34 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OP PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



use in the manufacture of sugar from 

 sorghum. During the year ended June 

 30, 1905, 2,112,830.9 gallons of spirits were 

 withdrawn for these purposes. Details in 

 regard to such withdrawals can be ob- 

 tained from the Commissioner of Internal 

 Revenue, whose annual report for the 

 year ended on the date mentioned fur- 

 nishes valuable information for those pro- 

 posing to engage in any way in the dis- 

 tillation of alcohol. 



Attention should also be called to the 

 fact that large quantities of undenatured 

 alcohol are manufactured in the United 

 States on which no tax is paid. The prin- 

 cipal sources of this alcohol are as fol- 

 lows: 



Hard Cider 



The natural conversion of sweet cider 

 into hard cider by the ferments which it 

 contains is a process in which large 

 quantities of alcohol are produced and 

 on which no tax is paid. The term alco- 

 hol when used alone does not apply to 

 such products, but only to alcohol pro- 

 duced by distillation. As is well known, 

 the sugar which is one of the principal 

 constituents of fresh cider is mixed with 

 yeasts which naturally attach to apples, 

 so that when exposed without steriliza- 

 tion fermentation takes place, the sugar 

 disappears, and alcohol is formed. If we 

 assume that the average apple juice con- 

 tains 12 per cent of fermentable matter, 

 it is seen that about six per cent of alcohol 

 may be developed in a hard cider. No 

 tax is put upon this cider, nor is there 

 any supervision on the part of the Com- 

 missioner of Internal Revenue in its 

 production. 



AVine 



In the manufacture of wine the natural 

 yeasts which attach to the grapes pro- 

 duce in the expressed grape juice a fer- 

 mentation by means of which the grape 

 juice is converted into wine. This is a 

 vast industi-y in many countries and a 

 very important industry in the United 

 States. The alcohol which is formed in 

 this way pays no tax, nor does the manu- 

 facturer of ordinary wines conduct his 

 business under the supervision of the 

 Commissioner of Internal Revenue. What 



is true of the juices of the grape and the 

 apple is true of other fruit juices. They 

 may be all of them fermented and their 

 sugar converted into alcohol without Gov- 

 ernment supervision and without paying 

 any tax. But when the alcohol which is 

 produced by the fermentation of fruit 

 juices is subjected to distillation it comes 

 under the control of the Commissioner of 

 Internal Revenue. The distillation of al- 

 cohol from waste products is conducted 

 under special regulations authorized by 

 law. 



Sweet Wine 

 Brandy and other distilled spirits made 

 from grapes or their refuse may be used 

 for fortifying sweet wines upon the pay- 

 ment of a nominal tax of 3 cents a gallon, 

 as provided for by the following act of 

 Congress, which indicates the character of 

 the wines that may be fortified in this 

 way: 



AN ACT To amend existing laws relating 

 to the fortification of pure sweet wines. 

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House 

 of Representatives of the United States 

 of America in Congress asesmhled. That 

 section forty-three of the Act entitled 

 "An Act to reduce the revenue and equal- 

 ize duties on imports, and for other pur- 

 poses," approved October first, eighteen 

 hundred and ninety, as amended by sec- 

 tion sixty-eight of the Act of August 

 twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and 

 ninety-four, be further amended, so as 

 to read as follows: 



Sec. 43. That the wine spirits men- 

 tioned in section forty-two of this Act 

 is the product resulting from the distilla- 

 tion of fermented grape juice, to which 

 water may have been added prior to, dur- 

 ing, or after fermentation, for the sole 

 purpose of facilitating the fermentation 

 and economical distillation thereof, and 

 shall be held to include the product from 

 grapes or their residues, commonly 

 known as grape brandy: and the pure 

 sweet wine, which may be fortified free 

 of tax, as provided in said section, is 

 fermented grape juice only, and shall con- 

 tain no other substance whatever intro- 

 duced before, at the time of, or after 

 fermentation, except as herein expressly 

 provided; and such sweet wine shall con- 

 tain not less than four per centum of 

 saccharine matter, which saccharine 

 strength may be determined by testing 

 with Balling's saccharometer or must 

 scale, such sweet wine, after the evapora- 

 tion of the spirits contained therein, and 



