FLORA. In early days Germany was full of swamps and largely covered with forests. Most of the swamps have now been turned into fields and pastures; but a fourth of the Empire is still covered with forests which are cared for as as siduously as any field crop. A third of the forests are in leaf trees, the beech being most prominent. Two-thirds are in coniferous trees, particularly pines and firs. As the temperature decreases from west to east, the leaf trees pre dominate in the west excepting in the sandy low plain, and the conifers' in the east. The crowning glory of the German flora is these wood lands.
Germany has in the north the Baltic flora and in the south the Alpine. The two mingle in the interior. The elevation of the land also has a strong influence on the local flora; so that the Alpine flora extends far to the north on the mountain tops, and the Baltic flora penetrates to the south in the valleys. Moreover, on the east the steppe flora penetrates from Russia, and on the west the West European flora penetrates from France. Upward of 2200 flowering plants, 60
eryptogams, and 750 mosses are found in Ger man territory. In the south and west the vine grows luxuriantly and grasses flourish in the lowlands.
The best farming lands are in the warm, well sheltered Rhine Valley, with its rich alluvial soil, where the vine is brought to an unusual degree of perfection. Many of the hill slopes throughout the highland are terraced and cultivated, but the mountains are foreAt-clad, and cultivation is chiefly confined to the plains and valleys. The soils differ in natural fertility, but are better than those of the low plain of the north, and all deficiencies in plain food are artificially supplied. The soil of most of the low plain is poor and sandy, particularly in the centre and east, and is kept in a state of high productivity only by scientific tillage and fertilization.