14 BULLETIN 182, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Distillation is the more important and extensive of these two 
branches of agricultural industry. The manufacture of spirits is | 
the only form of potato utilization concerning which we possess | 
reliable statistics. It appears that with the increased potato pro- || 
duction, the use of this product for the manufacture of alcohol |: 
has also increased. Behrend (1905, p. 30) estimates that in 1905, cal- 
culating on an average total crop of 1,578,530,000 bushels, 5.8 per | 
cent of the crop, or over 90,000,000 bushels, were used in the manu- | 
facture of spirits. At first thought this quantity does not seem | 
large, but it gains in importance when we consider to what extent | 
the distillation of potatoes exists as an agricultural industry in 
the German Empire. 
Many such distilleries are situated in the eastern part of Ger- 
many, the principal centers being in the Prussian Provinces, Posen, 
West Prussia, Pomerania, and Brandenburg. In these eastern re- 
gions the price of spirits regulates the price of potatoes. The 
fact that these agriculturists are accustomed to dispose of their 
surplus potatoes in the western regions, where the demand is greater 
than the supply, proves how important a factor such distilleries are. 
When considered from another point of view the alcohol dis- 
tillation becomes the more important as a branch of agriculture, 
since it alone renders a rational method of agriculture possible in 
those regions which possess a hght soil and are situated, as most 
of them are, at a distance from business centers. Indeed, thou- 
sands of agricultural undertakings owe their existence to these dis- 
tilleries. 
About 6,000 agricultural potato distilleries are in operation in 
the German Empire, 4,000 of which represent one of the chief 
activities of the respective farms, whereas the remaining 2,000 have 
a secondary place. 
The production of spirits from other substances, such as grain, 
fruit, and molasses, is insignificant in comparison with that from 
potatoes. During the year 1905-6, 115,629,397 gallons (487,700,000 
liters) of pure alcohol were produced in distilleries of all kinds 
(Behrend, 1907, p. 401). Of this quantity, 92,947,035 gallons (851,- 
800,000 liters) were produced in agricultural potato distilleries, 
representing over $36,000,000 as total receipts. This is calculated 
on an average value of about 39 cents per gallon, a price slightly 
lower than that of the Central Association for that year. 
The spent mash, valued at 15 cents for a quintal of potatoes (220.26 
pounds), must also be considered, since it represents a value of over 
$3,750,000. The total value of products derived from agricultural 
potato distilleries, therefore, amounted in that year to nearly 
$40,000,000 in gross receipts. 
