GENERAL REsuME.—From this survey of the natural regions of France certain deductions may be drawn. It is obvious that the country is greatly favoured not only by the abundance of fertile land which it contains, but by the variety of crops which its climate and soil enable it to produce. The importance of France as an agricultural country is best illustrated by the fact that its wheat area is only exceeded by Russia, the United States, and India, and its crop by Russia and the United States. Unfortunately the yield per acre is low, averaging only 20 bushels as against 32 in the United Kingdom and 29 in Germany. Many of the plants grown in France have given rise to industries in which a con siderable amount of labour, frequently highly skilled, is required ; and, although in many cases the industry has grown to such an extent that the home supply of raw material is no longer able to meet the demand, the importance of that home supply in establishing the industry must be recognised. On the other hand, France is handicapped by its comparative poverty in minerals. The coal produced is only one-seventh of the amount mined in the United Kingdom, and although iron is plentiful in places it generally occurs far from coal. Hence it follows that a large proportion of the people of the country are engaged in the cultivation of the soil, and agriculture gives employment to 42 per cent. of the population, as against 8 per cent. in the United Kingdom. It also follows that the inhabitants of France are not congregated in large towns to the same extent as they are in Great Bi itain.
COMMUNICATIONS.—The distribution of ways of communication in France is determined to a considerable extent by the physical features of the country, and the same geographical conditions which have made Paris the capital have made it the centre of the railway system. There are six important French railways, and the lines of five of these radiate from Paris. Each serves a separate sector of France, and, consequently, there is little competition for local traffic, though for long-distance traffic there is considerable rivalry.
The Northern Railway serves the busiest and most industrial part of France. The main lines, which have few physical difficulties to overcome, are those which connect Paris by way of Amiens with Calais, Dunkirk, and Lille, and those which follow the valley of the Oise for Maubeuge and Hirson on the Belgian frontier. The Northern Railway, therefore, performs three important functions ; it connects Paris with the ports for Britain ; it serves the industrial region on the coalfield of the North ; and it connects France with the plain of Northern Europe.
The main lines of the Western Railway, which now belongs to the State, run from Paris to Dieppe and Havre, following the valley of the Seine to Rouen ; from Paris to Caen and Cherbourg ; and from Paris by Laval to Rennes and along the northern coastal plain of Brittany to Brest. The most important part of this
system is that between Paris and Havre, a great port of France.
The Paris-Orleans Railway connects these two towns. The main line then follows the Loire as far as Tours, where it divides, one branch continuing along the river to Nantes and St. Nazaire, and the other striking south by Poitiers to Bordeaux. Other lines over difficult country connect Orleans with Toulouse, and Bordeaux with Lyons. The Paris-Orleans railway brings the basin of Paris into com munication with the Atlantic ports, and by means of the Southern railway offers a choice of routes to Spain. The Southern railway begins at Bordeaux. One line runs by Bayonne to the Spanish frontier, while another goes by Toulouse and the depression of Naurouse to Narbonne, whence there are lines to Cette and to Perpignan.
The Paris-Lyons-Mediterranean Railway has the greatest mileage of any of the French systems. Its most important line runs from Paris by Lyons to Marseilles, following the valleys of the Seine, the Yonne, the Saone, and the Rhone. From this line there breaks off at Dijon a branch which strikes across the Jura to Pontarlier and connects with the Swiss railways. At Macon another important line diverges, and after following the valleys of the Isere and the Arc passes through the Mont Cenis tunnel into Italy. From Marseilles there is a line along the coast into Italy. The traffic on the main line of the P.L.M. is very important, for not only does it bring the Paris basin into communication with the Mediterranean, but along it there also passes much of the traffic with Switzerland and Italy. Another branch of this railway runs from Paris to Nimes and Cette by the valleys of the Loire and the Allier, but the route is a difficult one, and there are many obstacles to overcome.
Lastly, there is the Eastern Railway, one line of which follows the Marne to Vitry and then goes by Nancy and through the Gap of Saverne to Strassburg ; a second breaks off at Epernay, crosses by Reims to the valley of the Meuse, and follows it to Namur ; and a third, going from Paris by Troyes and Chaumont, turns the southern extremity of the Vosges by the Gap of Belfort and arrives at Miilhausen. The Eastern Railway, therefore, serves the mineral region of France and has important communications with Germany.
In addition to these railways a small state-owned system has lines which run from Paris to Bordeaux by Chartres, Saumur, Niort, and Saintes ; and from Nantes to Bordeaux by La Rochelle and Rochefort.