AGEICULTUEAL ALCOHOL IN GERMANY. 29 



To judge accurately and in detail the agricultural value of these 

 estates might be difficult even for an expert agriculturist. How- 

 ever, a layman can see what is being done on such an estate and can 

 comprehend the difference between the fields which are carefully 

 fertilized and cultivated and the broad sand wastes through which 

 one passes by rail. But these estates are not merely farms — ^that is, 

 they do not serve agricultural purposes solely. They are the homes 

 of the nobility, at least in great part, and while some of the nobility 

 no doubt are good agriculturists, others (and even the good agri- 

 culturists themselves) regard their farm profits as secondary to 

 game preservation. This was well illustrated by conditions seen at 

 Xeuguth. 



This was the first of the estates visited by the writer on which he 

 found that at least a small part of the alcohol produced was used 

 industrially. The owner has a high-speed automobile which he runs 

 with alcohol, and in this way more than 1,000 gallons (4,000 liters) 

 are consumed annually. The castle, the distillery, the wagon barn, 

 the cow stable, the saw mill, and the carpenter shop, are lighted by 

 means of alcohol. The distillery has an alcohol motor for pumping 

 water and for running the grist and flour mill during afternoons 

 when the steam is kept low and also during the summer months 

 when there is no steam. The alcohol consumed on the estate an- 

 nually exceeds 5,000 gallons. 



TREBEN. 



The Dominium Treben, owned and managed by Baron von 

 Leesen, is about an hour's ride by wagon from Lissa, in the Prov- 

 ince of Posen. Schwetzkau, a large village with a post office, main- 

 tains communication with Lissa by mail coach. The Province of 

 Posen is that part of the former Kingdom of Poland which in the 

 partition of that State was assigned to Prussia. 



The soil appears to be of a somewhat heavier quality than that of 

 Neuguth, corresponding possibly to that found beyond Leuben, since 

 it admits of beet cultivation; but evidently it is much lighter than 

 the soil of the typical beet sections to the west of Berlin toward 

 Magdeburg. 



In the absence of the inspector the superintendent of the dis- 

 tillery acted as guide. He also serves in the capacity of paymaster 

 and subinspector at Treben. The inspector has general charge of 

 the two estates, Treben and Petersdorf, which together constitute 

 the "dominium." 



The data which were obtained were given by the superinUaident. 



The distillery was erected at a cost of between $H),0()() and $'21,500, 

 and was completed in 190G. Although not as fine a structure as the 



