Bulgaria - Palgrave Connect

PRODUCTION AND INDUSTRY 1145
special tax for ten years. About 40,000 are annually liable to be drafted,
but of these, only about 18,000, as decided by lot, are called under arms.
They serve either 2 years in the infantry, or 3 years in other arms. The
army, including the East Rumelian forces, is organised as follows:—
Infantry : on peace footing, 24 regiments of 2 battalions and train, and
12 reserve battalions; on war footing, 24 regiments of 4 battalions
and 1 depOt battalion, besides 12 reserve regiments of 4 battalions. On
a war footing the battalion numbers 1,050 officers and men. Cavalry :
the Prince's bodyguard squadron, peace and war strength, 353 ; 3 regiments
of 4 squadrons, and 2 regiments of 5 squadrons, peace and war
strength. Artillery : 6 regiments of 9 batteries of, on peace strength, 4 guns,
on war strength, 6 guns ; 3 battalions of fortress artillery, and 9 mountain
batteries. Engineers : 3 battalions of 4 companies, besides 3 companies for
telegraph, railway, &c., service. The total war strength is about 209,000.
The infantry is armed with the Mannlieher repeating rifle. The Bulgarian
cannot be sent out of the country except in time of war. There is a military
academy at Sofia. The floating strength of Bulgaria consists of the Prince's
yacht Krum (650 tons), the steamships Alexander I. (800 tons), Simeon
Veliky (600 tons), and Asen (400 tons), besides seven very small steamboats,
and others are building. One torpedo gunboat, Nadejda (715 tons), was
launched at Bordeaux, September 1898. There are two armoured gunboats
for the defence of the Danube building abroad.
Production and Industry.
In Bulgaria the State is theoretically the owner of the land ; the landholder
has a perpetual lease descending to heirs, and pays one-tenth of the
produce by way of rent (paid still, to a great extent, in kind). The communes
hold pasture-land and wood-land in perpetuity and pay no rent, and
over such lands the members of the communes have grazing and wood-cutting
rights. According to recent statistics the surface of Bulgaria is subdivided
as follows:—
Description of surface
Pasture
Arable land and mai'ket garden .
Forest and heath . . . .
Prairie
Vineyards . . . . . .
Water, dwellings, roads, ke.
Total
Hectares
4,587,838
2,435,900
1,676,250
312,000
113,512
445,000
9,570,500
Percentage
47-89
25-50
17-50
3-26
1-20
4-65
100-00
About five-sevenths of the population are engaged in agriculture, most of
them being small proprietors holding from one to six acres. The principal
agricultural product is wheat, which is largely exported. Wine, tobacco and
silk are also produced ; attar of roses is largely manufactured, the production
in 1900 was about 900,000 metikal (208 metikal = l kilogramme). In 1893
there were in Bulgaria 6,868,291 sheep, 1,263,772 goats, 1,769,974 head of
cattle, and 461,635 pigs, 343,946 horses, 81,610 asses, and 8,264 mules.
All minerals belong by law to the State. The coal mines at Pernik,
worked by the Government, yield about 125,000 tons per annum. Coal of
good quality has also been found in Balkans near Trevna, and several
working concessions have been granted. About 1,000,000 cubic metres of
stone are quarried annually. Iron is found in large quantities ; gold, silver,
4 E
10.1057/9780230270305 - The Statesman's Year-Book, Edited by John Scott-Keltie
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