22 BULLETIN 182, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
milk was therefore reduced, were the milk, potatoes, etc., sold to. 
intermediaries. The arohits: therefore, were not divided with any | 
one except in cases of necessity. 
As the production of the cereals serves two purposes, that of pro- 
viding grain, which finds a good market in Berlin, and straw for | 
bedding the cattle, so the potato also serves two purposes. The! 
good tubers are sold, while the small and defective ones are kept for’ 
the distillery and ultimately furnish a by-product which is fed to} 
the cattle. 3 
Several varieties of potatoes are cultivated, with reference to the’ 
local market and with reference to their value as crude material for) 
the distillery. Some of the table potatoes brought as high as 55) 
cents per bushel, others only half that sum. The average for the! 
sorted product of the season of 1907 was about 44.4 cents per bushel. | 
The summer of that year in Germany was cold and cloudy and was 
not very favorable for the potato crop. | 
The proximity to Berlin and the possibility of selling the better | 
potatoes directly to the consumer act favorably on the price to be: 
obtained. The smaller and poorer potatoes are valued, as crude? 
material for the distillery, at 37.5 cents per bushel of 60 pounds. . | 
To this should be added 6.8 cents per 100 pounds, which is the: 
estimated value of the spent material, as a cattle food. 
The importance of the distillery as an agricultural industrial fac- 
tor on this estate is readily indicated by its location. It was erected) 
25 years ago next to the old cow stable, and has a mash-tub capacity 
of 385 gallons. It was operated not with reference to reducing the’ 
cost of operation to a minimum but to spreading the production of! 
the spent mash over as long a period as possible. Being an old 
distillery, it has but few modern improvements. Although it is: 
equipped for a fourfold operation, it was operated only twofold, 
for the reason that while the Government allows the agricultural 
distilleries 249 days for operation, the allotment assigned by the 
Central Association to this distillery for the year 1907-8 was only | 
10,825 gallons of alcohol. On this quantity a tax of $12.50 had to be 
paid. On the excess distillation, that is, on all alcohol produced | 
over this quantity, there was a tax of $17.50. | 
The 250 acres (460 Morgen) of potato land yielded on an average | 
from 200 to 240 bushels of potatoes per acre, or about 50,000 to 
60,000 bushels for the whole area. Of this total, about 1,850 bushels 
were used for table purposes on the estate. 
When harvested, the potatoes were roughly sorted in the field. | 
Those which were to be sold at once were shipped to Berlin, and 
