1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lublin (government)

LUBLIN, a government of Russian Poland, bounded N. by Siedlce, E. by Volhynia (the Bug forming the boundary), S. by Galicia, and W. by Radom (the Vistula separating the two). Area, 6499 sq. m. The surface is an undulating plain of Cretaceous deposits, 800 to 900 ft. in altitude, and reaching in one place 1050 ft. It is largely covered with forests of oak, beech and lime, intersected by ravines and thinly inhabited. A marshy lowland extends between the Vistula and the Wieprz. The government is drained by the Vistula and the Bug, and by their tributaries the Wieprz, San and Tanev. Parts of the government, being of black earth, are fertile, but other parts are sandy. Agriculture is in good condition. Many Germans settled in the government before immigration was stopped in 1887; in 1897 they numbered about 26,000. Rye, oats, wheat, barley and potatoes are the chief crops, rye and wheat being exported. Flax, hemp, buckwheat, peas, millet and beetroot are also cultivated. Horses are carefully bred. In 1897 the population was 1,165,122, of whom 604,886 were women. The Greek Orthodox (chiefly Little Russians in the south-east) amounted to 20.1% of the whole; Roman Catholics (i.e. Poles) to 62.8%; Jews to 14.2%; and Protestants to 2.8%. The urban population was 148,196 in 1897. The estimated population in 1906 was 1,362,500. Industrial establishments consist chiefly of distilleries, sugar-works, steam flour-mills, tanneries, saw-mills and factories of bent-wood furniture. Domestic industries are widely developed in the villages. River navigation employs a considerable portion of the population. The government is divided into ten districts, the chief towns of which, with their populations in 1897, are—Lublin, capital of the province (50,152); Biegoray (6286); Cholm (19,236); Hrubieszow (10,699); Yanów (7927); Krasnystaw or Kraznostav (8879); Lubartow (5249); Nova-Alexandrya or Pulawy (3892); Samostye (12,400); and Tomaszów (6224).