352 Report on the Agriculture of 



once in their respective stables, and it is seldom that a rick of 

 hay or other fodder is to be seen out of doors. As may be 

 imagined, the lofts over the stock-stables are very commodious 

 (see Buildrnf/s). Clover, lucern, millet, Mohar and Hirse 

 (millet), are all in very general use as forage-crops. 



Suqar-Beet. — The cultivation and manufacture of sugar is not 

 carried on so generally in Hungary as in other parts of the em- 

 pire. The soil often contains too many salts, and especially soda- 

 salts, to favour the production of the best quality of sugar. At 

 Zinkendorf, near CEdenburg, there is a large sugar factory upon 

 Count Szechenyi's estate, where from 17,000 to 20,000 tons of 

 beet are annually used, and yield 9 to 10 per cent, of their weight 

 of sugar. The quantity to which they are liable for excise duty is 

 943 cwt. daily, and the work of sugar-making is continued from 

 the beginning of September to the end of February. They grow a 

 large quantity of sugar-beet, and purchase it at the rate of Is. Id. 

 to i^. 2d. per cwt, delivered at the factory, and the pulp, which 

 amounts to 17 per cent, of the beet, is given back. There are at 

 the present time only twenty-six sugar-factories in Hungary. 



Pasture Land. — Pasture land is fast diminishing in Hungary. 

 According to statistics collected in 1853, the following propor- 

 tions of the productive land of the country were found to exist : — 



Arable land .. 40 • 43 per Cent. 



Vineyard ;• •• 1*61 ,, 



Meadow and garden 13 '87 ,, 



Pasture 17-19 ,, 



AVood 26-19 ,, 



These relations have been much altered of late years. Since the 

 river courses have been regulated, hundreds of thousands of 

 acres, which were formerly lying as pasture or reeds, have been 

 laid dry and converted into the richest arable land. Also 

 thousands of acres of sound pasture lands have been broken up 

 by the plough. I was constantly meeting with instances in 

 which pastures had been broken up, and there is good reason for 

 supposing that more and more land will be devoted to corn- 

 growing. The system of managing these pastures is bad, and 

 consequently they become poorer yearly. Although 1873 was a 

 good year for pastures, I was frequently struck by their poverty, 

 especially at Busing and near Presburg. They are unenclosed, 

 and constantly grazed by sheep and cattle, which, being inva- 

 riably driven home at night, carry the food-constituents to the 

 manure heap, and from thence it passes to the arable land. In 

 Upper Hungary much of the pastures ought to be broken up, as 

 the soil and climate are not suitable for grass, and they would 

 evidently be more profitable as arable land. The Hungarian 

 agriculturists value their pastures as being well adapted for the 



