246 



Sugar Bounties in Bulgaria. 



A report by H.M. Agent and Consul-General at Sofia 

 states that the yield of sugar-beet in 



Sugar Bounties Bu i Rar j a i n i8 q 8 was 6,237 tons, which 

 in Bulgaria. 5 v ' Di ' 



increased to 9,311 tons in 1899, and to 



27,560 tons in 1900, while a total of 45,000 tons is expected 

 in the current year. In 1899 the Government, on the 

 representation! of the Factory Company that they could not 

 otherwise compete with foreign bounty-fed sugars, agreed to 

 give a bounty of five francs per ton of beets delivered at the 

 factory. The price paidj to the producers of the beet was in 

 consequence increased by that amount ; while, in order to obtain 

 a footing in the local markets, the native sugar has been sold 

 at a price rather lower than the foreign. The Sobranje has, 

 however, refused to pass the credit for this year's bounty, and 

 the Factory Company, who say that they have already made 

 heavy advances to the cultivators on account of the growing 

 crop, threaten to repudiate their contracts with the peasants, 

 and close the factory unless the bounty is granted. 



[Board of Trade Journal, July iSt/i, 1 90 1.] 



The Board have received information through the Foreign 

 Office that in the last session of Congress 

 Shi^n en t ? *crf there was included in the appropriation 



U^ted^mtes 6 ^ or the department °f Agriculture a sum 

 of 20,000 dollars (about £4,166) for 

 pomological investigations. Among the objects to which the 

 money was to be applied is the investigation of the market 

 conditions affecting the fruit trade in the United States and 

 foreign countries, and the methods of harvesting, packing, 

 storing, andshipping fruit and vegetables, and for experimental 

 shipments of fruits to foreign countries, for the purpose of 

 increasing the exportation of American fruits. 



Under this appropriation the United States Department of 

 Agriculture is making arrangements with dealers and 

 exporters to guarantee a minimum net return per package 

 on all fruit shipped and sold under the direction of the 



