Part 30 (1/2)

The easily travelled overland routes between the Mediterranean and North Seas in very early tiave the country a commercial prominence that ever since has been retained Even before the tiround for Mediterranean merchants, and the conquest of the country was not so much for the spoils of war as for the extension of Roreater part of France is an agricultural region, and nowhere is the soil cultivated with greater skill Although the state is not quite as large as Texas, there are more far thorough cultivation a necessity Much of the land is too valuable for wheat-far districts depend upon the Russian wheat-farms for their supply Northwestern France, however, has a surplus of wheat, and this is sold to Great Britain

[Illustration: FRANCE]

The sugar-beet is the most profitable crop, and its cultivation is aided indirectly by the governar The area of sugar-beet cultivation will probably increase to its limit for this reason

The French farmer is an artist in the cultivation of small fruits, and the latter forrape is by far the most ines, are exported to a greater extent than the wines of any other country[72] Most of the wine is sold in Great Britain and the countries north of the grape belt; a considerable part is sold in the United States and the eastern countries Chane, Bordeaux, the Loire, and the Rhone Valleys are famous wine districts

Wine is also imported, to be refined or to be , both for meat and for dairy purposes, is extensively carried on The meat is consumed at home butter is an ie aion produces Caely exported; Brie cheese isthe German border The Roquefort product, made of ewe's milk, is fermented in lie sale, the United States and Great Britain being heavy purchasers

The Percheron draught-horse is raised for export as well as for hoon-trains of Great Britain and Gerrades of wool, but so iven to the cultivation of the sugar-beet, that a considerable part of the woollen textiles are now s and table poultry consumed in London are products of northwestern France

The coal-fields of the north produce nearly two-thirds of the total amount consumed Iron ores are found near the Gerhborhood of St etienne and Le Creuzot to be manufactured into steel Both coal and iron ore are deficient To meet the requirements of consumption, the forium; the latter, mainly from Germany and Spain

The manufactures of France have a wide influence From the coal and iron are derived the intricate machinery that has made the country famous, the railways, the powerful navy, and the reat coreat creative skill and taste of the people, French textiles are standards of good taste, and they find a ready market in all parts of the world In textile manufactures more than one million people and upward of one hundred thousand looms are employed

The United States is a heavy buyer of the woollen cloths and the finer qualities of dress goods Inasoods have not been successfully imitated elsewhere, the French trade does not suffer frooods are made from the fleeces of French merino sheep, and are manufactured mainly in the northern towns The Gobelin tapestries of Paris are famous the world over

The cotton manufactures depend mainly on American cotton About two-thirds of the cotton is purchased in the United States, a part of which returns in the foroods that may be classed as oods is also general In the manufacture of fine laces, such as the Point d'Alencon fabrics, the French have few equals and no superiors The flax is iiuovernrown, however, is insufficient to keep the factories busy, and more than four-fifths of the raw silk and cocoons are imported from Italy and other southern countries

The chief imports to France are coal, raw textile fibres, wine, wheat, and luain exported in the forreat bulk of the imports coiuentina In 1900 the iated about five hundredthe saht hundred h-priced articles of luxury

The foreign trade is supported by a navy, which ranks second a the world's navies, and a merchant marine of iven to iven for the construction and equipment of home-built vessels It is a settled policy that French vessels shall carry French traffic

Of the 24,000 miles of railway, about 2,000 miles are owned by the state The rivers are connected by canals, and these furnish about 7,000 able waters As in Germany, the water-routes supplement the railway lines Practically all lines of transportation converge at Paris

_Paris_, the capital, is a great centre of finance, art, science, and literature, whose influence in these features has been felt all over the world The character of fine textiles, and also the fashi+ons in the United States and Europe, are regulated largely in this city

_Marseille_ is the chief seaport, and practically all the trade between France and the Mediterranean countries is landed at this port; it is also the focal point of the trade between France and her African colonies, and a landing-place for the cotton brought fro most of the trade from the United States, is the port of Paris _Rouen_ is the chief seat of cotton manufacture

_Paris_ and _Rheims_ are noted for shawls _Lille_ and _Roubaix_ are centres of woollen reat seat of silk manufacture

=Italy=--Italy is a spur of the Alps extending into the Mediterranean Sea Froricultural state, and, excepting the periods when it has been rent by wars, it has been one of the most productive countries in the world

Wheat is extensively grown, but the crop is insufficient for home consuary A large part of the wheat-crop is grown in the valley of the Po River

Flax and heion; and corn for hoood crop in Sicily and the south, but the amount is insufficient for use and ypt

Silk, fruit, and vegetables are the staple products that connect Italy commercially with the rest of the world About a million people are concerned in the silk industry, and Italy is one of the foremost countries in the world in the production of raw silk Most of the crop is produced in northern Italy; western Europe and the United States are the chief buyers The silk of the Piedion is the best in quality

Fruit is the crop next in value to raw silk Sicilian oranges and lemons, from about twenty es coes of the United States, in spite of the tariff iainst them by the latter country Olives are probably the most important fruit-crop Both the preserved fruit and the oil are exported to nearly every civilized people Much of the oil is consu the place of arded as the best

[Illustration: ITALY]

The grape-crop is enormous, and the fruit itself is exported Sohout the United States during winter months comes from Italy Chianti wine, froarded as an inferior product, but the foreign de The Marsala wines of Sicily are largely exported

A mineral products the iron deposits in the island of Elba are undoubtedly the reat extent The quarries at Carrara produce a fine marble that has made Italy famous in sculpture and architecture Much of the boracic acid used in the arts comes from Tuscany, and the world's chief supply of sulphur cohborhood of Mount Etna in Sicily Of this Americans buy about one-third

On account of the lack of coal, the manufactures are restricted mainly to art wares, such as jewelry, silk textiles, and fine glassware The Venetian glassware, the Florentine and mosaic jewelry, and the pink coral ornaments are famous the world over Within recent years, however, iiven steel manufacture an i the demands of commerce Goods of American cotton are made for export to Turkey and South Aoods, sulphur, and art goods are exported Cotton, wheat, tobacco, and farm machinery frooods fron trade is with the nearby states The raw silk goes to France

Since the unification of Italy the railways have been readjusted to the needs of commerce Before that time the lines holly local in character; with the readjustanized into trunk lines