CONSTRUCTION OF

STREETS AND BUILDINGS IN BRESLAU.

The law regulating the construction of houses and streets is very strictly enforced in this city, under the supervision of the board of public works and city engineers.

STREETS.

All new streets are paid for by the owners of property adjacent to the street, as well as the sewer, water, and gas connections, upon a warrant issued by a city engineer, countersigned by the auditor. Before a new street can be constructed, the majority of the property holders on said street must petition the city government to have it surveyed and advertised for construction. The city engineer and the board of public works receive bids for the same and award the contract to the lowest and best bidder, who is bound to finish the street within a specific time and to keep the same in repair for five years. The property holders must deposit with the city treasury the whole amount which the construction of the street will cost, before the work commences.

First, the sewer is dug in the center of the street, all water and gas mains laid, and every 25 feet (which is considered the width of a lot) the sewer, water, and gas connections are made to main sewer, water, and gas pipes, extending to the property line.

The specifications for the construction of streets have the following requirements:

Asphalt streets.-The street is dug and leveled to receive the foundation and asphalt as follows:

Twelve inches of coarse gravel and Portland cement are well mixed upon a 12 feet square board platform. The same is mixed dry and then thoroughly sprinkled with water to make a compact mass, when it is wheeled into the street, thoroughly leveled, and left standing for two days when the weather is warm. When cold, it is left until perfectly dry and as hard as stone. This foundation is then inspected by the board of supervisors. If it is found to be made according to specification and dry enough, the contractor is permitted to finish it by putting on 2 inches of asphalt; the same being thoroughly rammed and rolled. The price of a square meter (10.7642 square feet) of asphalt pavement amounts to about $3.57.

Granite streets the crevices of which are filled with sharp gravel sand.— The bed or foundation for this kind of street is first filled with irregular rock, laid by hand side by side, 8 inches high; on this are scat

tered 4 inches of small, broken rocks-about the size of hen's eggs. These are well slushed with water and rolled by a steam roller weighing from 40,000 to 66,000 pounds. When fast enough, a layer of 5 inches of gravel sand is spread over the rocks and again rolled by the steam roller. Thereupon, the granite blocks of 6 inches height are rammed in and the crevices filled with sharp gravel sand. Afterwards, the whole street is covered with sand to the thickness of an inch and left standing for a week, until the sand is thoroughly slushed with water or rain, so that all crevices are filled. The price

of a square meter of this pavement amounts to about $3.45.

Granite streets the joints of which are grouted with Portland cement.—A layer of 6 inches of coarse gravel and Portland cement is prepared in the same way as for asphalt streets and left standing for at least two days. After inspection of this foundation, a layer of 12 inches of sharp gravel sand is put on. When the same has been thoroughly leveled, pavers begin laying diamond granite blocks 6 inches in height, all blocks being of equal size. After the street is paved, it

is thoroughly rammed with iron rammers (three men to each rammer), and all joints are completely grouted with Portland cement. The whole street is then slushed with Portland cement, the thickness of a slime of soapsuds, so that all crevices are thoroughly filled. It is left standing for two days before being opened for traffic. price of a square meter amounts to about $3.52.

The

All streets have sufficient crown to make a perfect drainage to the gutters; but no gutter crosses any street, there being three sewer connections on each side in every square, which are sufficient to carry off all the surface water even during the heaviest rain. The intersections of all streets have crown enough to throw the water into the respective gutters, which lead to catch-basins covered with iron gratings of about 12 by 20 inches, with 1-inch openings between the bars.

HOUSES.

The houses have in general four stories besides the basement. The specification of the same is as follows:

The thickness of the front walls must be: In the cellar, 32 inches; in the first and second stories, 26 inches; in the third and fourth stories, 21 inches; in the attic, 16 inches.

Partition walls (which must not be over 10 meters, or 32.7 feet, from center to center) in the cellar, 263 inches; in the first and second. stories, 21 inches; in the third and fourth stories and attic, 16 inches.

Partnership walls must be: In the cellar, 214 inches; in the first and second stories, 16 inches; in the third and fourth stories and attic, 10 inches.

The joists must be: In the first story, 12 inches; in the second story, 11 inches; in the third story, 10 inches; in the fourth story, 9 inches.

The building is inspected by the board of city engineers and the inspectors of buildings: (1) When the cellar walls are finished and before the joists are laid; (2) when the brick or stone work of the whole building is finished; (3) when the house is finished and ready to be accepted by the owner.

The inspectors receive no fee from the contractor or the owner of the building, but they are paid by the city out of the general fund derived from taxation of realty.

BRESLAU, July 22, 1899.

C. W. ERDMAN,

Consul.

GERMAN PRIZE FOR BEET-LIFTING MACHINE.

Among the agricultural implements needed in cultivating the sugar beet, no machine is more useful than a good beet digger. In fact, some such device has become absolutely indispensable to everyone engaged in that kind of work. A number of beet-digging machines have been brought into the market, some of which are very serviceable. In order to ascertain which is the best, the "Deutsche Landwirtschaft-Gesellschaft" (German farming association) has opened a prize competition, offering premiums amounting to a total of 550 marks ($130). The examination of the competing machines is to be held in the fall of the year 1900. An additional prize will be given to that machine which will raise and top the beets at the same time.

In conjunction with the above association, the "Verein der Deutschen Zuckerindustrie" (association of the German sugar industry) has offered prizes amounting to 8,000 marks ($1,904) and 10,000 marks ($2,380). These prizes will be given to machines that are not only the best of those exhibited in the competition of the farming association, but that in addition thereto come up to certain other requirements and specifications set forth in the conditions of the prize offer. These conditions have not yet been published.

This competition is not confined to German manufacturers. Foreigners will also be admitted, and it is expected that the results. of these offers will go a great way towards solving the important question under consideration.

HENRY W. DIEDERICH,

MAGDEBURG, August 28, 1899.

Consul.

THE GERMAN BEET-SUGAR CAMPAIGN OF 1898-99.

To-day, the German beet-sugar season ends, and the campaign of 1898-99 will soon have passed into history. The official report of the year just closing was published a few days ago, and it shows, upon the whole, results that are quite satisfactory. True, there was some decrease of production in the sugar fields, but there was no material decrease in the final results. The good prices realized for raw sugar during the last months, which reached their high-water mark during the month of August at 11.25 marks per 50 kilograms (2.43 cents per pound), more than compensated for the low prices. ruling earlier in the season.

A few years ago, it was generally supposed and feared that the area of land devoted to the cultivation of the sugar beet in Germany would keep on increasing from year to year, but there has been no development to speak of in that direction. The acreage of the year 1899, which is to supply the beet material for the new campaign-1899-1900-now to begin, shows only the very slight increase of 0.35 per cent over last year. It is therefore safe to say that the German beet-sugar industry has come to a standstill, as may be seen from the following table of the areas cultivated:

The crop of beets grown amounted to 12, 144, 291.4 metric tons* in 1898, which was 1,553,691.4 metric tons less than the year before. As the German farmer calls 12 metric tons per acre a fair average crop, he was not so well pleased, as he averaged only 111⁄2 tons. But while the quantity did not come up to the expectations, the -quality of the beets was superior to that of the preceding year. The German beet had never before been so sweet; its sugar contents amounted to 13.36 per cent. The result was that almost as much sugar was produced in 402 factories from this short crop of beets as was ever produced before, viz, 1,623,025 metric tons, which is 1.705 metric tons of raw sugar per acre.

The German farmer received, on the average, $4 per metric ton for his beets, and the German sugar manufacturer, on the average, $49.50 per ton for his raw sugar.

*Of 2,204.6 pounds.

It would be very interesting to know just what are the profits of the owners of, and the stockholders in, the sugar factories; but it is impossible to gather any reliable data on this subject. All private companies and close corporations, of course, publish no report of any kind; all regular stock companies, however, are compelled by law to publish, at certain periods, a statement of their business.

During the past few weeks, I have collected from the press the following data showing the capital, earnings, etc., of 32 factories. which I selected at random. I give this table for what it is worth. HENRY W. DIEDERICH,