THE SOUTH-CENTRAL SCARPLANDS.—In this region, which corre sponds somewhat roughly to the basins of the Neckar and the Main, the different members of the Triassic rocks appear in succes sion. The Bunter sandstone of the Spessart, of the eastern slopes of the Odenwald, and of the north and east of the Black Forest, is replaced over a great part of Lower Franconia, north-east Baden, and northern Wiirtemberg by the muschelkalk, which in turn dis appears before the Keuper marls of Upper and Middle Franconia and central Wiirtemberg. A belt of Lias separates these marls from the limestone of the Swabian and Franconian Jura.
As in other parts of Germany, the Bunter sandstone is generally forest-covered. Except in the valleys the muschelkalk does not, as a rule, weather down into a very productive soil, though its uplands provide good pasture land, and on the slopes of many of the deep valleys by which it is cut up the vine is extensively grown, as is the case around Wiirzburg. But the best soils are found upon the Keuper marls, which have given rise to the agriculture for which Franconia is famous. Nuremberg is the centre of the hop-growing industry, and Middle Franconia and Wiirtem berg together produce one-third of the hops grown in Germany. Cereals are also extensively cultivated on the Keuper marls, while, on the alluvial soils around Bamberg and Stuttgart, vegetables are raised in large quantities. The Liassic belt on the south and east is generally fertile.
There are few minerals in the region. Salt, which is the most important, is found in the muschelkalk, and is worked at Heilbronn, Kochendorf, Hall, and elsewhere. Some lignite is also obtained.
Notwithstanding the comparative poverty of its natural resources, the industrial development of this region has been considerable, and is to be explained mainly by the supply of labour provided by the growth of the population. Brewing is, as might be expected, an important pursuit in Wiirtemberg and Middle Franconia, where hops form so abundant a crop. The toy industry of Nuremberg was originally based upon the large supplies of wood which could be obtained in the vicinity, but toys of all kinds, and not merely of wood, are now made there. The manufacture of porcelain and glass is largely localised in Upper Franconia, and in the Upper Palatinate where wood, kaolin, and quartz sand can all be easily obtained from the Bavarian Forest. The Upper Palatinate, indeed, is the chief glass-producing region in Germany. The textile industry is of growing importance, and there are cotton factories at Stuttgart, Cannstatt, Reutlingen, and Bamberg.
Esslingen and Stuttgart are noted for printing, and especially for pictorial printing. Fine metal work is characteristic of Wiirtem berg, where it is carried on at Esslingen, Geislingen, and elsewhere. Pforzheim is noted for jewellery ; Hanau for gold and silver ware ; Wiirzburg for machinery and furniture ; Nuremberg, which is the typical town of the whole region, has breweries, glass works, machine shops, and various establishments for the production of fine metal ware and optical instruments.
The population of this region is concentrated mainly in two districts, which are separated from one another by the Franconian Heights—an area of comparatively poor land, where the Keuper marls are wanting in lime and are consequently infertile. But the valley of the Main and the valley of the Neckar, cut off as they are from other fertile regions by the Bunter sandstone and the Jurassic limestone, which surround them, draw to themselves the surplus people of these less favoured lands, and are, therefore, areas where the density of population is high.
LORRAINE.—To the west of the Lower Vosges various rocks of Triassic and Jurassic age appear in succession in the imperial territory of Lorraine. The Bunter sandstone in the east is covered with forests, which formerly provided fuel for numerous glassworks, although these are now partly dependent upon the Saar coalfield. Further west, salt is obtained in large quantities from the Keuper marls, Château Salins and Dieuze being the centres of the industry. On the fertile Lias soils in the basin of the Moselle the vine is grown, although climatic conditions are not entirely favourable. Lastly, in the lower Jurassic rocks, which occur not only in the extreme west of Lorraine but extend into France and the Duchy of Luxem burg, there are great deposits of iron ore. These ores—known as " rninette "—contain a high proportion of phosphorus, and until recent times could not be used in the manufacture of steel. Owing to the presence of limestone they have the advantage of being self-fluxing. Lorraine and Luxemburg (which belongs to the German Zollverein) now produce over 75 per cent. of the German output of iron ore. The greater part is smelted on the spot ; some goes to France and Belgium, though with the development of the French mines the amount exported to these countries is decreasing ; and the remainder is sent in almost equal quantities to the Saar and the Ruhr coalfields, the trucks which bring coal carrying ore away. The production of pig-iron in Lorraine and Luxemburg amounts to about 30 per cent. of that of the whole Empire.