How to speed up rsync when haveing lots of files

[ml at bortal.de]

Hello List,

unfortunatelly rsync is beeing REALLY slow and produces a high load when 
we try to sync lots of files (>250 000 small files). My experience is, 
that this is fatser if i do it folder by folder.

Is there a rsync option which reduces the load and speeds up the rsync 
somehow?

Thanks,
Mario