AGRICULTURAL ALCOHOL IN GERMANY. 93 
when they were to be used depended in part upon uncontrollable 
factors, such as their keeping qualities and the market price. 
With 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 dairy 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. 
» Barley, 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. 
_ Russian 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 (2,641.75 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. Only the 
mash tax is paid on the first 10,000 liters, and later, when the alcohol 
is released, if it is to be used for beverage purposes, the delivery tax 
(Abgabesteuer) is paid. 
While each distillery has the right to hold back certain quantities 
of alcohol for technical purposes, this privilege is not exercised at 
Dahlem. The machinery operated on the estate is run by steam or 
electricity—by steam when such can be conveniently had from the 
boilers of the distillery, and by electricity when the cost of keeping 
up the steam would be too great for the services rendered. The prox- 
