384 Report on the Agriculture of 



and through the Saxon Switzerland to Dresden. The same 

 lovely country, good land, and capital farming were again and 

 again repeated, and I left Bohemia with a strong admiration for 

 its agriculture. 



I conclude this very imperfect sketch of Bohemian farming 

 by giving the result of a conversation with Herr Watzl, the 

 steward at Postelberg. Sugar is extensively made on Prince 

 Schwarzenberg's estate. Most of the beet used is grown on the 

 estate, as its price has lately risen so high — to Is. Sd. arid 

 Is. lO^d., 2s. Id. and '2s. Qd. per centner of 123|- lbs. 



9^ to 10 tons of beet per acre can be grown, and this yields G, 

 7, and 8 per cent, of sugar. 



So long as sugar-beet can command 60 kr. per centner, i.e. about 

 Is. 2d. per cwt., with the pulp given back, it is considered to 

 pay better than growing roots for fodder. Tenants growing beet 

 for the factory receive all the pulp back, and from Is. 2d. to 

 Is. <o^d. per centner for their beet. 



Pulp is a wholesome food for all kinds of stock, so long as it 

 is given sour and cool, but is not to be trusted when given warnj 

 from fermentation. The pulp is given mixed with meal from 

 tail-coi'n. 



They commence to feed oxen by giving them as much pulp as 

 they can eat. Oxen of 12 cwts. are found to consume 36 to 48 

 lbs. of pulp, and 44 of meal. To. cows they give 14 to 18 lbs. 

 of pulp, 4^ to 7 lbs. of hay, and 4 to 4^ lbs. of meal with straw. 

 The straw and green fodder is cut into chaff and mixed with 

 pulp. Fatting oxen of 12 cwts. live weight will, on the above 

 food, gain from 1*235 to 2^ and 3 lbs. per day, but there are, of 

 course, great differences. 



The best manure for sugar-beet is superphosphate manufactured 

 from the refuse at the sugar factories. Eight cwts. per acre (10 

 centners per joch) is sufficient when no other manure is used. 

 Farmyard manure is never applied with superphosphate. As 

 a rule they dung previous crops for sugar-beet, and manure 

 directly as above. Guano is known, but is considered too dear. 

 There is no steam cultivation on these estates. A sufficient 

 number of oxen are purchased in summer to work the land, 

 then are afterwards fatted off. The intermixture of peasant- 

 land with the estates of the proprietors (see page 320) is one 

 great difficulty in the way of steam cultivation. 



Lahoiircrs and Wages.- — At Coding in Moravia, close to the 

 Hungarian frontier, labourers are paid both in money and kind. 

 A man in summer earns 1.*?. 8f/. to 2s., and a woman lOd. to 

 1.9. 3r/. A shepherd has 13/. with doctor's bill paid, and 6f 

 bushels of wheat; 27 bushels of rye; 2 klafters of wood ; and 

 about one-fifth part an acre of land. Cottage rents were 42^-, 



