end Dcfcription of an improved Still. ^3 



At this time the duty on the fpirits did not cod them above 

 one penny per gallon, which being very fmall they did not 

 think any farther improvement neceflary. 



Since the commencement of the prefent war, the miniftef 

 has thought that to lay an additional duty on fpirits made in 

 Scotland would be a proper meafure; and in 1793 the an- 

 nual licence duty on the ftills was increafed to 9/,, 'and in 

 1797 to 54/. per gallon, which is the prefent duty. He had 

 reafon to expe6l that a larsie increafe of revenue would arife 

 from this high duty ; and yet it muft appear very furprifing 

 that the revenue from the Scotch diftillery has not increafed 

 in any confiderable degree. This is not owing to a diminu- 

 tion in the confumption of fpirits; for, the price of that article 

 being fo low in December laii as 35. per gallon, there can 

 be no juft reafon to think that a lefs quantity has been ufed. 



When the diitillers found the duty raifed on them fo high 

 as 54/. per gallon, they tried every expedient in order to ac- 

 celerate the procefs. From repeated experiments they have 

 found, that the more fliallow the flills are made, and the 

 bottoms enlarged, the more they can increafe the fize of the 

 furnace, and apply a larger quantity of fuel, and confequently 

 bring the wafh in the Hill to boil in a fliorter fpace of time. 

 The liquor in the (till being likewife on a more extended fur- 

 face, the evaporation or procefs of diftillation is performed ii| 

 a more expeditious manner. It is principally by the (lial- 

 lownefs of the ftills that the Lowland dillillcrs are now en- 

 abled to run off their ftills three times in the hour, or feventy* 

 two times in the 24 hours ; a degree of difpatch which a few 

 years ago was thought to have been imprafticable, 



Plate III. is a rcpri^fentalion of one of the common flat 

 ftills* now ufed by the Scotch diftillers. A reprefehts tha 

 afh-pit; b, the grate; c, the furnace-door ; d, the flame paflT- 

 ing on tov/ards the flue; and e, the body of the fti'l ; /, the 

 bottom and fidc-fcraper, an apparatus which is made to re- 

 volve continually during the procefs by means of an upriglu 

 ihaft g, driven by machinery, and which palfcs through a 

 cup-mouthed aperture b. This is made fteam-tight by meanj 



• Other improvcnieiits have been introduced, of which we flviU give 

 fome account ia a future Number. 



Vol. VI. L of 



