136 GIBBS. 



less alcohol passes out in the waste at San Esteban than at Hagonoy. 

 The low-grade alcohol is usually rectified at Manila distilleries, while 

 the high grade has a direct market. 



Losses. — The losses of alcohol, amounting to 16.46 per cent in the 

 first run and 11.65 per cent in the second, of the total amounts possible 

 of recovery, axe to be attributed to a niunber of causes. The waste from 

 the still, at times in the Hagonoy plant, was found to contain as much 

 as 0.93 per cent and in San Esteban plant 0.33 per cent. The amount 

 in the waste of the stills at the San Esteban distillery is usually less 

 than 0.33 per cent. Other sources of loss are due to evaporation and 

 leakage. Since running these tests, several improvements have been 

 installed, to minimize these losses. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT. 



The following methods are all susceptible of improvement : Transpor- 

 tation of sap from ni pales to distillery and at the distillery, control of 

 the fermentation, and, in some cases, the construction and operation of 

 the stills and pumping machinery. The greatest loss at this time, and 

 one which is experienced in all of the distilleries, is through the failure 

 to obtain, even approximately, the alcohol yield to be expected from the 

 sucrose content of the sap. This loss is more than 50 per cent at many 

 distilleries.. Even in the best managed distilleries little or no attempt is 

 made to control the fermentation. The tuba, when received, may have 

 undergone changes varying from only partial inversion of the sucrose to 

 a stage where the acetic acid fermentation is well under way, depending 

 upon the length of time which has elapsed since the sap flowed from the 

 plant. The receptacles in which the tuba is handled, especially the dirty 

 bamboo joints, introduce, in all cases, undesirable ferments. The great 

 effort which the Bureau of Internal Eevenue is making to introduce 

 cleanliness and cleanly methods is deserving of great praise and more 



encouragement. 



COSTS. 



The raw material. — By long usage the tinaja, an earthen jar for 

 transporting sap, has become the standard of measure in the nipa dis- 

 tricts. Of course such a vessel varies in size and many of the distillers 

 have very little idea of its capacity. Ten distillers variously estimated 

 their tinajas at from 25 to 90 liters capacity. I measured two at different 

 establishments in the Province of Pangasinan and found their capacities 

 to be 50 and 63 liters. In the Bulacan-Pampanga district, the tinajas 

 are smaller and estimated at 32 to 36 liters. Tuba is purchased ■\\dth the 

 peso (fifty cents United States currency) as the unit of value and the 

 tinaja the unit of capacity. 



The price paid for the sap of the nipa palm varies in different years 



