The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-05
Has in his
Neuralgia
rfHnNsn 81 ~saAarf NOV


There is a very close and useful combi-
nation between the experiment stations
of the agricultural department the seed
dealers and the farmers They have join
| ed forces IN breeding a variety of beets
which produces a phenomenal percentage
| of sugar. In Prussia, Saxony and other
parts of Germany the seed dealers have
arranged with the experiment stations
TO make definite tests in their chemical
laboratories of every variety of beets, and
when one is found containing an unusual
percentage of sugar samples are sent TO
| certain farms where every beet Is number
ed and tested. They generally take ten
| roots out of hundred and keep them for
seed, and if the product grown from the
seed TALES with the test of the original
samples, this variety is distributed
through the government agents 10 farm
ers who have soil suitable for their pro-
duction. For instance, twenty well-con-
Quoted farms will be selected. The soil
will be analysed, the culture will be SUI
perintended by government agents, and In
each case a detailed report will be made
which IS printed and circulated for the
benefit of all who are engaged in the in
dustry. In this manner the German sugar
beet has been graded up to a perfection
that only science could secure.
The same careful management and in
vestigation has attended the manufacture
of sugar from the beets and the result Is
| that the producer can now obtain from
an acre of beets double and sometimes
treble the value that he enjoyed a few
years ago.
The activity of the German government
in promoting agricultural education is
greater than that of any other nation.
| The system Is absolutely perfect. There
are schools for the training of the peas
ants in the simplest forms of agriculture;
there are academies for the education of
| boss" farmers, and the owner of the
! heir to the estate If he intends to follow
| agriculture will be sent to a university
| where he can obtain as thorough knowl-
| edge of his profession as is furnished TO
engineers or lawyers or doctors Of medi-
| cine.
In all the universities there are courses
of agricultural chemistry and agricultur-
al economy and there are also Institutions
| at which nothing else is taught. These
| schools are attended by men of high rank
| and wealth-members of the nobility, and
a boy is as thoroughly educated for
| farmer as his brother who attends a school
| of medicine or law The conditions here
! are such that it is absolutely necessary to
| apply science in order to get profit out
| of the ground. Our country has not yet
! come to that point, and our farmers have
no conception of the thoroughness and
care with which the farms of Germany
| are managed. The agricultural schools of
the United States are much less thorough
and scientific, and the same may be said
| Of the experiment stations under the care
of our agricultural department.
Prof. Atwater, the food expert of the
agricultural department at Washington, is
now in Germany making an investigation
into the management of these institutions,
| and the processes in which the Germans
| have made greater progress than other ma
| tons. He will visit France, Italy and Rus
| STA on the same errand. The Russians
have made very rapid progress in agri-
! cultural science and economy of late
years, and although we look upon that ma
| ton as primitive and Its methods as CUM
bersome we have a great deal more to
! learn from the Russian people, as well as
/ from the Germans, than the average
| American will allow. The people over here
have much more thorough understand
| ing of their business than ours. They
haven't the vim, the enterprise, the in
! genuity or the power of adaptation that
| Americans have, but their processes are
much more thorough and scientific than
| ours, they produce much better results
with the same amount of land and the
| same amount of labor.
Electricity is being extensively used
upon the large German farms. 1t is usu-
! ally furnished by the small brooks that
| intersect them. The water is carried
| through a narrow canal to dam that is
! erected for the purpose of obtaining the
| necessary force and drives turbine
| wheel which develops all the electricity
needed. From the dynamo the current
! goes to an ordinary switchboard, from
! which it is distributed to the various
stations, and wires strung on poles con-
| duct light and power to the buildings, the
| garden and other parts of the farm. This
| power is used for various purposes. In
thrashing, for example, an average of
| sixteen-horse power is required. A saw
mill can be run with q twelve horsepower
! dynamo, and there are other machines
for cutting wood, pumping water cut
ting straw, ditching and purposes that
would never occur to the American farm
| err In this way there is a large saving
in labor, both of men and horses, and
the convenience of having a farmhouse
| and barns, stables and other buildings
lighted by electricity can be fully appre-
| ciated.
A serious complaint has long been
made by the farmers of Germany con-
| corning the rates OF interest they are
compelled TO pay upon borrowed money,
| and there is at present a movement for
! the passage of a law limiting the banks
and money loaners in the rates imposed
| for agricultural crops. The conditions
| here in this respect, as In many others,
do not prevail in the United States Ac-
cording to the German plan. the Oldest
! soT Usually inherits the farm when the
aIher dies, but he Is compelled to pay
! the other heirs their share of the estate
in cash, which usually must be borrowed
from the banks at or per cent inter-
est, which is heavy and an interminabe
| burden. The younger sons amigrate to
| America or go to a university or enter
the army where they are compelled to
spend a large portion of their patrimony
for living expenses. The son who adopts
a military life can easily obtain a COM
mission, but his salary is so small that
| 1t scarcely pays for his uniforms, and he
must be assisted by his friends at home
in meeting his other expenses. A German
army officer is not allowed to marry I'M
less he has certain income. ana he must
| either find a rich wife. or his parents or
his brothers must help him out.
The son who goes to university usu-
ally seeks admission into the civil serv-
| ice of the government. That is the am
| bition of 80 per cent of the university
graduates who have taken courses in po-
litical economy Jurisprudence and the
science of government, which are suppos-
| ed to qualify them for the performance
of their duties. If they obtain an ap-
pointment and demonstrate their eficlen-
| cy they are sure Of slow promotion, per-