The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-08-14
Bismarck's Fortune.

AS Prime Minister of Prussia Bis
marck has no salary, but as chancellor
of the German Empire he receives
"a 900 marks ($43 500 par annum. The
remainder of his income is derived
principally from landed property, of
which he possesses considerable
quantity. Owing, however, to the
very low prices of grain and timber,
particularly of late years, his receipts
ffom this source are comparatively
small. If Bismarck were simply a
nobleman, or even count, he might
be considered wealthy, but for
a prince we can only say that
he is moderately well off. Down to
1867 his only landed property was.
Schonhausen in the Altmark, which
contains about $500 acres of generally
excellent land. In 1867 he added to
this the manor of Varzin, in Hinter
Momerania, which he purchased with
the grant Of 100000 thalers ($288, OOO)
voted to him by the landtag. This
estate, to which he subsequently
added the properties of Chorow and
SedlitZ, now covering an area of about
10000 acres. 1t consists for the most
part, however, of poor land, some of
it being scarcely fit even to grow frs.
After the events of 1870, the emperor,
in his capacity as Sovereign Duke of
Lauenburg, presented the chancellor
with the Sachsenwald, lying
in the Schwarzenbeck dis
trict, not far from Hamburg, and
stretching down to the Glbe. 1t had
previously been crown land, and COM
prises an area of about 10000 acres,
covered for the most part with mag
nificent beach forests. The prince
has recently added to this estate, on
which there was neither arabic land
nor residence of any sort, the small
properties of Schonau and Silt. These
adjoin the western boundary of Sach-
senwald, and were, by the way, by no
means an advantageous purchase.
Some of the timber of the woods of
Varzin if sold to three local paper fac
tories which are worked by the river
Wiper, and that of the Schwarzen-
beck forests is disposed of to a large
powder mill. VerZen and the Sach-
senwald, as well as Schonhausen,
have the advantage of being close
to railway, and their products can be
brought readily and cheaply to mark
ct. The residences on these three es-
tates are neither particularly large nor
in any way manificently gotten up, but
they are comfortably furnished. And
FREDERICKSBURG, which the prince has
transformed from lodging house for
summer visitors from Hamburg into
a sort of little mansion house, is, with
it's surrounding beech and fir trees,
and its winning stream, really eX-
quisite spot. The Sachsenwald, with
the two estates which are now united
with it, is probably worth about 3,OOO,-
600 marks ($60O,O0O), but the income
derived from it does not much exceed
100000 marks $4,000 per annum.
The chancellor understands farm
ing and forest culture, and has
achieved considerable success in the
management of his estate. At Schon-
hansen he has planted 500 acres, part
ly with oak, and they are turning out
well. At Varzin he has been occu-
pied in replanting a large tract of
land which was formerly a beech
wood, and which his predecessor, from
a mistaken idea as to the quality of
the soil, had cleared for cultivation.
And he has lad fir trees planted on
other parts of the estate which pre-
viously were waste, or grew only
sand-grass and heather, The six es-
tates which form his little kingdom
in the Pomeranian hill country, and
which consist for the smaller part of
arabic and pasture land, have been
rendered more productive by judicious
management. A park has been laid
out at FREDERICKSBURG, and the stream
which flows through it has been bank
ed and cleared, and it is now in con-
temptation to cut down the oak wood
on the right bank of this stream, and
to plant trees which will be less preju-
dicially affected by the dampness of
the soil.