232 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The topic, "The Model Merchant Mill," was then taken up by Wm. A. 

 Herring, who proceeded to give his ideas of a merchant mill, which he 

 did very ably by the use of several diagrams and illustrations. The 

 subject was then discussed by several members for a short time. 



A j)aper on "Vinegar and its Manufacture" was next read by E. L. 

 Prussing of Chicago. 



VINEGAR AND ITS MANUFACTURE. 



Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : 



"Vinegar and its Manufacture" has been assigned to me to give what 

 light I can on the subject. It is, however, of so wide a scojie that, even 

 were I able to do it full justice, its length would worry you, so I will try 

 to confine myself to its general princii^les as applied to our needs, and will 

 refrain from quotations of chemical works, nor yet follow the methods of 

 some of our illustrious men by repeating extracts from the encyclopaedias. 

 Should I adopt either of these two courses I could give you a much abler 

 treatise on the subject, and one that would read quite learnedly and well 

 before a gathering of theorists; but I take it that this gathering is com- 

 posed mainly of practical business men who, in addition to their interest 

 and devotion to enhancing the superiority of their products, are, in the 

 terse slang of the day, "out for the stuff." I will therefore refer only to 

 questions of the present and give results as gleaned from twenty years' 

 active experience, mainly learned from the tuition of my father, who 

 devoted thirty-five years of his life to the vinegar business. 



I shall dwell mainly on vinegar made of corn and that made of apples, 

 since the manufacture of vinegar from wood, at which I served an appren- 

 ticeship in Germany, and that made of malt, of which the English boast, 

 are both of so little importance in this country that they cut no figure. A 

 so-called malt vinegar is made in this country but it is either artifically 

 colored corn vinegar or made of molasses, which it is unnecessary to color 

 artificially, therefore it comes within the pale of the present vinegar laws; 

 but, like most crimes, "its own sin will find it out," and it can be left to its 

 own fate. 



Regarding the question of injurious or unwholesome vinegar, I stand 

 upon a somewhat similar platform to that upon which stood the "crushed 

 tragedian" who bought a penny cigar, saying, "there are no bad cigars but 

 some cigars are better than others," and do not find it necessary, in order 

 to sell my goods, to decry or villify those of my competitors, since I 

 believe that goods which are superior in flavor, strength, clearness, and 

 color will bring a correspondingly better price, and that our customers can 

 be brought to learn the superiority of an article so that they will know 

 when they get hold of a good thing and will not be so readily won away 

 by the smooth tongUe of the first angel of commerce who may haf)pen 

 along. This fact holds good in wines and beers; and, believe me, you will 

 find it holding good in vinegar. 



To more readily understand the subject under discusson, I will give a 

 brief synoiDsis of the manufacture of vinegar from corn, believing that it is 

 not good xwlicy to underestimate the strength of "our friend, the enemy," 

 since, knowing Mdiat we have to contend with, we shall be better 

 prepared. 



Corn or whisky vinegar is made from ground grain in the proportion of 

 eighty bushels of corn meal, ten of malt, and ten of rye. When this grain 



