Wheat 350,000,000 kilograms
Maize 100,000,000 "
Rye 20,000,000 "
Barley 70,000,000 "
Oats 75,000,000 "
Beans, lentils, &c 25,000,000 "
Currants 350,000,000 Venetian lb.
Sultanina 4,000,000 "
Wine 3,000,000 hectolitres
Olive oil 300,000 "
Olives (preserved) 100,000,000 kilograms
Figs (exported only) 12,000,000 "
Seed cotton 6,500,000 "
Tobacco 8,000,000 "
Vegetables and fresh fruits 20,000,000 "
Cocoons 1,000,000 "
Hesperidiums (exported only) 4,000,000 "
Carobs (exported only) 10,000,000 "
Resin 5,000,000 "
Beet 12,000,000 "
Rice is grown in the marshy plains of Elis, Boeotia, Marathon and
Missolonghi; beet in Thessaly. The cultivation of vegetables is
increasing; beans, peas and lentils are the most common. Potatoes are
grown in the upland districts, but are not a general article of diet.
Of late years market-gardening has been taken up as a new industry in
the neighbourhood of Athens. There is a great variety of fruits. Olive
plantations are found everywhere; in 1860 they occupied about 90,000
acres; in 1887, 433,701 acres. The trees are sometimes of immense age
and form a picturesque feature in the landscape. In latter years the
groves in many parts of the western Morea and Zante have been cut down
to make room for currant plantations; the destruction has been
deplorable in its consequences, for, as the tree requires twenty years
to come into full bearing, replanting is seldom resorted to. Preserved
olives, eaten with bread, are a common article of food. Excellent
olive oil is produced in Attica and elsewhere. The value of the oil
and fruit exported varies from five to ten million francs. Figs are
also abundant, especially in Messenia and in the Cyclades. Mulberry
trees are planted for the purposes of sericulture; they have been cut
down in great numbers in the currant-growing districts. Other fruit
trees are the orange, citron, lemon, pomegranate and almond. Peaches,
apricots, pears, cherries, &c., abound, but are seldom scientifically
cultivated; the fruit is generally gathered while unripe. Cotton in
1906 occupied about 12,500 acres, chiefly in the neighbourhood of
Livadia. Tobacco plantations in 1893 covered 16,320 acres, yielding
about 3,500,000 kilograms; the yield in 1906 was 9,000,000 kilograms.
About 40% of the produce is exported, principally to Egypt and Turkey.
More important are the vineyards, which occupied in 1887 an area of
306,421 acres. The best wine is made at Patras, on the royal estate at
Decelea, and on other estates in Attica; a peculiar flavour is
imparted to the wine of the country by the addition of resin. The wine
of Santorin, the modern representative of the famous "malmsey," is
mainly exported to Russia. The foreign demand for Greek wines is
rapidly increasing; 3,770,257 gallons were exported in 1890, 4,974,196
gallons in 1894, There is also a growing demand for Greek cognac. The
export of wine in 1905 was 20,850,941 okes, value 5,848,544 fr.; of
cognac, 363,720 okes, value 1,091,160 fr.
Currants.
The currant, by far the most important of Greek exports, is cultivated
in a limited area extending along the southern shore of the Gulf of
Corinth and the seaboard of the Western Peloponnesus, in Zante,
Cephalonia and Leucas, and in certain districts of Acarnania and
Aetolia; attempts to cultivate it elsewhere have generally proved
unsuccessful. The history of the currant industry has been a record of
extraordinary vicissitudes. Previously to 1877 the currant was
exported solely for eating purposes, the amounts for the years 1872 to
1877 being 70,766 tons, 71,222 tons, 76,210 tons, 72,916 tons, 86,947
tons, and 82,181 tons respectively. In 1877, however, the French
vineyards began to suffer seriously from the phylloxera, and French
wine producers were obliged to have recourse to dried currants, which
make an excellent wine for blending purposes. The importation of
currants into France at once rose from 881 tons in 1877 to 20,999 tons
in 1880, and to 70,401 tons in 1889, or about 20,000 tons more than
were imported into England in that year. Meanwhile the total amount of
currants produced in Greece had nearly doubled in these thirteen
years. The country was seized with a mania for currant planting; every
other industry was neglected, and olive, orange and lemon groves were
cut down to make room for the more lucrative growth. The currant
growers, in order to increase their production as rapidly as possible,
had recourse to loans at a high rate of interest, and the great
profits which they made were devoted to further planting, while the
loans remained unpaid. A crisis followed rapidly. By 1891 the French
vineyards had to a great extent recovered from the disease, and wine
producers in France began to clamour against the competition of
foreign wines and wine-producing raisins and currants. The import duty
on these was thereupon raised from 6 francs to 15 francs per 100
kilos, and was further increased in 1894 to 25 francs. The currant
trade with France was thus extinguished; of a crop averaging 160,000
tons, only some 110,000 now found a market. Although a fresh opening
for exportation was found in Russia, the value of the fruit dropped
from L15 to L5 per ton, a price scarcely covering the cost of
cultivation. In July 1895 the government introduced a measure, since
known as the Retention ([Greek: parakratesis]) Law, by which it was
enacted that every shipper should deliver into depots provided by the
government a weight of currants equivalent to 15% of the amount which
he intended to export. A later law fixed the quantity to be retained
by the state at 10%, which might be increased to 20%, should a
representative committee, meeting every summer at Athens, so advise
the government. The currants thus taken over by the government cannot
be exported unless they are reduced to pulp, syrup or otherwise
rendered unsuitable for eating purposes; they may be sold locally for
wine-making or distilling, due precautions being taken that they are
not used in any other way. The price of exported currants is thus
maintained at an artificial figure. The Retention Law, which after
1895 was voted annually, was passed for a period of ten years in 1899.
This pernicious measure, which is in defiance of all economic laws,
perpetuates a superfluous production, retards the development of other
branches of agriculture and burdens the government with vast
accumulations of an unmarketable commodity. It might excusably be
adopted as a temporary expedient to meet a pressing crisis, but as a
permanent system it can only prove detrimental to the country and the
currant growers themselves.
In 1899 a "Bank of Viticulture" was established at Patras for the
purpose of assisting the growers, to whom it was bound to make
advances at a low rate of interest; it undertook the storage and the
sale of the retained fruit, from which its capital was derived. The
bank soon found itself burdened with an enormous unsaleable stock,
while its loans for the most part remained unpaid; meantime
over-production, the cause of the trouble, continued to increase, and
prices further diminished. In 1903 a syndicate of English and other
foreign capitalists made proposals for a monopoly of the export,
guaranteeing fixed prices to the growers. The scheme, which conflicted
with Anglo-Greek commercial conventions, was rejected by the Theotokis
ministry; serious disturbances followed in the currant-growing
districts, and M. Theotokis resigned. His successor, M. Rallis, in
order to appease the cultivators, arranged that the Currant Bank
should offer them fixed minimum prices for the various growths, and
guaranteed it a loan of 6,000,000 dr. The resources of the bank,
however, gave out before the end of the season, and prices pursued
their downward course. Another experiment was then tried; the export
duty (15%) was made payable in kind, the retention quota being thus
practically raised from 20 to 35%. The only result of this measure was
a diminution of the export; in the spring of 1905 prices fell very low
and the growers began to despair. A syndicate of banks and capitalists
then came forward, which introduced the system now in operation. A
privileged company was formed which obtained a charter from the
government for twenty years, during which period the retention and
export duties are maintained at the fixed rates of 20 and 15%
respectively. The company aims at keeping up the prices of the
marketable qualities by employing profitably for industrial purposes
the unexported surplus and retained inferior qualities; it pays to the
state 4,000,000 dr. annually under the head of export duty; offers all
growers at the beginning of each agricultural year a fixed price of
115 dr. per 1000 Venetian lb. irrespective of quality, and pays a
price varying from 115 dr. to 145 dr. according to quality at the end
of the year for the unexported surplus. In return for these advantages
to the growers the company is entitled to receive 7 dr. on every 1000
lb. of currants produced and to dispose of the whole retained amount.
A special company has been formed for the conversion of the
superfluous product into spirit, wine, &c. The system may perhaps
prove commercially remunerative, but it penalizes the producers of the
better growths in order to provide a livelihood for the growers of
inferior and unmarketable kinds and protracts an abnormal situation.
The following table gives the annual currant crop from 1877 to 1905:--
+------+----------+------------+-----------+
| Year.|Total crop| Exported to|Exported to|
| | (tons). |Gt. Britain.| France. |
+------+----------+------------+-----------+
| 1877 | 82,181 | .. | 881 |
| 1878 | 100,004 | .. | 9,086 |
| 1879 | 92,311 | .. | 19,087 |
| 1880 | 92,337 | .. | 20,999 |
| 1881 | 121,994 | .. | 30,315 |
| 1882 | 109,403 | 51,933 | 26,282 |
| 1883 | 114,980 | 52,099 | 24,815 |
| 1884 | 129,268 | 59,629 | 39,198 |
| 1885 | 113,287 | 55,765 | 37,730 |
| 1886 | 127,570 | 48,892 | 45,000 |
| 1887 | 127,160 | 55,549 | 37,438 |
| 1888 | 158,728 | 63,714 | 40,735 |
| 1889 | 142,308 | 52,251 | 69,555 |
| 1890 | 146,749 | 67,502 | 37,816 |
| 1891 | 161,545 | 70,762 | 39,712 |
| 1892 | 116,944 | 60,418 | 21,721 |
| 1893 | 119,886 | 73,000 | 6,800 |
| 1894 | 135,500 | 64,500 | 15,000 |
| 1895 | 167,695 | 60,500 | 26,500 |
| 1896 | 153,514 | 65,000 | 6,500 |
| 1897 | 115,730 | 63,000 | 2,000 |
| 1898 | 153,514 | 69,500 | 6,000 |
| 1899 | 144,071 | 65,600 | 3,800 |
| 1900 | 47,236 | 36,000 | 300 |
| 1901 | 139,820 | 58,000 | 1,216 |
| 1902 | 152,580 | 58,400 | 4,782 |
| 1903 | 179,499 | 54,800 | 4,470 |
| 1904 | 146,500 | 58,850 | 820 |
| 1905 | 162,957 | 61,700 | 1,042 |
+------+----------+------------+-----------+
The "peronospora," a species of white blight, first caused
considerable damage in the Greek vineyards in 1892, recurring in 1897
and 1900.
Stock-farming.
More than half the cultivable area of Greece is devoted to pasturage.
Cattle-rearing, as a rule, is a distinct occupation from agricultural
farming; the herds are sent to pasture on the mountains in the summer,
and return to the plains at the beginning of winter. The larger cattle
are comparatively rare, being kept almost exclusively for agricultural
labour; the smaller are very abundant. Beef is scarcely eaten in
Greece, the milk of cows is rarely drunk and butter is almost unknown.
Cheese, a staple article of diet, is made from the milk of sheep and
goats. The number of larger cattle has declined in recent years; that
of the smaller has increased. The native breed of oxen is small;
buffaloes are seldom seen except in north-western Thessaly; a few
camels are used in the neighbourhood of Parnassus. The Thessalian
breed of horses, small but sturdy and enduring, can hardly be taken to
represent the celebrated chargers of antiquity. Mules are much
employed in the mountainous districts; the best type of these animals
is found in the islands. The flocks of long-horned sheep and goats add
a picturesque feature to Greek rural scenery. The goats are more
numerous in proportion to the population than in any other European
country (137 per 100 inhabitants). The shepherds' dogs rival those of
Bulgaria in ferocity. According to an unofficial estimate published in
1905 the numbers of the various domestic animals in 1899 were as
follows: Oxen and buffaloes, 408,744; horses, 157,068; mules, 88,869;
donkeys, 141,174; camels, 51; sheep, 4,568,151; goats, 3,339,439;
pigs, 79,716. During the four years 1899-1902 the annual average value
of imported cattle was 4,218,015 dr., of exported cattle 209,321 dr.
Forests.
The forest area (about 2,500,000 acres or one-fifth of the surface of
the mainland) is for the most part state property. The value of the
forests has been estimated at 200,000,000 fr.; the most productive are
in the district extending from the Pindus range to the Gulf of
Corinth. The principal trees are the oak (about 30 varieties), the
various coniferae, the chestnut, maple, elm, beech, alder, cornel and
arbutus. In Greece, as in other lands formerly subject to Turkish
rule, the forests are not only neglected, but often deliberately
destroyed; this great source of national wealth is thus continually
diminishing. Every year immense forest fires may be seen raging in the
mountains, and many of the most picturesque districts in the country
are converted into desolate wildernesses. These conflagrations are
mainly the work of shepherds eager to provide increased pasturage for
their flocks; they are sometimes, however, due to the carelessness of
smokers, and occasionally, it is said, to spontaneous ignition in hot
weather. Great damage is also done by the goats, which browse on the
young saplings; the pine trees are much injured by the practice of
scoring their bark for resin. With the disappearance of the trees the
soil of the mountain slopes, deprived of its natural protection, is
soon washed away by the rain; the rapid descent of the water causes
inundations in the plains, while the uplands become sterile and lose
their vegetation. The climate has been affected by the change; rain
falls less frequently but with greater violence, and the process of
denudation is accelerated. The government has from time to time made
efforts for the protection of the forests, but with little success
till recently. A staff of inspectors and forest guards was first
organized in 1877. The administration of the forests has since 1893
been entrusted to a department of the Ministry of Finance, which
controls a staff of 4 inspectors ([Greek: epitheoretai]), 31
superintendents ([Greek: dasarchoi]), 52 head foresters ([Greek:
archiphylakes]) and 298 foresters ([Greek: dasyphylakes]). The
foresters are aided during the summer months, when fires are most
frequent, by about 500 soldiers and gendarmes. About a third of these
functionaries have received instruction in the school of forestry at
Vythine in the Morea, open since 1898. Owing to the measures now
taken, which include excommunication by the parish priests of
incendiaries and their accomplices, the conflagrations have
considerably diminished. The total annual value of the products of the
Greek forests averages 15,000,000 drachmae. The revenue accruing to
the government in 1905 was 1,418,158 dr., as compared with 583,991 dr.
in 1883. The increase is mainly due to improved administration. The
supply of timber for house-construction, ship-building,
furniture-making, railway sleepers, &c., is insufficient, and is
supplemented by importation (annual value about 12,000,000 francs);
transport is rendered difficult by the lack of roads and navigable
streams. The principal secondary products are valonea (annual
exportation about 1,250,000 fr.) and resin, which is locally employed
as a preservative ingredient in the fabrication of wine. The
administration of the forests is still defective, and measures for the
augmentation and better instruction of the staff of foresters have
been designed by the government. In 1900 a society for the
re-afforesting of the country districts and environs of the large
towns was founded at Athens under the patronage of the crown princess.
+------------------------------+---------+-----------+
| | Tons. | Francs. |
+------------------------------+---------+-----------+
| Chrome | 8,900 | 337,952 |
| Emery | 6,972 | 742,486 |
| Gypsum | 185 | 7,995 |
| Iron ore | 465,622 | 3,387,467 |
| Ferromanganese | 89,687 | 1,182,652 |
| Lead (argentiferous pig) ore | 13,729 | 6,811,792 |
| Lignite | 11,757 | 143,814 |
| Magnesite | 43,498 | 864,982 |
| Manganese ore | 8,171 | 122,565 |
| Mill stones | 12,628 | 34,660 |
| Salt | 25,201 | 1,638,065 |
| Sulphur | 1,126 | 121,000 |
| Zinc ore | 22,562 | 2,852,355 |
+------------------------------+---------+-----------+
Mines.
The chief minerals are silver, lead, zinc, copper manganese, magnesia,
iron, sulphur and coal. Emery, salt, millstone and gypsum, which are
found in considerable quantities, are worked by the government. The
important mines at Laurium, a source of great wealth to ancient
Athens, were reopened in 1864 by a Franco-Italian company, but were
declared to be state property in 1871; they are now worked by a Greek
and a French company. The output of marketable ore in 1899 amounted to
486,760 tons, besides 289,292 tons of dressed lead ore. In 1905 the
output was as follows: Raw and roasted manganese iron ore, 113,636
tons; hematite iron ore, 94,734 tons; calamine or zinc ore, 22,612
tons; arsenic and argentiferous lead, 1875 tons; zinc blende and
galena, 443 tons; total, 233,300 tons, together with 164,857 tons of
dressed lead, producing 13,822 tons of silver pig lead containing 1657
to 1910 grams of silver per ton. It has been found profitable to
resmelt the scoriae of the ancient workings. The total value of the
exports from the Laurium mines, which in 1875 amounted to only
L150,513, had in 1899 increased to L827,209, but fell in 1905 to
L499,882. The revenue accruing to the government from all mines and
quarries, including those worked by the state, was estimated in the
budget for 1906 at 1,332,000 dr. The emery of Naxos, which is a state
monopoly, is excellent in quality and very abundant. Mines of iron ore
have latterly been opened at Larimna in Locris. Magnesite mines are
worked by an Anglo-Greek company in Euboea. There are sulphur and
manganese mines in the island of Melos, and the volcanic island of
Santorin produces pozzolana, a kind of cement, which is exported in
considerable quantities. The great abundance of marble in Greece has
latterly attracted the attention of foreign capitalists. New quarries
have been opened since 1897 by an English company on the north slope
of Mount Pentelicus, and are now connected by rail with Athens and the
Peiraeus. The marble on this side of the mountain is harder than that
on the south, which alone was worked by the ancients. The output in
1905 was 1573 tons. Mount Pentelicus furnished material for most of
the celebrated buildings of ancient Athens; the marble, which is
white, blue-veined, and somewhat transparent, assumes a rich yellow
hue after long exposure to the air. The famous Parian quarries are
still worked; white marble is also found at Scyros, Tenos and Naxos;
grey at Stoura and Karystos; variegated at Valaxa and Karystos; green
on Taygetus and in Thessaly; black at Tenos; and red (porphyry) in
Maina.
The official statistics of the output and value of minerals produced
in 1905 were as in the preceding table.
The number of persons employed in mining operations in 1905 was 9934.
Commerce and industry.
Owing to the natural aptitude of the Greeks for commerce and their
predilection for a seafaring life a great portion of the trade of the
Levant has fallen into their hands. Important Greek mercantile colonies
exist in all the larger ports of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea,
and many of them possess great wealth. In some of the islands of the
archipelago almost every householder is the owner or joint owner of a
ship. The Greek mercantile marine, which in 1888 consisted of 1352
vessels (70 steamers) with a total tonnage of 219,415 tons, numbered in
1906, according to official returns, 1364 vessels (275 steamers) with a
total tonnage of 427,291 tons. This figure is apparently too low, as the
ship-owners are prone to understate the tonnage in order to diminish the
payment of dues. Almost the whole corn trade of Turkey is in Greek
hands. A large number of the sailing ships, especially the smaller
vessels engaged in the coasting trade, belong to the islanders. A
considerable portion of the shipping on the Danube and Pruth is owned by
the inhabitants of Ithaca and Cephalonia; a certain number of their
_sleps_ ([Greek: slepia]) have latterly been acquired by Rumanian Jews,
but the Greek flag is still predominant. There are seven principal Greek
steamship companies owning 40 liners with a total tonnage of 21,972
tons. In 1847 there was but one lighthouse in Greek waters; in 1906
there were 70 lighthouses and 68 port lanterns. Hermoupolis (Syra) is
the chief seat of the carrying trade, but as a commercial port it yields
to Peiraeus, which is the principal centre of distribution for imports.
Other important ports are Patras, Volo, Corfu, Kalamata and Laurium.
The following table gives the total value (in francs) of special Greek
commerce for the given years:--
+---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| | 1887. | 1892. | 1897. | 1902. |
+---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| Imports | 131,849,325 | 119,306,007 | 116,363,348 | 137,229,364 |
| Exports | 102,652,487 | 82,261,464 | 81,708,626 | 79,663,473 |
+---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
The marked fluctuations in the returns are mainly attributable to
variations in the price and quantity of imported cereals and in the
sale of currants. The great excess of imports, caused by the large
importation of food-stuffs and manufactured articles, is due to the
neglect of agriculture and the undeveloped condition of local
industries.