6o 
HISTORY OF THE [book v. 
The reader will please to recollect, that in this, 
and the preceding chapter, the observations which 
I have made, both concerning the cultivation of the 
sugar-cane in the field, and the subsequent pro¬ 
cesses of the boiling house and distillery, have been 
drawn chiefly from the practice of Jamaica. Some 
selection was necessary, and I could refer to no 
mode of conducting a sugar plantation, with such 
propriety, as to that with which I am myself prac¬ 
tically acquainted.—My next inquiries will relate 
to the particulars of the first cost of this species of 
property, to the current expenses attending it, 
and to the returns which may be reasonably ex- 
This distilled at and after the rate of twelve per cent, sweets in the 
fermenting cistern, will give 34,720 gallons of low-wines, which 
ousht to produce 14 412 gallons of good proof rum, or one bundled 
and thirty-one puncheons of a hundred and ten gallons each. When a 
greater proportion than this is made, one or other of these circum¬ 
stances must exist, either the sugar discharges an unusual quantiiy of 
mcllasses, or the boiiing house is defiauded of the cane-liquor by 
impioper scummings. This latter circumstance frequently hap¬ 
pens. 
It should also be observed, that it is the practice of late, with 
many planters, to raise ihe proof of rum; thus gaining in strength 
of spirit, vvliat is lost in quantity : and theie are managers who make 
it a rule to return the scummings to the clarifiers, instead of sending 
them to the still house. This last mentioned practice reduces the 
crop of rum more than one-third; but it is supposed to yield in 
sugar more than is lost in rum; and if the price of sugar is very 
high, and that of rum very low, it may be prudent to adopt this 
method. 
