5. TELEGRAPH TRAFFIC. Telegrams despatched by the Baden telegraphs, large reduced to small approxi The scanty materials for information respecting the consumption of various articles in the Grand Duchy are obtained from the administration of taxes. 1. Wine. The average of excise collected in the Grand Duchy in the years 1851, 1857, was 30, 559, 389 maas wines in casks. 17, 690 maas wines in bottles. 926, 760 maas cider. Of 21,531,975 maas of wine in casks which paid excise in the year 1856, there were, on an average, 16 maas to each person of the population. In this are comprehended 4,190,551 maas which paid excise in 14 towns, with a gross population of 148,567 of souls, making an average of 28 maas for each person. 2. Beer. The quantity of beer taxed in the years 1854, 1858, averages 27,631,846 maas, being about 20 maas per head. According to a calculation contained in the official statistic reports of the state finances, which may be still looked on as approximately correct, the average yearly consumption of meat per head in the population of Baden may be assumed as something over 50 pounds, of which not quite 1 pound of mutton and lamb, and a little over 29 pounds of pork; therefore nearly 30 pounds of meat paying no tax, and 20 pounds of those kinds which pay tax, viz: 6.8 pounds ox beef, 5.8 pounds neat, 5.2 pounds bullock and cow, 3.1 pounds of veal. By a law of 30th of June, 1862, veal is also to pay excise after 1st of December of that year. The sale may be calculated on an average per head In the years 1852-1854 at.. In the years 1855-1856 at.. In the years 1858-1859 at. TAXATION. 269, 754 279, 599 66 301, 965 46 310, 447 307, 885 319, 502 325, 457 3. Class-income tax 4. Excise and duty on wine. The receipts in the year 1862 were as follows: 1. Ground tax, house tax, and trade tax, including woods and forests, and pouts and chausees. 2. Tax on capital.. 5. Share of receipts on customs, and on beet-root tax. Florins. 3,260,892 209, 890 153, 161 2, 224, SS3 2, 027.561 According to this the payments to the state amount per head on the population to 6.47 florins. The payments to the parishes were in the year The amount of parish receipts from taxes and other revenues yielded in the period from 1855 to 1861 a surplus over the expenditure, by which the net parish revenues might be considerably increased. The whole number of parishes in the country had It remains now to give a short review of the commerce and industry of Baden during the last twelve months, including some statements concerning the Pfalz, or Rhenish Bavaria, which also, at one time, belonged to my consular district, and very closely resembles its neighbor, the Grand Duchy of Baden, in all respects except its political position, which does not enjoy the advantage of such liberal principles of administration. The chief exports this year to the United States were— Wine, average price, 400 florins for 1,000 litres in Rhenish Bavaria; 250 florins for 1,000 litres in Baden. Cherry brandy, (kirschrwasser,) 80 florins for 150 litres, only produced in Baden. Plum brandy, (zrvetschenwasser,) 60 florins for 150 litres. Leather, 3 florins per kilogramme. Besides these there were exported many technical drugs, medicines of all kinds, aniline and ultramarine colors, woollen trowser and waistcoat stuffs, strawwork, and Black Forest clocks, jewelry, looking glasses and glass; the price of such articles cannot be especially specified. The principal imports from the United States were Petroleum, average price, 19 florins per 100 lbs. zollgewicht, or 50 kilogrammes. Hog'lard and hams..do..30 Clover-seed........ do.. 21 Zollverein duties included. do. do. do. do. do. do. Other important articles of importation are cotton, extract of logwood, and tobacco, of which, however, no regular prices can be stated at present on account of the irregularity of their importation. Of petroleum I have to observe that there is a steady and large increase in its consumption. Duryea's maizena, an article which has only been very recently imported, at my special instigation, is, I think, likely to obtain a permanent celebrity in Europe. It is the finest flour from Indian corn, and is manufactured, at least the samples as yet brought over, by the Glen Cove Company," at New York. Most of the goods which are exported to America from Baden and Rhenish Bavaria are despatched from Mannheim or Ludwigshafen by the Rhine to Rotterdam, for which distance, on an average, 20 kreutzers, or 133 cents per quintal, must be paid for freight and expenses. From Rotterdam to New York, 80 cents per 150 litres for wine in single casks; 81 per 150 litres in larger casks; nine cents English cubic foot for measured goods; $2 to 84 per 1,000 kilogrammes for heavy goods (by weight;) all with 10 per cent. avanie, and payable in gold. A smaller part of the goods is, besides, sent by Havre, Bremen, and Hamburg; being chiefly those which, for greater despatch, go by steamboat. The freight by steamer from Havre, Bremen, and Hamburg, to New York, amounts to £2 10s. sterling for woollen and common goods; £3 10s. sterling for other goods, with 15 per cent. primage for every 40 cubic feet. In good average years Baden and Rhenish Bavaria produce more corn than their own necessity requires, and in consequence there is almost regularly an exportation to other countries. This is specially the case with barley for brewing, and potatoes, which are shipped not only to the manufacturing districts of the Lower Rhine, but also to Holland and England. The corn harvest of 1863 was, on an average, a good one in Rhenish Bavaria as well as in Baden, and the potato crop exceedingly abundant; producing the following very low average prices: wheat, 10 florins per 100 kilogrammes; rye, 9 florins per 100 kilogrammes; barley, 8 florins per 100 kilogrammes; potatoes, 1 florin per 100 kilogrammes. The following particulars respecting the vintage I have obtained from reliable sources. The recent warm sunny weather was very favorable for the 1ipening of the grapes, and the latest accounts, especially from those parts where they have been better able to postpone the vintage, are decidedly better than they were some weeks ago. In Rhenish Bavaria, where the vintage had to be hastened on account of the decay in the grapes, the produce generally is estimated at a half crop; the traminer, which was much injured in blossom by frost, yields only a quarter crop. On the other hand, the quality of this year's crop exceeds expectation. Rhine Bavaria will supply a good middle-class wine, which is just what is wanted. The prices of such sales as have already taken place in the most celebrated wine districts were nearly as follows, per tuder: At Gunmeldeugen, 135 to 145 florins; at Newstadt, 130 to 150 florins; at Mussbach, 115 to 130 florins; at Konigsbach, 145 to 150 florins for white wine, and 200 florins for traminer; at Deidensheim and Fust, 160 to 180 florins; at Ruppetsberg, 130 florins for white wines, and 210 to 300 florins for traminer; at Wachenheim and Durkheim, 150 florins. Red Konigsbacher fetched from 330 to 360 florins the tuder. The older wines are rising in price, and white wine of 1862 is not to be obtained under 240 florins. In the wine districts of Wurtemburg they reckon, on an average, a three-quarter crop. The fine weather during the last few weeks also improved the must here exceedingly in quality, being in good situationsfrom 70 to 95 degrees; and this year's wine is esteemed fully equal to the last year's. The wine crop in Baden varies much, as already stated. On the Lake of Constance, in the Margravate, and at Kaiserstuhl, the growth is equal to those of the best years, and in many places can scarcely be got off hands, while in the northern parts of Baden hardly a third of a crop has been obtained; but the quality here, also, is as good as last year, or nearly so. The prices are as high as at the last autumn sales, and a further rise is even spoken of. In Müllheim sales were done at 16 to 17 florins the ohm (awm,) (at 65 to 70 degrees oechsle;) in the Middle Rhine, 15 to 19 florins were paid for wines from the low situations (65 to 80 degrees,) and 22 to 30 florins for hill wines (80 to 95 degrees) at Durbach the price of must was 21 to 27 florins. Red must (82 to 93 degrees;) at Weenheim sold for 5 to 9 florins per cimer; for the white, gathered just now, it is expected that 4 florins will be obtained, but in inferior situations it will probably be cheaper. In the Lower Rheingan the vintage is just now going on; the early grapes are, for the most part, decaying, but the Riesslings are sound, and the gathering of them may safely be deferred for a short time. In quantity a half crop is reckoned, but in quality a good vintage. In the wine hills at Hochheim they estimated the crop at about two-thirds. Gundershein, in Rhenish Hesse, from 2 to 23 florins per quarter were paid for red must (90 to 94 degrees ;) the supply of must was not equal to the demand. From 24 to 33 florins were given in Nierstein for must from situations of medium height, and such as, with a moderate vintage, yield a very good table wine, and there was a great demand for it. At The wines most in request for exportation to the United States are the inferior and so-called middle class wines, which, as it is also done in France, require an addition of from 1 to 2 per cent. of spirits to enable them to bear the seavoyage, which does not suit them on account of their lightness of quality. The clover crop this year is also, as regards quantity, an exceedingly rich one; on which account shipments from the United States, especially in the present fluctuating state of the money market, are very scarce. Of tobacco, especially that of the Pfalz, I may state that the stock of former years is entirely cleared off, and there is only a supply of goods of 1862 on hand; not a particularly large one, indeed, but sufficient to last until the manufacture of 1863 can be disposed of. The prices of tobacco of 1862 are: 28 to 30 florins for Deckblatt; 26 to 27 florins for Aufarbeiten; 23 to 25 florins for Umblatt; 21 to 22 florins for Einlage; 21 florins for Schwergut. The crop of 1863 has proved a good one as to the quantity, the yield being twice as great as in an ordinary middling year. The whole produce is estimated at 400,000 quintals. The quantity planted this year was very large, the growers being induced to do so by the high prices of the preceding year. With regard to quality, there are heavy, less heavy, and light tobaccos, so that there are goods suited to each branch of manufacture. Part of the crop of 1863 has more or less suffered in the field from hail. The purchase of the new tobacco began some weeks ago, affording the grower from 9 to 123 florins for damaged goods, and 11 to 20 florins for undamaged. The sale is very brisk. The most important manufactories in Baden and the Pfalz are, viz: Tobacco and cigar manufactories. (The sugar manufactory at Waghausel is one of the Chiccory and sugar... largest in the Zollverein.) (This factory, which belongs to Zurcher Brothers, in Lahr, is to be removed to New York.) 11821 48 |