William Waterston
Published: 2013-09
Total Pages: 574
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1843 edition. Excerpt: ...Lippe, and Prussia; and W. by Holland. Area, 14,570 sq. miles. It is divided into the provinces of Hanover, Hildesheim, Luaeburg, Stade, Osnaburg, and Aurich, and tno mining intendancy of Clausthal. Population, 1,722,107. Caoital, Hanover, an inland city; pop. 24,000. The government is reputed a constitutional monarchy. With the exception of the Hart z, a chain of detached mountains on the S. frontier, the kingdom consists of an immense plain, a considerable part of which, called the "Arabia of Germany, ' is composed of vast sandy tracts, wholly unfit fur tillage. The fertile lands are confined to tlie banks of the rivers Elbe, Weser, and Ems, and their affluents; and to the flat coast of the sea, where artificial mounds have rescued from its ravages an expanse of very rich meadows, --the flnet being the alluvial plains at the mouths of the Elbe and the Weser. The disadvantages of nature are nix redeemed by art to the same degree as in other parts of Germany. Potatoes, the chief food of the poor, are universally reared, and rye is generally grown for bread; barley and oats are also cultivated to an extent that leaves a surplus for exportation; but the quantity of wheat raised is insufficient for the demand. About a sixth or a seventh part of the surface is covered with forests, which ield about 52,000,000 cubic feet of timber yearly; the principal woods are those of pine in the llartz district, and of beech and oak in Kalenberg, the Upper Weser, and the duchy of Bremen. Grazing husbandry is extensively prosecuted, but, excepting the rearing of horses, is little understood. The minor articles of rural produce are, flax, hemp, tobacco, hops, cranberries, sad hone. The mines form an important source of wealth, but they languish under the...