grows well in all regions except the Gulf littoral and, apart from the exports of raisins mentioned above, there is a very large consumption in the country of the fruit in the fresh or dried state. The making of wine (and of arak, a spirit distilled from grapes), forbidden to Muslims, is limited to the requirements of the country, chiefly the Jewish and Armenian communities : it probably has not increased much since 1666 when Tavernier, the French traveller, noted that the wine of Shiraz (the best-known in Persia, almost entirely made nowadays from grapes of the Khullar district) weighed 200,025 mans.
The mulberry is grown for sericulture chiefly in Gilan and Mazandaran, to a lesser extent in Yazd and Kashan. In the 16th and 27th centuries the finding of a market for the silk trade of Persia was a source of preoccupation and profit for the Safavi monarchs, and up to 2860 the total production annually was valued at L2,000,000. The breeding of silk-worms from 1864 1890 declined to small proportions (about 90 tons of cocoons) owing to the disease "pebrine"; but, at the end of the 19th cen tury, an import to Gilan of selected silk-worm eggs from Brusa in Turkey led to a revival of the industry, the output of dried co coons in 1911 being nearly 1,700 tons, while in the year 1925-26 some 216 tons were exported, chiefly to Italy and Russia, besides about 2,0oo tons of raw floss and waste silk. One factory for spinning silk exists at Resht. The hand weaving of silk carpets and other stuffs in Kashan, Yazd and other places accounts for the balance production. "Pebrine" is considered to have died out, but another disease "flacherie" is endemic.
In a country where the rearing and maintenance of flocks of sheep is the principal occupation of the nomad tribes in particular and of the peasantry in general it is perhaps remarkable that the export of raw wool did not exceed 5,420 tons in 1925-26. But the explanation is to be sought in the requirements of the carpet-weaving industry, which in addition to home needs in that year exported 3,84o tons of non-aniline and 2,086 tons of aniline dyed carpets and rugs, valued respectively at L2,163,765 and
In 1925-26, in order of importance, the chief centres where the exported carpets were woven, were Sultanabad, Hama dan, Tabriz, Qum, Shiraz, Kerman, Khorassan, Fars. Further, 653,043 lambskins were exported, nearly all to Russia.
In recent years excise taxation and the growing habit of cigarette smoking have been responsible for the reduced acreage under cultivation of that distinct species of tobacco known as Nicotiana Persica ("Tambaku") for smoking in water-pipes, i.e., kalians or hookahs. Some 1,028 tons were exported, almost
entirely to Egypt, in 1925-26, whereas about 1885 some 4,000 tons were exported annually, and in Isfahan province alone in 1900 (Nicotiana rustics) is cultivated in the Urmia and other dis tricts near the Turkish frontier, and was introduced to Gilan about 1875; several varieties of it are now grown for cigarette smoking. "Tambaku" for export comes chiefly from Isfahan and Kashan districts ; that from the Simakan, Jahrum and other parts of south and east Fars is favoured for home consumption.
The main forest belt still existing in Persia lies on the4iorthern slopes of the Elburz range towards the Caspian, in particular the provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran. Little use has been made of them industrially, except in the case of boxwood, which from 1865 began to be bought by traders from Russia and Europe, and from 1886-1909 was exploited to such an extent under a monopoly that the lower lands have been largely denuded of this valuable wood. The export of this, walnut and other woods has exceeded £50,000 in value in some years, though since 1920 of small account. Kurdistan, Luristan and the Bakh tiari are also well wooded in parts. South Persia, except for the northern portion of the Kuhgilu tribal district, and a few miles of dwarf oaks in central Fars, is practically de-forested, although ample supplies for the needs of towns and villages in firewood and charcoal still exist. No replacement of this cut wood by afforestation on the part of the landowners or Government is apparently taking place. Since 1926 however a German forest expert has been employed to report on these matters, and super vise the forests of Mazandaran. Trees flourishing in Persia are, among others :—Alder (Alnus glutinosa, A. barbata, A. cordifolia), Ash (Fraxinus excelsior), Beech (Fagus sylvatica), Elm (Ulmus campestris, U. effusa, U. pedunculata), Wych-elm (U. montana), Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), Juniper (Juniperus excelsa, I. communis, J. sabina), Maple (Ater campestre, A. pseudo-plat anus), Oak (Quercus ballota, Q. castaneaefolia, Q. sessili flora, Q. pedunculata), Walnut (Juglans nigra), Tamarisk (Tamarix), various kinds of poplar, Jujube (Zizyphus), etc.