The part of Bosnia included within the region may be said to resemble a more backward Serbia. Maize is the most important cereal, and since there has been less clearing for agriculture here extensive and valuable forests remain. As in Serbia the plum is by far the most important fruit-tree.
2. The Slovene Alps.—The essential features of this region have been described. From the economic standpoint it has to be noted that, on account of the limited amount of arable land, there is not only no surplus of cereals, such as is found in (I), but an actual deficiency, so that additional supplies have to be obtained especially from Slavonia, Baaa and the Banat. On the other hand the well-organized dairying industry permits of a considerable export of dairy products. Ljubljana and Maribor are not only centres of this trade but also of a number of minor industries similarly dependent on the extensive rearing of live stock, such as meat-packing, the making of margarine, soap, candles and so forth. Further, the valleys and the margins of the basins yield fruit, including walnuts and chestnuts, the vine, especially in the Drava valley where Maribor carries on a considerable trade in wine of good quality, as well as small fruits.
Forests are not only extensive but include both conifers and such hardwoods as beech, oak, chestnut, etc., and industries deal ing with timber are important. Since water-power is abundant and coal also occurs, while the forests are widely distributed, many of the industries are of old standing and of the small, scattered type rather than commercialized undertakings. The products, notably furniture, show the influence of localized skill and tradi tion and had a ready sale in the old Austria-Hungary. Minerals, in addition to coal, are of some importance, though many of the industries based upon them have suffered from the drawing of the new frontiers.
3. The Morava-Vardar Depression.—This not very appro priate name may be given to the region which extends from the southern margin of the Sumadija to the Greek frontier. It is traversed by a series of basins strung along the Morava and Vardar systems, and affording a continuous route from north to south. Structurally the region is remarkably complex, for it represents the zone of weakness where the fold-mountains of the west and north-east abut upon the central crust-block of the peninsula.
Instead of the continuous and extensive depression which gave rise to the Pannonian basin to the north, earth movements were limited and localised, producing numerous small basins, originally flooded by water but now largely drained by river action. These basins are floored by soft deposits and are in consequence fertile, containing arable land. With them alternate great mountain masses, such as the Kopaonik, Golja, Crna Gora, Sar and others. The Crna Gora marks the limit between Old Serbia or Ragka to the north and Serbian Macedonia (see MACEDONIA) to the south.
Among the more important rivers may be noted the Nigava, a right-bank tributary of the Morava which allows of the passage of the railway from Nig to Sofia and Constantinople. The Toplica, a left-bank tributary of the Morava, drains a very fertile valley. The long stream of the Ibar has a small headstream, the Sitnica, which drains a part of the productive Kosovo polje, or plain of the blackbirds, with the town of Prigtina. The Ibar itself passes through a wide valley containing the towns of Mitrovica and Ragka and enters the western Morava. In a side valley to the west lies the town of Novipazar, which is extremely "Turkish" in ap pearance and has a large Muslim element.
As regards resources the arable plains and basins produce a con siderable variety of crops, becoming more and more southern in type as the Greek frontier is approached. The mountains and up lands allow for a notable development of the live stock industry, the area in earlier days having furnished a considerable part of the meat supplies of Constantinople, to which the sheep could be driven by successive stages. Finally the mineral resources are considerable, especially round Skoplje, Veles and Kumanovo. Coal, copper, silver-lead, chrome ore, iron and antimony all occur.
Among the products of the live stock industry is wool of good quality, particularly from the sheep reared on the eastern uplands. This forms the basis of the celebrated carpet industry of Pirot, in the upper Nigava valley, the carpets being noted for their excel lent colours and designs. Round Lake Dojran the camel is present.