20 BULLETIlSr 182, U. S. DEPAETMEK^T OF AGEICULTUEE. 



small agricultural distilleries which actually produce alcohol as such. 

 This should teach the lesson that false hopes should not be engen- 

 dered in our farmers. Yet even these distilleries are not operated 

 ephemerally, nor are they fed with what might properly be called 

 waste material. They demand a constant supply of crude material 

 and the constant attention of an operator, whose work often begins 

 at 4 o'clock in the morning. 



COOPERATIVE DISTILLERIES. 



As already stated, the smaller distilleries engaged in the produc- 

 tion of alcohol, not alcoholic beverages, are being replaced rapidly 

 by cooperative distilleries. It is instructive to note at the outset one 

 characteristic feature of the plan, namely, that the unit of coopera- 

 tion is not expressed in shares having a certain money value nor in 

 hundredweights of potatoes to be supplied, but in the amount of spent 

 mash which the shareholder is privileged to call for daily. It is this 

 feature of the cooperative enterprises which, possibly more than any 

 other, clearly indicates where the value of the agricultural distillery 

 lies, viz, in the maintenance of more cattle, which are so essential 

 to the light, gravelly soils. This condition is found at Perlach, in the 

 valley of the Isar, where one of the largest of the cooperative enter- 

 prises is located. A somewhat detailed account of this cooperative 

 distillery is given elsewhere. Suffice it here to say that the contrast 

 between a rational enterprise conducted on a scientific and economic 

 basis and an irrational operation conducted by rule-of-thumb 

 methods could not be greater than the contrast between this cooper- 

 ative plant and the small still in one of the outhouses of a near-by 

 farm. It should also be pointed out that cooperation in such a place 

 as Perlach is made easy by the proximity of the farm buildings to 

 each other, for the farmers of Perlach are for the most part village 

 neighbors, who, while they work their outlying farms individually, 

 follow their social instincts by living very close together. 



REPORT OF VISITS TO AGRICULTURAL DISTILLERIES. 



It was deemed wise in connection with this investigation to visit 

 personally a number of agricultural distilleries representing the 

 different types of conditions under which the problem of the produc- 

 tion of alcohol has been worked out. Several estates were visited 

 and such points of significance were noted as would be permitted by 

 a single visit. It was clearly impossible to make exhaustive studies 

 of these estates, but it is believed that the data obtained will prove 

 of value. 



DAHLEM. 



The royal estate of Dahlem lies northwest of Berlin, between 

 Steglitz and the Grunewald, a royal forest of more than 18,750 acres 



