THE VOGTLAND AND THE SAXON ERZGEBIRGE.—These two regions may be considered together. The first is a low highland connecting the Erzgebirge, the Fichtelgebirge, and the Franconian and Thur ingian Forests, while the second, which is a fragment of an ancient peneplain, forms the north-west slope of the Bohemian massif. Both regions are somewhat unfavourable to agriculture. In the Vogtland, rye and potatoes are grown, but except in the valleys, where there are orchards, the land, on account of its elevation, is unsuited for other crops, and much of it is devoted to pastoral pursuits. The slopes of the Erzgebirge are well wooded, but are even less adapted to arable farming. The Vogtland is without minerals, but in the Erzgebirge there are mines of iron, tin, silver, and zinc, which have all been worked, although their product is now of decreasing importance. On the other hand, the prosperity of both regions is mainly dependent upon two coalfields, the larger of which extends from Zwickau to Chemnitz, while the smaller is near Dresden. The coal from the first of these fields is suitable for the manufacture of gas and coke, and some of it can be used for smelting purposes. The annual output of the two combined is about 5,000,000 tons.
Textile industries on a small scale have long been established in the Vogtland, where they were carried on mainly in the homes of the people to satisfy local requirements, and in the Erzge birge, where they were introduced to meet the want of employment, caused by the decreasing productivity of the mines. The present
position of the cotton and woollen industries, and their concentra tion in large towns is, however, mainly due to the proximity of the coalfields. The cotton industry of the region has about 15 per cent. of the total number of spindles in the Empire. Its centre is at Chemnitz, but a number of other towns,..including Zwickau, Werdau, Crimmitschau, Glauchau, Meerane, Olsnitz, and Lugau are also extensively engaged in it. The woollen industry, which owes part of its prosperity to the excellent wool obtained from the merino sheep of Saxony, is also carried on in most of these towns ; though weaving is still to some extent a domestic pursuit, and around Glauchau and Meerane large numbers of handloom weavers are settled. The manufacture of lace and embroidery is likewise a cottage pursuit, and in many villages in the mountainous districts provides the inhabitants with their chief means of liveli hood. Zwickau is the centre of an important iron and steel industry, and both there and at Chemnitz textile and other machinery is made. Porcelain works, obtaining their kaolin from numerous granitic areas in the mountains, are established in various places, but especially at Meissen, where there is an imperial factory. The manufacture of paper depends upon the abundance of water and water-power, and clock-making owes its origin, as in other mountain ous districts of Germany, to the presence of timber and the absence of more important factors of economic activity.