Book VIL. JJandof BARBADOS. © tovt 
ninety; a leffer than the former will not be fufficiently wari to raife an 
Ebullition, and a greater than the latter diflipates the {pirituous Particles 
too much. ‘Therefore if Experiments were made with a Thermometer iri 
every Diftil-houfe, to fix the certain Degree of Heat, that.a well-propor- 
tioned. Mul/a would ferment in, it would be eafy, by the Help of this In- 
ftrument, always afterwards to afcertain this neceflary Degreé of: Heat, let 
the Change of Weather be ever fo fudden or confiderable..’ For;if the 
Heat proved fo great as to exceed that Degree; in which fuch a well= 
proportioned Mul/a was ufed in Time paft to’ ferment eft, then’ the 
Windows’ towards the Eaft ought to be opened fo-as:to admit {uch a 
Quantity of cold Air as would reduce the’Heat to a'proper Standard. 
- On the contrary, if the Spirit in the Thermometer finks. below the 
neceflary Degree of Heat, then thefe Windows ought to be intirely or 
partially fhut up, in order to procure a fufficient Degree of Heat. By 
this means the Diftiller may come to a Certainty, and proceed by Rule, 
and not by Chance, ' a 
‘If after fuch Rules,’ and neceflary Cautions, the Muj/a doth not fer- 
ment, if this happens in the Beginning of the Crop fuch a Failure ought 
to be attributed to the then, comparatively {peaking, four and unripe Juices 
of the Canes: For the Juices of thefe, as well’as moft, if not all other 
unripe Fruits, witnefs that of the Grape, feldom or never ferment well 
becaufe their Particles, in that unripe State, are not fufliciently micliorated 
by the Heat’ of the Sun. In fuch a Cafe, Iam apt to believe, that a 
greater Proportion of Sweetening, than when the Canes areripe, fhould be 
added to the Mulfa, abba M2 BU hel Testy, EE 
~ On the other hand, a’ difproportionate Quantity of Sweets, as: they-are 
oily, will prove too inaétive, and will incline thé’ Liquor more‘to'a Ran~ 
cidity, than Fermentation’: Therefore a greater Quantity of Water, and 
thin returned Liquor, which hath a ‘great deal of Acidity in:it, fhould’ 
be added to the Skimmings of Canes that are full-ripe, and confequently 
very fweet. AAA 
As to thofe who keep their fermenting Veffels in the open ‘Air, or ill- 
covered under Sheds, their bad Succefs may be evidently accounted-for; by 
the Inequality of the Heat and Cold they are expofed to. 
I cannot conclude the Defcription of this very ufeful Plant, without 
taking. Notice of a moft furprifing Inftance of the Effect of fome -Ef. 
fluvia, or Vapours that arofe from the Mudgeon or Dregs of the Liquor 
tetutned from the: Still, and which for fome time had been referved in a 
Ciftern. . : : 
* “In the Month of April 1743. Abel Alleyne, Efq; the then Manager 
At the Eftate of the Honourable and Reverend: Society for propagating 
the Gofpel in foreign Parts, ordered one of the Cifterns, which the re- 
turned Liquor was kept in, to be cleanfed: The Quantity of this thick 
Sediment in it was not above feven Inches deep. ‘The farft Negro Slave 
who attempted to clean it, was no fooner at the Bottom, than dead ; the 
Seis * Sf fecond 
