cotnar in the Jassy department, but here phylloxera ruined the vineyards. Golden Cotnar was akin to Tokay. To combat the phylloxera, the government ordered the destruction of all infected vines, distributed immune American stocks and established schools of viticulture. On the upland fruit farms, although apples, pears, medlars, cherries, plums, peaches, apricots and melons thrive, the chief attention is given to damsons, from which is extracted a mild spirit (tsuica), highly esteemed throughout Rumania. This industry began to decline after 1860, but revived with the establishment of government schools of fruit-culture in many villages. Further instruction was given at various horticultural institutes in the towns, notably the Botanic Gardens and Institute of Bucharest, where the experiments in planting figs, almonds, hops and cotton yielded favourable results. Tobacco is largely cultivated, under state supervision.
There are three breeds of Rumanian oxen, besides the peculiar black buffaloes, with horns lying almost flat along their necks. Cheap transit enables the Rumanian farmers to compete successfully in the meat-markets of Austria, Germany and Holland. The southern Dobrudja and the Baragan Steppe, with the mountain pastures of Argeh, Buzeu, Dimbovitza, Muscel and Prahova, are occupied by large sheep-runs; 1200 farms were created in the Baragan by the Land Act of 1889. In winter the flocks are driven from the highlands to the plains. Cheeses of ewe's milk, packed in sheepskins or bark, are in great demand. Swine and pork are largely exported to Russia and Austria-Hungary. Besides the Moldavian and Servian breeds, thousands of so-called “swamp hogs” run wild among the marshes and on the islands of the Danube. Silkworm-rearing, once an important household industry, had been almost abandoned, when, in 1891, the government established mulberry nurseries, and distributed silkworms free of charge. Silkworm-rearing is taught in the monasteries and agricultural schools, especially in the College of Agriculture and Sylviculture, at Ferestriu, near Bucharest. Similar measures were adopted to check the decline of bee-keeping, and a model apiary was founded in 1890, under government control.
Forests.—The forests of Rumania were long either neglected or exploited in the most reckless fashion. Large tracts of woodland were cleared near the railways, and the communal rights of grazing and gathering firewood destroyed the aftergrowths. Nevertheless, in 1910 there were 2,760,000 acres under forests, chiefly in the mountains of north-western Moldavia. More than 1,000,000 acres are state property. Under King Charles, an ardent forester, the wholesale destruction of timber was arrested, and new plantations met with success. Lumber is floated down the rivers of the Carpathian watershed to the Danube, and so exported to Turkey and Bulgaria; casks, shaped planks and petroleum drums go chiefly to Austria and Russia. Wood-carving is taught in many schools, and a special school of forestry exists at Branesci in the Ilfov department. Estates in private hands are liable to state control, under the Forests Act of 1886.
Land Tenure.—The Rumanian system of land tenure dates from 1864, when most of the land was held in large estates, owned privately, or by the state or by monasteries. There was also a small class of peasant proprietors, called mochenéni in Walachia, résèchi in Moldavia, living and working in family communities; but the great mass of the peasantry cultivated the lands of the large proprietors, giving a certain number of days' work to their manorial lord, in addition to a tithe of the raw produce. They received in return a plot of ground proportionate to the number of animals they owned, and had also rights of grazing and of collecting fuel in the forests. In 1864, under the government of Prince Cuza, a new law was promulgated, conferring on each peasant family freehold property in lots varying from 7½ to 15 acres, according to the number of oxen that they owned. The man with no cattle received the minimum; the owner of 2 oxen got 10 acres, and the possessor of 4 received 12½ to 15 acres. The price of the land, which was calculated on the basis of the value of the forced labour to which the landlord had been entitled, was about £1, 16s. per acre, paid to the landlord by the state as compensation, and subsequently recovered from the peasants in fifteen annual instalments. In the first distribution, which took place almost immediately after the law was passed, 280,000 families in Walachia and about 127,000 in Moldavia became freeholders, holding nearly 4 million acres or one-third of the cultivated area of the country. These peasant plots were all declared inalienable for thirty years. The law of emancipation, although passed with the best of motives, did not to any great
- ↑ The relative importance of Rumania was afterwards lessened by the development of wheat-culture in Canada, Argentina and elsewhere.
