AGRICULTURAL MANUFACTURES. 475 
beet-sugar on the Continent, and its comparative advantage over 
that of Colonial sugar in point of profit, we shall now describe one 
which, although using the same raw material, is of a very different 
character in respect to its product. We refer to the distillation of 
ardent spirits from the beetroot and the potato, which has for some 
years been extensively carried on in several of the Continental 
countries ; and, so far as profit is concerned, with great success, in 
some of them at least. An attempt has been made by a French 
firm (Messrs. Champonnois and Co.) to induce the English farmers 
to establish similar works in connection with their farms, and a 
model distillery was erected upon the best principle at Fulkam. 
Fortunately the attempt was a failure; for assuredly it would have 
ended in the ruin of all persons concerned, and inflicted injury 
upon the agricultural interests of the kingdom, had it been exten- 
sively adopted. As the most favourable instance in which it has 
been so, we shall give a brief account of its rise and progress in 
Austria, where it has had a greater development than in any other 
country. 
It was, we believe, in Austria that the idea of uniting the distilla- 
tion of ardent spirits with the estates of the nobles was first suggest- 
ed. It is acountry so far isolated from the great grain markets of 
Western Europe, as to possess only one direct port, Trieste, at the 
head of the Adriatic, and the tedious route of the Danube, and the 
Black and Mediterranean Seas. On the other hand, at the period 
to which this paper refers (1830), there were no public roads or rail- 
ways in Austria capable of assisting the farmer to convey his 
produce to market, except at such an expense as would have swal- 
lowed up the whole value. The long continuance of extreme low 
prices, after the peace of 1815 (with the exception of two seasons), 
reduced the Austrian landowner to the brink of ruin, and it was 
a question with them, whether they should abandon the cultiva- 
tion of the land altogether, unless some mode were adopted of 
rendering the produce available by establishing agricultural manu- 
factures. That of sugar was at once adopted; and nearly at 
the same time the idea of distillation was started as a last re- 
source. 
In many respects Austria is more favourably situated for the 
prosecution of these branches of industry than France, being the 
only Continental state (with the exception of Russia) in which the 
subdivision of the land has not been adopted. The estates of the 
aristocracy are very large, and although imperfectly cultivated, and 
Vou. VI. 2K 
