AGRICULTUEAL ALCOHOL IN GEEMANY. 23 



when they were to be used depended in part upon uncontrollable 

 factors, such as their keeping qualities and the market price. 



TVith this in mind, it becomes apparent why the distillery should 

 have a fourfold equipment and also why at some times it should be 

 run as a twofold operation and at other times as a threefold opera- 

 tion. These considerations also make it clear that for the sake of 

 the cattle, as well as for the purpose of saving rotting potatoes, an 

 excess distillation, on which the direct profits are greatly reduced, 

 may be produced in a given campaign (distilling season). 



To summarize: The Dahlem estate is operated as a dairy farm. 

 Cattle are not raised, but cows and oxen are bought and as soon as 

 their services cease to be remunerative are sold to the greatest 

 advantage. Grain is cultivated with the dairj^ system in view. 

 The straw is used for bedding cattle, and the grain (rye and oats) 

 is sold in Berlin, while the flour for home consumption is bought. 

 Barlej^, of which about 575 bushels are needed for malting, is not 

 raised, because the yield on the sandy fields is said to be too low. 

 Eussian barley was bought for the campaign of 1907-8. Potatoes 

 are cultivated and the distillery operated with the same end in view, 

 namely, to provide warm feeding material for the cows during as 

 many of the cold months of the year as possible. The production 

 of alcohol, therefore, is conducted only as a side issue. 



It is for this reason that the State has regulated the tax on alcohol 

 as it has with reference to agriculture. A distillery operated like 

 the one at Dahlem could not compete with a large modern plant in 

 which the cost of production is reduced to a minimum. And yet 

 the Dahlem distillery, small as it is, had as its " Kontingent " at that 

 time four times the quantity assigned to what may be called the 

 small agricultural distilleries, and more than the maximum for that 

 class. 



The small distilleries producing 10,000 liters (2,G41.75 gallons) 

 or less of alcohol pay nothing under the progressive tax (Brenn- 

 steuer). Indeed, the distillery at Dahlem, as well as all agricultural 

 stills, does not pay this tax on the first 10,000 liters which it pro- 

 duces. On each additional 10,000 liters the tax increases. Onl,y the 

 mash tax is paid on the first 10,000 liters, and later, when the alcohol 

 is released, if it is to be used foi' bevei-age purposes, the delivery tax 

 (Abgabesteuer) is paM. 



While eafli distillery has the right to hold back ccM'tain (niantities 

 of alcohol for technical purposes, this privilege is not exercised at 

 Dahlem. The machinery operated on the estate is run by steain or 

 <'l(!(,tricitv — l)y steam when such can be convenienlly had fcom the 

 boih^rs of the diHtillcry, and iiy electricity when the cost of UcH'.ping 

 up the steain would be too great for the services rendered. The prox- 



