Population and Education.— The number of inhabitants according to the last official cen sus was 2,221,021, or 366.5 per square mile. Protestants are about two and one-half times as numerous as Roman Catholics, and there are about 50,000 Jews. The institutions of learning are The University of Marburg, 20 gymnas len or colleges, one progymnasium, four real gymnasia and an equal number of realpro gymnasia, six oberrealsckulen, 14 realschulen, one agricultural school, four private schools of the higher•grade, seven normal schools for men and women teachers, three institutions for the deaf and dumb, two for the blind, etc.
Industries.— The inhabitants are chiefly employed in farming, cattle-raising, forestry and mining. About 45 to 46 per cent of the total area is devoted to arable fields and gar dens; 11.6 per cent to meadow land; 02 to vineyards; 39.7 per cent to forest. In this province, which is the forest-region par ex cellence of Prussia, the principal trees are the beech, oak, fir and pine; forests covering both slopes and crests of the mountains with the ex ception of the highest parts of the Westerwald and the High Rhiin. Although this province is not very well adapted to agriculture, fertile areas are found near such rivers as the Main, the Ems, the Schwalm; moreover, the meadows are utilized very generally for stock-farming. In the neighborhood of Cassel, fruit and garden vegetables are cultivated very profitably ; and the same may be said on districts on the Werra, the Rhine, the Lahn and the Main. A pomolog ical institute and nurseries on a grand scale are maintained at Geisenheim. For the culti vation of the vine the hills of Rheingau are famous; and in this province are found those centres or wine-production, Hochheim, Rauen -that Erbach, Johannisberg, Geisenheim, Ass manshausen and Riidesheim. The mines yield
iron ores, coal, copper, manganese and lead_ Mineral springs—particularly those of Ems and Wiesbaden, of Niederselters, Geilnau and Fachingen, contributed before the war in an important degree to the prosperity of the prov ince, the waters of many being ex ported,• and an important source of income has been the throng of foreigners visiting Wies baden and Ems and the well-known baths (Soden, Homburg, Langenschwalbach and Schlangenbad). Manufactures are important only in a few regions, for example: the city of Cassel (machinery, gold and silver ware and instruments of many kinds), Grossalmerode. Eschwege (leather and sole-leather from South American /aides), Frankfort-on-the-Main (jew elry, iron and bronze wares, machines and chemicals). Other industrial establishments are those devoted to weaving, the manufacture of paper, etc.
The governmental district of Cassel is nto 24 acircles,* and that of baden into 18, the Oberprisident exercising his authority as the chief representative of the Imperial government at the city of Cassel In that city are located also the supreme courts (Oberlandesgericht) and one of the three vincial or general courts of justice of the Cassel district, the other two being at Hanau and burg. In Frankfort-on-the-Main there is also an Oberlandesgericht and one of five general courts, the other four being at Limburg, inger, Neuwied and Wiesbaden. The province sends 14 members to the German Reichstag and 26 to the Prussian Chamber of Deputies. The Cassel governmental district belong, to the circuit of the 11th army corps; the Wies baden district falls within the jurisdiction of the 18th army cores. The most important among the lines of railroad is that from Gottingen to Cassel and Frankfort-on-the-Main.