374 State Horticultural Society. 



centive for the intelligent grower to exercise more skill and greater 

 care than he is warranted in exercising under present conditions. 

 I have been too busy harvesting Ben Davis apples to give much 

 thought to the correspondence which has been going on recently in 

 your paper regarding "Private Car Lines," but I quite agree with 

 Mr. Scales that they are not "common carriers." When I look at the 

 charge we fruit growers still have to pay, I can't help thinking that 

 the men who own, or run them, are all post-graduates of drug 

 stores or plumbing establishments, and there can be, therefore, 

 nothing "common" about them. 



Louis Erb. 



DENATURED ALCOHOL AND FARMERS. 



Commissioner of Internal Revenue, John W, Yerkes, recently 

 received a letter from a New York farmer who wanted to know if 

 farmers would be permitted to make alcohol on their own premises 

 as "they manufacture cheese." This brought forth a ruling from 

 the Commissioner of Internal Revenue that there, is "no objection 

 to a farmer manufacturing alcohol in his 'back yard' if he wishes 

 to establish a distillery there." The following is part of the letter 

 received : 



"At present regular distilleries only can engage in the manu- 

 facture, enabling the whisky trust to secure practically a monop- 

 olj''. It is proposed to ask Congress to let the farmer (as in Ger- 

 many) and others in on the manufacture of the product. I regret 

 to attack the law, but must if the present law is to stand favoring 

 special interests. It is proposed to further simplify the law, re- 

 ducing the manufacture to the easy basis of cheese making, and 

 cut out the ridiculous red tape of the 'regulations and instructions.' 

 I regret that I must attack this feature also and show how our 

 people are to be prevented from making simple and cheap fuel by 

 red tape instructions, unless assured that a change may be hoped 

 for." 



Commissioner Yerkes replied that the department "does not 

 make the law, but endeavors to administer it as enacted by Con- 

 gress. 



"As to what Congress proposes to pass I am not advised," he 

 says. "This office knows of no processes by which alcohol can be 

 manufactured, except by distillation, and as 'regular' distilleries 

 are the only kind recognized by law, alcohol manufactured under 



