Speed from 12 to 14 knots. * Speed 9 knots, except Arminius, 11, Bremse and Brummer 14.6 knots. * Speed of 18 knots. Nearly all the ships are armed with torpedo gear. The following table shows the strength of the torpedo flotilla: There are thus in all 131 torpedo vessels. The following ships were in construction January 1890:-4 belted cruisers of from 9,000 to 10,000 tons; 9 coast defence armourclads, of 3,800 tons each; 1 deck-protected cruiser of 4,230 tons and 8,000 horse-power; 1 torpedo gunboat of 2,000 tons and 5,400 horse-power, speed 19 knots; 1 torpedo despatch vessel, 1,240 tons, 4,000 horse-power, 19 knots; two gun. vessels, 1,120 tons, 1,500 horse-power, 14 knots. Excepting the König Wilhelm, the two most powerful ships of the navy are the ironclads Kaiser and Deutschland, launched at Poplar in 1874. They are sister ships, 280 feet long, constructed after the designs of Sir Edward J. Reed. Each is protected with an armour belt extending all fore and aft, from 5 feet 6 inches below the water-line to the main deck, and has an armour-plated battery, fitted with eight 18-ton steel breech-loading Krupp guns, arranged to fire broadside. In addition to these eight guns, there are seven other guns of 4 tons weig`t placed on the upper deck. The thickness of armour-plates on the vital parts of the belt and battery is 10 inches, elsewhere it is 8 inches. The upper and main deck beams of each ironclad the completely covered with light steel plating, and the fore part of the lower deck is covered with plating 2 inches and 14 inch thick. The turret-ships, Friedrich der Grosse and Preussen, were built at German dockyards, after the same model, during the years 1873 and 1874. Each of them has two turrets, with armour of the thickness of 9 and 10 inches round them, 9 inches on the side at the water-line, and 7 inches fore and aft, while the armament consists of four 22-ton guns in the turrets, and two 5-ton guns placed fore and aft. The König Wilhelm, built at the Thames Ironworks, Blackwall, was designed by Sir E. J. Reed, and carries 29 guns made of Krupp's hammered steel. The armour is 12 inches thick amidships at the water-line, tapering gradually downwards to a thickness of 7 inches at 7 feet below the water-line. Behind the bowsprit, and midway between the main and the mizen masts, are two bulkheads each of 6-inch armour and 18 inches of teak; the forward one continues from the lower deck up through the main deck, and rises to the height of 7 feet above the spar deck, where it is curved into the form of a semicircular shield, pierced with portholes for cannon and loopholes for musketry. Within this shield are two 10-ton guns, which can be used to fire straight fore and aft, or as broadside guns. The German navy was commanded, according to the budget of 1890-91, by 12 admirals, who had under them 892 officers of all kinds, including engineers and surgeons, and 15,617 non-commissioned officers, men and boys, marines and sailors. The sailors of the fleet and marines are raised by conscription from among the seafaring population, which is exempt on this account from service in the army. Great inducements are held out for able seamen to volunteer in the navy, and the number of these in recent DEFENCE-PRODUCTION AND INDUSTRY 543 years has been very large. The total seafaring population of Germany is estimated at 80,000, of whom 48,000 are serving in the merchant navy at home, and about 6,000 in foreign navies. Germany has two ports of war, at Kiel, on the Baltic, and Wilhelmshaven in the Bay of Jade, on the North Sea. The port of Wilhelmshaven is a vast artificial construction of granite, and comprises five separate harbours, with canals, sluices to regulate the tide, and an array of dry docks for ordinary and ironclad vessels. Production and Industry. I. AGRICULTURE. In Prussia, by a series of ordinances from 1807 to 1850, complete free trade in land has been established, and all personal and material burdens removed that would stand in the way of this. With the exception of the Mecklenburgs, similar legislation has been applied to the land in other parts of Germany. Generally speaking, small estates and peasant proprietorship prevail in the West German States, while large estates prevail in the north-east. In Prussia, large estates, with an area of 250 acres and more, prevail in Pomerania, Posen, East and West Prussia; while the districts of Koblenz, Wiesbaden, Treves, Baden, and Württemberg are parcelled out into small estates. Of the whole area of Germany, 94 per cent. is classed as productive, and only 6 unproductive. The subdivision of the soil, according to the latest official returns (1883), was as follows (in hectares; 1 hectare 2-47 acres):-Arable land, vineyards, and other cultivated land, 26,311,968; grass, meadows, permanent pasture and waste lands, 10,944,570; woods and forests, 13,908,398; all other, 2,860,149. On June 5, 1882, the total number of agricultural enclosures (including arable land, meadows, cultivated pastures, orchards, and vineyards) each cultivated by one household, was as follows:— These farms supported 18,840,818 persons, of whom 8,120,518 were actually working upon them. The areas under the principal crops, in hectares, were as follows: The total yield of their products in the years indicated, in metric tons (1 metric ton 2,200 lbs. or 984 of an English ton), or hectolitres (1 hectolitre = 22 gallons), and in tons or hectolitres per hectare, was as follows: Wheat Barley Oats Buckwheat Potatoes 120,876 0.60 102,622 25,143,229 8-62 25,272,998 17,903,338 (fodder) 7,191,159 Tobacco 38,585 Hops 18-85 1.94 30,203 0.64 3-03 16,362,238 2,666,423 1:39 2,830,804 1.47 2,530,842 1.31 2,372.413 1:21 1,938,419 1-15 4,197,124 123,097 108 061 Hectolitrs Wine 1,503,072 12:50 2,392,042 19.90 2,859,998 23-7 2,021,569 16-7 In 1889 the produce of sugar-beet produced 944,505 tons of raw and refined sugar. The following are the statistics of domestic animals according to the census of January 1883: Of the above numbers there belong to Prussia 2,417,367 horses, 8,737,641 PRODUCTION AND INDUSTRY 545 cattle, 14,752,328 sheep, 5,819,136 swine, 1,679,686 goats, and 1,238,040 bechives; to Bavaria, 356,316 horses, 3,037,C98 cattle, 1,178,270 sheep, 1,038,344 swine. II. FORESTRY. Forestry in Germany is an industry of great importance, conducted under the care of the State on scientific methods. About 34,347,000 acres, or 25-7 per cent. of the area of the empire, were estimated to be occupied by forests in 1889. In South and Central Germany from 30 to 38 per cent. of the surface is covered with forests; and in parts of Prussia 20 per cent. From forests and domains alone Prussia receives a revenue of about 4 millions sterling. III. MINING. The great bulk of the minerals raised in Germany is produced in Prussia, where the chief mining districts are Westphalia, Rhenish Prussia, and Silesia, for coal and iron, the Harz for silver and copper, and Silesia for zinc. Saxony has coal, iron, and silver mines; and Alsace rich coal-fields. The annual quantities of the principal minerals raised (1885-89) are shown in the following table, the returns for 1889 being provisional only : Coal Iron ore Zinc ore 705,200 Lead ore 58,320,400 58,056,600 | 60,334,000|65,386,100 67,341,307 900,700 667.809 709,000 157,600 161,800 169,500 The total value of the minerals raised in Germany and Luxemburg in 1888 was over 494 million marks; in 1889 over 552 million marks. The following table shows particulars of the production of the foundries (provisional returns) in Germany and Luxemburg in 1889, and the number of foundries engaged principally or partly with each metal in 1888 : |