171 



Of Distilleries of Spirit from Cider, copied from a view of the 

 cultivation of Fruit Trees, &c. By William Coxe, Esq. of 

 New-Jersey, 



"As these establishments have lately assumed con- 

 siderable importance to the nation as a great and in- 

 creasing source of revenue, and are not liable to many 

 of the objections which exist against the distillation 

 of spirit from grain it may not be amiss to state some 

 facts, founded on incontrovertible authority, to prove 

 that the farmers of our country may calculate on a 

 certain demand from these distilleries for the pro- 

 ducts of their orchards, however abundant they may 

 be, without apprehension from the jealousy of rival 

 commercial interests, or the narrow principles of col- 

 onial policy, which in fruitful years, reduce the 

 price of fruit liquor in the cider counties of Eng- 

 land so low, as to be insufficient to pay the costs of 

 manufacturing the inferiour quality. 



"Of the quantity of cider spirit distilled in the Uni- 

 ted States, we have no positive evidence, it is never- 

 theless certain that the quantity is great, and rapidly 

 increasing in all the older States north of James 

 River. 



"In 1810, from the Marshalls returns it appears, 

 that 1103272 gallons were distilled from domestick 

 materials in the small state of New-Jersey ; while in 

 Connecticut, in the same year, there were distilled 

 1374404 gallons of both these quantities we may 

 safely calculate, that 3-4th parts were the product 

 of cider. In Essex county, N. J. in the year 1810, 

 there were made 198000 barrels of cider, and 307310 

 gallons of cider spirits were distilled one citizen of 

 the same county, in 1812, made 200 barrels of cider 

 daily, through great part of the season, from six mills 

 and twenty three presses. In the present season, 

 1816, 25000 barrel? uf cider were made within the 

 limits of a single religious society, as it is called, in 



