was especially famed for its plums. The fourth subdivision consists of the mountain-and-basin land of the Upper Vardar, where the infertile rock of the old block appears on the surface and where arable land is limited. In spite of a fundamental difference of geological structure, this subdivision resembles in many ways the karst-lands of Zone B.

The best agricultural lands of Yugoslavia, then, are in Voivodina, Northern Serbia, and Croatia-Slavonia, as the crop returns show very clearly.

The Yugoslav official statistics give 90 per cent. of the whole area as productive, but this total includes forests, which cover about one-third of the kingdom. About half the total area is considered to be arable, the highest percentage being in Voivodina, where 80 per cent. of the land could be cultivated, followed by Serbia and Croatia-Slavonia with nearly 60 per cent. each, and Bosnia-Herzegovina with about 50 per cent. Then come Slovenia with nearly 40 per cent. and Montenegro and Dalmatia with only 30 and 15 per cent. respectively. Only about a quarter of the total surface, however, is actually under cultivation, including land that is lying fallow.

Most of the land of the Old Kingdom was held by small-holders cultivating their own farms, but in the districts that have been added since 1918 there are many very large estates. In Serbia before the War, about 76 per cent. of the land-owners had farms of less than 25 acres, of whom 20 per cent. had holdings of less than 5 acres; the country was essentially a land of peasant proprietors. In the newly added territories conditions were less favourable to the peasants, and in Bosnia-Herzegovina they were in an almost feudal state of servitude, the majority possessing no land and being obliged to pay heavily, e.g. from one-quarter to one-half of the grain harvest, for the land rented from the feudal " agas and "begs," in addition to which personal servitude might be required. Accordingly one of the first acts of the Government of the enlarged kingdom was to draw up a scheme for agrarian reform. This had as its object, first the legal suppression of existing feudal relations, secondly the expropriation of large holdings, even if not of feudal origin, whenever they exceeded in size the maximum allowed, and finally the establishment of a class of peasant proprietors on the land so obtained. The maximum amount which may be held by any individual varies with local conditions, but the maximum for any individual not cultivating his own land is 57 hectares (142 acres). An indemnity is paid for the expropriated lands. The scheme was hurriedly drawn up, and its carrying out led to considerable uncertainty, with the result that the amount of land under cultivation decreased somewhat, but in the long run its effect will undoubtedly be beneficial.

The most important crops in Yugoslavia are cereals, which occupy over 70 per cent. of the cultivated land, and the most important cereals are maize and wheat. Only in Rumania and Poland is there in Europe a greater proportion of the arable land devoted to cereals, although the proportion in relation to the total area of the country is exceeded in many states, owing chiefly to the large amount of forest land in Yugo

slavia.

Maize occupies a greater area than wheat (see Figs. 2 and 3), but as maize is the principal foodstuff of the people there is a greater export of wheat and wheat flour. On an average of three years-1920-21-22-the maize exports amounted to 8 per cent. of the total value, while wheat and wheat flour amounted to 11 per cent. As one would expect, the chief maize and wheat areas reflect lowness of relief and fertility of soil,

Voivodina leading in 1923 with nearly 40 per cent. of both the maize and the wheat, followed by Croatia-Slavonia with a third of the maize and a quarter of the wheat, and by North Serbia with 20 per cent. of the maize and 25 per cent. of the wheat. Both crops are almost absent from the highlands of the extreme north-west of the kingdom, and from the Dinaric Alps, while the amount grown in Southern Serbia is small. The yields per hectare of maize and wheat are almost always heaviest in the fertile Voivodina. In 1922, for instance, the yield per hectare of maize for the whole area was 119 quintals, whereas Voivodina had 18.3

quintals. Croatia-Slavonia also had more than the average yield with 12.1 quintals. Similarly in regard to wheat, Voivodina and CroatiaSlavonia were the only regions having yields above the average. If the use of artificial fertilisers is taken as a measure of progress in agriculture, then in addition to its natural fertility Voivodina obtains her agricultural

results by good agricultural practice, since she takes over half the tonnage of artificial fertilisers used in the country, Croatia-Slavonia coming second.

Next to cereals, the agricultural land is given up to permanent grass, which, with rough pasture, supports large numbers of sheep, cattle, and pigs. Sheep are the most numerous form of livestock, amounting to 7 millions in 1923, when there were also 4 million cattle, 23 million pigs, 1 million goats, and 1 million horses. Numbers are very much lower than in 1914, there being less than half the number of pigs and goats, less than two-thirds of the cattle, and less than three-quarters of the sheep. LIVESTOCK PER SQUARE MILE-1920

Column 1. brings out very clearly the relation between cattle-rearing and agricultural zone C (see Fig. 1), where the grass of the cleared forest land provides good natural pasture. There are very few cattle, on the other hand, in Dalmatia, where the climate is unfavourable to grass, and on the high, barren Dinaric Alps. Column 11. brings out clearly the relation between pig-rearing and the best maize lands, although the industry was associated primarily with the beech and oak lands, where the pigs still roam the forests, feeding on beech-mast and acorns, as they used to do in England. In Slovenia they may also be connected with the byproducts of the dairy industry. Column III. is somewhat misleading, as it does not show the great relative importance of sheep in the Dinaric and Dalmatian areas, which have the highest percentage of rough pasture in the country, and where sheep and goat-rearing form the main resources. A characteristic feature of sheep-rearing on the borders of the Dinaric system is transhumance, the sheep going long distances from Dalmatia to high pastures in Lika and Bosnia, when the parched lower regions can no longer support them. On the other side of the highlands, in the hilly region bordering the Save, the sheep make the shorter journey down to the Save lowlands twice a year, in autumn to browse on the stubble after the maize harvest, and again in spring for the lambing season. Column IV. giving the number of goats per square mile clearly reflects the poverty spots of the kingdom, i.e. the limestone mountains of Herzegovina and the Dinaric part of Bosnia, of Dalmatia, and of Montenegro, and the crystalline mountains of South Serbia. Horses are reared mainly on the plains of zone D, especially round Brod, and in Voivodina.

After cultivated crops, animal products form the most important branch of Yugoslav exports, both live animals and meat being exported in large quantities. The export of live animals is still three or four times as valuable as that of meat, and although the proportion of meat exported is slowly increasing, the owners of the meat-preserving factories complain that the system of tariffs favours the exportation of cattle rather than of meat production. Cattle constitute the chief kind of live animals exported, followed by pigs, horses, and petit bétail. Italy is always the best customer for bullocks, Italian buyers coming to Zagreb and Ljubljana, which are the chief cattle markets, and even to the smaller markets in Voïvodina and North Serbia. Austria is the chief buyer of pigs, Austria and Greece of horses, and the Near East, especially Constantinople, of sheep and goats.

Poultry-keeping forms quite an important side-line on many farms in Yugoslavia, a fact which may be connected with the large quantities of grain. The fowls are not on the whole of good quality, and the export of fowls is much less than that of eggs, which usually come among the first six exports, and which were as high as fourth on the list in 1924. The third main branch of agriculture is the production of fruit, about 2 per cent. of the land being devoted to orchards and 1 per cent. to vineyards. The chief fruit-producing areas of the country are the cleared forest lands of zone C, especially the Šumadia area of Northern Serbia. The plum is the chief fruit grown, but apples, pears, walnuts, and other fruits are also cultivated, and the fruit is said to be of particularly good quality, partly because cleared deciduous forest land is naturally favourable to fruit trees, and partly because the short continental spring means that there is little risk of the premature blossoming and the consequent frost danger which is the bane of fruitgrowing in England. Of the plums, 60 per cent. are grown in Northern Serbia and 20 per cent. in the adjoining part of Bosnia (see Fig. 4), and the fruit is exported in the form of prunes. These are smaller than the Californian variety, and largely on that account command a lower price, but the quality is good, and improvements have been and are being made in methods of drying and packing which will enhance the value. Already they are an important item on the export list. The Scandinavian countries, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands take the best qualities, but the largest buyers are Germany and Austria, the latter mainly for re-export, while since the War Germany has also been re-exporting large quantities.

While the olives and figs are grown entirely in the region of Mediterranean climate, vines are grown still more extensively in the lowlands or bordering slopes in the continental type of climate. Large quantities of wine are produced, but great difficulty is being experienced at present in finding a market, as the country produces more than it can consume, and Austria and Czecho-Slovakia have adopted prohibitive customs tariffs.

Apart from cereals and fruits, a few of the remaining crops demand