Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/805

EUROPE 785 5 of latitude to the south in a course of 31 5' of longitude. A mean annual temperature of 68 is only met with on the southern coast of Portugal. But while the mean tempera- ture diminishes advancing eastward, the ex- tremes of the heat of summer and the cold of winter increase. Thus London has the same mean temperature as Vienna, which lies more than 3 further S., but it has the summer of St. Petersburg and the winter of Milan. The transitions from winter to summer and from summer to winter are less abrupt in the largest portion of Europe than they are in America. Almost everywhere the seasons succeed each other with great regularity. The extreme north only, where the winter lasts for eight months, and the extreme south, form excep- tions. The fall of rain is more equally distrib- uted N. of the Alpine system than S. of it. It has been calculated that the entire quantity of rain falling in the N. part of Europe is less by one third than in the S., but the snow of the north covers the deficiency of rain. The western winds, being laden with the moisture which they have received in passing the At- lantic, generally bring rain, while the eastern winds are dry and chilly. From the same cause the average quantity of rain is largest in Great Britain, and decreases in advancing E. and S. E. Thunderstorms occur in the N. part of Europe almost exclusively during the summer, in the S. part at all seasons of the year. The vegetation of Europe, dependent upon and cor- responding to its climate, has not the extremes of luxuriance or sterility belonging to other great continents. Culture has diversified it, and has domesticated many plants, natives of other countries. Thus the vine, olive, and mulberry have been introduced from Syria, the cotton plant from India, maize from North America, the potato from South America, the walnut and peach from Persia, the apricot from Armenia, the sugar cane and orange from China; while many of the indigenous plants, especially vegetables (as lettuce, cabbage, tur- nips), have been improved by culture to such a degree that their relationship with their wild types is scarcely evident. Europe may be di- vided into three vegetable zones, viz. : 1. The sub-arctic zone, characterized by the preva- lence of the pine and birch and of cryptoga- mous plants. It produces little grain except barley, and no fruit. This zone comprises Iceland, the Faroe islands, the Scandinavian peninsula N". of lat. 64, and Russia N. of lat. 62. 2. The central zone, subdivided into the zone of the beech and oak, and that of the chestnut and vine. The former includes Great Britain and Ireland, the Scandinavian penin- sula S. of lat. 64 N., and the German and Sarmatian plain between lat. 62 and 48. The latter comprises the valleys and plains between the mountain ranges of central Europe and the Sarmatian plain. In the former, rye and wheat are the principal grains ; in the latter, wheat and maize. 3. The southern zone, or the region of perpetual verdure, and of the olive, comprising the three southern peninsulas and the southern coast country of France dis- tinguished by a great variety and luxuriance ot sub-tropical vegetation. The sugar cane cotton plant, orange, citron, fig, pomegranate, and date grow in the southernmost belt of this region. The zones in which these fruits and plants grow follow the lines of equal summer heat, and hence run from S. W. to N. E., since the extremes of summer heat and winter cold increase advancing eastward, though the mean annual temperature decreases. Thus the cot- ton plant is cultivated on a small scale in the southernmost portion of Spain, from lat. 36 to 37, more largely in Sicily and in the S. E. angle of Italy, in the Balkan peninsula as high as lat. 41 30', and at Astrakhan in lat. 46. The olive, which does not succeed on the W. coast of France in lat. 43, grows as far as lat. 44-45 in the S. E. provinces of Franco and in Italy. The fig and pomegranate, which accompany the olive in the west, are found in the Crimea as far N. as lat. 45. The climate proper for the culture of maize terminates on the W. coast of France at lat. 45 30', on the Rhine at 49, and on the Elbe at 50-61. Rice has nearly the same geographical range. The culture of the vine extends as far N. as lat. 47 30' on the Atlantic coast, 50 30' on the banks of the Rhine, 52 on the Oder river. In Russia it grows as far N. as lat. 52, but it is not cultivated beyond 50. Altogether the region adapted to the cultivation of the vine comprises about three sevenths of Europe, that adapted to the culture of wheat four sevenths. The 1ST. limit of the latter is lat. 57-58 N., though it is raised in a few favored spots in Finland as far N. as lat. 60 and 61. The hardier kinds of grain, rye, barley, and oats, are cultivated on the W. side of Norway as far as lat. 69 55' N., but on the E. side of the Scandinavian mountains they scarcely ripen at 67-68, and still further E. in Russia they can- not be cultivated beyond lat. 60-62. Peaches and apricots succeed in Russia as far N. as lat. 50, melons at lat. 52 ; and plums and cher- ries, growing wild as far as. lat. 55, are carried beyond that limit by cultivation. Tobacco is extensively cultivated over the greater part of Europe, from Sicily to Sweden, as are flax and hemp r though they thrive best between lat. 45 and 60. Europe contains the various min- erals, though in unequal proportions. It is abundantly supplied with iron, copper, lead, coal, and salt, but produces comparatively small quantities of gold and silver. Gold, though widely diffused, is only found in a few places (Carpathians, Ural mountains, and Scandina- vian Alps) in sufficient quantities to repay the expense of working it. Silver is mined in the Hartz, the Carpathians, Ural mountains, Scan- dinavian Alps, and Sardinia. The richest iron mines are in Sweden, which produces the best quality, in Great Britain, which has the largest quantity, in Styria, Carinthia, Bavaria, the Py-