Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/699

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BAUXITE.
613
BAVARIA.

miles long, extending from northwestern Geor- gia into northeastern Alabama, and also in Ar- kansas, near Little Rook. The foreign deposits result from the chemical alteration of igneous TOcUs: the American dejiosits are thought to be, hot-spring formations. Those of Alabama and Georgia are basin-shaped, and are limited ver- tically to points between 900 and !)50 feet above sea-level. The composition of good-grade Ameri- can ore is approximately as follows: Alumina, 57 to 62 per cent.; ferric oxide, under 1 per cent.; silica, 2.5 to 3 per cent.; titanic acid, 3 to 4 per cent.; water (combined), 20 to 30 per cent.; moisture, retained mechanically, 2 to 4 per cent, hile bauxite serves chiefly as an ore of aluminum., it is also employed in the manufacture of alum, and for lining basic con- verters and Siemens-JNIartin furnaces in the manufacture of steel. Consult: Hayes, "Baux- ite," Sixteenth Annual Report United States Geolof/ical Survet/, Part 3 {Washington, 1895) ; Mineral Industr;/, Vol. II. (New York, 1893); Branner, "The Bauxite Deposits of Arkansas," Journal of Geoloyy, Vol. V. (Chicago, 1897). See, also, the articles on Alum and Aluminium.


BAVA'RIA (Ger. Bayern) . A kingdom and one of the constituent States of the German Em- pire, the largest in area and population next to Prussia. The Grand Duchy of Hesse divides Bavaria into two unequal parts. The eastern and by far the larger part, is bounded by Austria- Hungary on the east arid south. Saxony, the Thuringian States, and Hesse-Nassau, on the north, and Wiirttemberg, Baden, and Hesse on the west. The western portion, or Rhine Pala- tinate, is situated between Baden. Prussia, Alsace-Lorraine, and Hesse, and occu]iies only one-thirteenth part of the entire kingdom. The following table gives the area of Bavaria and its population in 1890 and 1900:

Government di8thicts Area in sq. miles Population in 1890 Population in 1900 6,456 4,152 2,289 3,729 2,702 2,923 3,243 3,788 1,103,160 664,798 728,339 537,954 573,320 700,606 618,489 668,316 1,323.447 678 ,584 Lower Bavaria 831,533 Upper Palatinate 653,857 Upper Franeouia , 607 903 Middle Franconia Lower Frauconia 815.566 660,768 713,615 Total 29.282 5,594,982 6.176,153

Bavaria may be described as a mountainous country, as almost all of its boundary lines are formed by mountain ranges. On the south it takes in a part of the eastern Alps, which form tne three mountain ranges of Southern Bavaria: the Algiiuer Alps; the Bavarian Alps, contain- ing the highest summit of the German Empire, the Zugspitze (9725 feet) ; and the Salzburger Alps, .'ilong the Bohemian frontier stretches the mountain range of Biihmcrwald, with its off- shoot, the Bayerischer Wald, ruiuiing in a north- Western direction along the Danube. On the north rise the Fichtelgebirge, the Rhongebirge, and in the northwest is the Spessart. The P^ran- conian Jura traverses the west and centre. The interior of Bavaria is an elevated plateau, slop- ing toward the north, with a mean altitude of ItiOO feet, and intersected in several directions by low hills. The largest mountain range in the Palatinate is the Hardt ilountains, which have an elevation of over 2200 feet.

Bavaria belongs mainly to the basin of the Danube, by which it is traversed through its en- tire width from west to east. The part of Ba- varia south of the Danube is drained by the tributaries of that stream, the most important of which are the lller. Lech, Isar, and Inn. The northern tributaries of the Danube in Bavaria are the Wornitz, .Mlmiihl, Naab, Regen, and

ils. The northwestern part of Bavaria is 

drained by the Main and its tributary the Reg- nitz. There are not a few lakes in the southern part of the kingdom, the most important of which are the Chicmsee, Starnl)erger See, and Ammersee, besides several mountain lakes, the most famous of which is Kdnigsee, noted for its beautiful scenery. The most im])ortant canal of Bavaria is the Ludwigskanal, which connects the .-Mtmvihl, a tributary of the Danube, with the Main, a tributarj^ of the Rhine, thereby serving as a connecting link between the North and the Black seas. Among the numerous mineral springs in Bavaria, the most famous are those of Kissingen and Reichenhall.

Climate. The climate of Bavaria, although somewhat colder than that of the rest of Ger- many, is on the whole mild and salubrious. The average annual temperature ranges from about 49 F. in the valleys along the Danube, the Rhine, and the Main, to less than 44° F. in the moun- tainous regions, with very considerable fluctua- tions. The rainfall ranges from about 23.5 inches around the Hardt Jlountains, in the centre of the Rhine Palatinate, to over 78 inches in the south- ern part of Bavaria proper.

MiNER.VL Resources. The mineral deposits of Bavaria are of considerable variety, but not much mining is being done outside of coal and iron. The 15 chief collieries have an annual pro- duction of about 1,000.000 tons, valued at about $2,500,000. Other minerals are iron, salt, the famous lithographic stone of Solnhofen, graphite, and useful earths. The total value of the min- eral output amounts to about .$5,000,000, or less than 2 per cent, of the total mineral production of the Empire.

Agriculture is of greater importance in Ba- varia than in any other German State, and has reached there a degree of iicrfcction surpassed only in a few countries. • Threatened with keen competition of new countries with unlimited agricultural resources, the Bavarian landholder was compelled to adopt every available means in order to increase the productiveness of the soil. With this end in view, numerous associa- tions were formed in almost every department of agriculture. The buying of seeds and agri- cultural machinery, storing of grain, raising of domestic animals, marketing of agricultural products, insurance of farm buildings and crops, and numerous other operations are all carried on largely through cooperative societies, whieh are rapidly growing in numbers and influence. A considerable proportion of the landholders are in the habit of insuring their crops. There were 211 agricultural loan and savings associations, with a membership of 21,753. in 1887; in 1897 their number had risen to 1797, with a member- ship of 162,502. In his struggle against foreign competition the Bavarian landholder has not been left entirely to his owni efforts. The State has come to his assistance in offering him reduced