THE DILUVIAL REGION contains much land which is altogether unfit for cultivation, and much which can only be rendered fit by heavy expenditure both of labour and capital, though, with the establishment of fen colonies in various places, considerable areas have been reclaimed. Rye, buckwheat, oats, and potatoes are the principal crops of the arable districts, while in the pastoral areas cattle and sheep are raised, the former being of the Gelderland breed which thrives well on poor soils. The south of Limburg, which is much more fertile and rather resembles the neighbouring part of Belgium, produces large crops of wheat and sugar-beet, and the population is denser than in other parts of the diluvial region. Various manufactures which have been established are aided by the coal from the only productive coalfield of Holland, that of Kerkrade, which now has an annual output of over 1,000,000 tons. Maastricht is engaged in the woollen industry, and manufactures glass and ceramic wares. In the Twenthe district of Overyssel several small towns, including Enschede, Hengelo, Almelo, and Oldenzaal, are occupied in spinning and weaving cotton. The district has few natural advantages, and probably owed much, in the earlier stages of its development, to the special privileges it then enjoyed for the sale of its products in the Dutch colonial possessions.
COMMUNICATIONS.—The principal railways are those which place the Dutch ports in communication with Germany and Belgium. From Wesel on the Rhine one route leads by Emmerich and Arnheim to Amsterdam, another by Cleve and Dordrecht to Rotterdam and the Hook of Holland, and a third by Breda to Flushing. Amster dam and Rotterdam are connected with Berlin by a line running eastwards by Deventer and Oldenzaal to Osnabruck, and with Brussels and Paris by one which goes southwards by Dordrecht and Antwerp.
The chief waterway of the country is the Rhine, which takes in succession the names of Waal, Merwede, and Maas. Below Rotter dam it is connected with the ocean by an artificial waterway known as the " Nieuwe Waterweg." Ships going to Amsterdam avoid the voyage through the Zuider Zee by availing themselves of the North Sea Canal, which has its outlet at Ymuiden. The Merwede Canal connects Amsterdam with Utrecht and the Rhine, by way of the Lek and the Merwede ; and the South William's Canal replaces the Maas below Maastricht, where it becomes unsuitable for naviga tion. In addition there are, in the alluvial district especially, a great number of minor canals which are of much value for the conveyance of agricultural produce.