COMMERCE
699
While there are a few large proprietors in Greece, the land is to a large extent in the hands of peasant jjroprietors. On the whole, agriculture is in a backward state, though the soil is of unusual fertility. The average production of cereals for the whole of Greece is :— wheat, 7,000,000 bushels; l)arley, 3,000,000 bushels; rye, 825,000 bushels; for the old provinces 2,700,000 bushels of maize ; mezlin, 1,380,000 bushels. The most favoured and best cultivated crop is the currant, which covers vast districts. The yield in 1896 was estimated at 150,000 tons ; in 1897, 146,000 tons. By the Reten- tion Law of 1895 15 per cent, of the crop is retained Ijy the Government, so that in 1897 the quantity available for export was about 124,000 tons. The Retention Law, intended to maintain the price by reducing the quantity of exports, was originally passed for one year, but has been renewed annually. The crop of figs (dried) in 1897 reached 10,000 tons; of valonea (the acorn cup of the Quercus AcgiUops, used in tanning) 9,000 tons. Silk culture is confined to Messenia, where, in 1897, the cocoon produce was 150,000 kilo- grammes, besides 8,000 kilogrammes of silk. The wine and olive industries are important. In 1892 there were in Greece 100,000 horses, 360,000 cattle, and 2,900,000 sheep. There were in 1896, 29 powder and dynamite mills, producing annually about 843 tons of powder and 112 tons of dynamite. For the manufacture of soap (olive) there were in 1896 37 factories employing 480 men and 11 women, and producing 8,240 tons of soap i^er annum.
In the Laurium district the marketable ores produced in 1897 were : manganese iron ore, 192,789 tons ; hematite, 136,811 tons ; zinc ore, 24,830 tons; silver lead ore, 9,660 tons ; dressed rich galena, 6,912 tons; dressed blend of lead and zinc ore, 3,084 tons ; lead smokes, 2,508 tons ; besides 409,085 tons of poor lead ore from which 16,074 tons of marketable pig lead were obtained. There are 26 smelting furnaces at work (1897) in French and Greek foundries. Other minerals worked in Greece are silicate of mag- nesia, barytes, sulphur, emery, gypsum. Magnesite ore is worked in Euboea.
Other considerable industries are the manufacture of engines, glass, leather, thread, cloth, flour, and spirit.
Commerce.
The total value of the special commerce of Greece in 1896 was : — Imports, 116,275,516 drachmai gokl ; exports, 72,477,295 drachmai gold; in 1897, imports, 114,761,525 ; exports, 80,734,074 drachmai gold. The special commerce for 1895 and 1896 was as follows with the leading countries : —
Imports from
Imxiorts from
Exports to
Exports to
(1895)
(189(5)
(1805)
(1890) Drachmai
Drachmai
Drachmai
Drackmai
Russia
28,446,089
24,140,783
5,310,294
7,616,517
United Kingdom
30,773,918
29,447,472
16,833,009
18,196,956
Austria-Hungary
13,886,716
11,842,079
5,957,206
6,941,553
Turkey and Egypt
10,058,345
14,980.776
9,975,117
10,636,576
France
6,791,022
8,523,420
7,974,573
6,504,648
Italy ....
2,448,802
2,905,776
6,840,565
3,968,828
Germany .
8,440,279
10,208,723
5,086,449
3,334,394
Belgium
1,434,568
2,744,815
7,830,674
8,229,232
United States
3,707,216
4,501,670
2,349,758
2,680,488
Holland .
467,093
939,152
3,107,459
3,230,290
Other countries .
1,513,050
6,040,850
1,905,048
i
1,137,813
109,610,203
116,275,516
72,183,221 j
72,477,295
