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On Manufacturing Rum

acid, and a peculiar oil which gives the cane juice when fresh a balmy odor. During fermentation, these form ethers and combinations similar to those occurring dur ing the fermentation of grape juice; to these ethers and combinations the peculiar flavor of rum is owing. The Chinese, who prepare the famous arrack of Batavia, which, without contradiction, is the best of all rums, take much care in rectifying it, mixing with it during distillation a composition called ragie, in which is cinnamon and anise seed, in such proportion as not to be perceived either by smell or taste, being only sufficient to do away with the otherwise nauseous odor of the liquor. The distillers in the West Indies, in addition to the very essential ingredient of dunder, sometimes use other articles in the fermenting process, such as tartar, nitre, sea-water, or common salt. From the presence of butyric acid and ether in rum, it is a favorite flavor for imitating Cognac brandy. Next to arrack (which is only used for flavor ing punch), Jamaica rum is the most expensive of the rums imported into this country, and is therefore the variety most imitated. New England, which is the cheapest kind of rum, is frequently used as a basis for imitating Jamaica and Santa Cruz rums; indeed, the better quality of New England rum is often fully equal in flavor to the latter article. When Jamaica is to be imitated it should be colored up to the dark tint of the genuine article with burnt sugar coloring. The majority of dealers use pure spirit as a basis for manufacturing rum, and flavor with combinations of apple oil, butyric ether, birch oil, spirits of nitre, and "rum essence," which latter article is a butyric compound especially prepared by chemists for flavoring rum. Time adds much to the mildness and value of rum; but the planters, by the ad-