Climate, agriculture, ete.—The climate of the n. is variable, chilly colds often closely succeeding high temperatures, inducing various forms of fever and ague, and requiring peculiar care as to clothing, etc. In summer the thermometer sometimes rises above SO', and even to 90' F. in the shade, and a winter of great severity usually occurs every fifth year, when carriages and heavily-laden wagons cross the rivers and the I" on j the ice, and thousands enjoy the national pastime of skating.
The farms arc generally small and well cultivated, though the implements are old fashioned and clumsy. Much progress is being made in reclaiming the sandy wastes, in Drenthe and Overyssel, by planting them with fir and oak, and sowing buckwheat, oats, and rye. The best implements are also being gradually introduced from England, and the steam-plow was, in 1862, put in operation on the lands of the drained Haarlem lake.
The following table shows the agricultural products, with their values, for 1872, accord ing to government returns: In 1874 the total value of agricultural products was about £17,500,000. In 1872 wheat occupied 211,960 acres; rye, 493.639 acres; barley, 111,811. acres; oats, 246,651 acres; potatoes, 312,329 acres; flax, 46.846 acres.
In 1872 the Netherlands possessed 247,000 horses, 1,377,000 head of cattle, 855,300 sheep, 139.500 goats, and 320,100 pigs. The leading agricultural products of Zealand are wheat and madder: in South Holland. madder, hemp, butter, and cheese: in North Hol land, butter and cheese are extensively made. and cattle, sheep, and pigs reared and exported. The horses of Friesland, Zeeland, and Gelderland are of first-rate quality. The exportation of butter from Holland and Friesland, and of Edam, Leyden, Gouda, and Frisian cheese, is large_; in 1873 the value of the exports of cheese was £1,013,233, of butter ..1.453,875. Fruit is abundant, and in several provinces, as Gelderland, Utrecht, and Drenthe, much attention is paid to bees. In Buskin and neighborhood, tulips and hyacinths are much cultivated, realizing a large annual amount. In 1874 the foreign trade in bulbs reached, in the district, £37,500. The inland sales realized £47,833. Wild decks, snipes, plovers, and hares are plentiful ; and there arc also conies, partridges, pheasants, and deer—game forming an article of export.
Geology, Mineralogy, ele.—The Netherlands are of recent formation, and consist of an alluvial deposit, chiefly of a deep, rich clayey soil, superimposed on banks of sand, marine shells, and beds of peat and clay. It appears that at some distant period there had been a depression of the land below its former level, enabling the sea to burst through its sand-banks. submerge the land, and form new deposits. The higher districts are
composed of sand-drift mingled with fertile earths, and resting on a bed of clay. Coal is worked in Limburg: and a soft sandstone, which becomes fit for building purposes after having been sonic time exposed to the atmosphere, is quarried in the southern part of that province, which has also pipe and other clays. Valuable clays for pottery, tile, and brick making, abound in the various provices.
Manyfactures, 'wineries, etc.—The chief manufactures are linen, woolen, cotton, and silk fabrics; paper, leather, glass, etc. and Tilburg are famed for woolen blankets, wool-dyed pilot, fine cloths, and friezes; Hertogenbosch for linens and rich damasks; calicoes, slu•tinsss, drills, table-cloths, striped dimities are made at Almelo, Amersfort, and in the leading towns of Overyssel. Good imitation Smyrna and Scotch carpets, and carpets of hair and wool; are manufactured. at Deventer, Delft,,Arnhem, Hilversum, Utrecht, and Breda; Turkey red yards, dyed-silks, and silk stufESat Roermond, Utrecht, Haarlem, etc.; leather, glass, firearms, at Maastricht and Delft; iron-founding, rolling and hammering of lead and copper, cannon-founding: are carried on at the Hague, etc.; and powder-mills at Maiden; Oudenkerk, 3Iiddelberg, 's Hertogenbosch, Amsterdam, Nyinepen, etc., have important breweries, t hose of 's Hertogenbosch and Amsterdam manu facturing very large quaetities. Waahvyk, Ilensden, and sir nlollnding districts, manu facture boots and shoes, of which I leusden sends to North and South Holland 1,000,000 pairs yearly. Gin is distilled at Schiedam, Delft, Rotterdam, and Weesp. Amsterdam lies the largest diamond-eutting trade in the world, 10,000 persons depending on that branch of industry. Sugar-refining is largely carried on at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Dordrecht, from all of which sugar is exported to Russia, the Levant, and countries of Europe. Paper is chiefly made in Holland and Gelderland. The leading letter-type founders are at Amsterdam and Haarlem. Manufactures of every kind are being rapidly inereased in number, and adding to the material prosperity of the Netherlands. The chief motive power is the windmill, which forms a never-failing element in the scenery; but of late years steam is becoming more general. In 1854 the steam-engines employed in factories were 464, with 7,9S0 horse-power; and in 1872 they amounted to 1822, of 21,403 horse-power, and the increase has since been going on.