524
EXPOSITION AT VIENNA.
would regard their establishment as means to an end, which end is the furtherance of farming, and would therefore assist them as far as possible, and sustain them in a condition of prosperity. The more such sources of revenue are encouraged, the greater will be the tax returns, although they be set at the lowest rate. Also the tax-paying power of landed property will be raised, and this is the mightiest source of revenue.
I am unable to conceal the fear that has long oppressed me, that as the cultivation of the beet increases, even beyond the needs of the sugar-factories now coming into being, while the production of grain is at the same time urged to its highest amount, the threatened exhaustion of the soil will be all the sooner brought about. This is already showing itself in the frequent bad harvests, which are, however, never attributed to their real cause, but always to unfavorable weather.
With such a method of cultivation as unfortunately now generally exists, without system, without judicious rotation of crops and proper application of manure, nothing less can be looked for than the utter decay of agriculture. This I have called attention to several times since the year 1861, in my pamphlets and lectures (field sermons), and now take the opportunity to refer to it again, with the expression of the opinion that, without the introduction of system in farming, and PRACTICAL INSTRUCTipN, gained by studying the operations conducted on model farms, in accordance with my methods, the reform so thoroughly needed cannot be brought about, at least within the time at our disposal.
A great amount of hauling had been necessary on my estates, in order to transport i9,000 to 22,500 bushels of grain annually from the farm of Carolinenlioff to Kolin, as well as the 110,000 to 120,000 hundred-weight of beets that can be raised there. In addition to this, 6,000 to 7,000 hundred-weight of artificial manure, and 47,000 to 60,000 hundred-weight of beet-cuttings, had to be hauled back from Kolin to Carolinenhoff each year. To do away somewhat with this necessity, a horse-railroad was built between the sugar-factory and the station, Gross-Wossek, on the Northwestern Railway, having a length of 9,733 feet, and a branch line of this road further constructed, connecting the station