l find latitude for the exercise
of a share of compassion, when I inform them candidly, that a mill and
distillery, or still house, were substituted for, and the only college
and academy in which I ever studied, and those studies were broken, and
during the exercise of my business, as a miller and distiller.

That it contains errors in the diction and perspicuity, I will readily
confess--but that it is in substance true, and contains much useful
information, I must declare as an indisputable fact. And though the road
I travelled was a new one, without compass, chart, or even star to steer
by, not even a book to assist me in thinking, or cheer me in my gloomy
passage--seeking from those springs of nature, and inherent endowments
for consolatory aid--pressing on a frequently exhausted mind, for
resources and funds, to accomplish the objects of my pursuits--not
denying but that I met many of my fellow-beings, who cheerfully aided me
with all the information in their power, and to whom I now present my
thanks--I must acknowledge, I think my labors and exertions will prove
useful to those of less experience than mine, in which event I shall
feel a more ample remuneration for my exertions, than the price asked
for one of those volumes.

Could I have witnessed the publication of a similar work by a man of
science and education, mine should never have appeared. But it would
seem the learned and scientific have never considered a work of the kind
as meriting their attention; a circumstance deeply to be regretted, as a
finer colouring to a work of the same properties and value often
procures celebrity, demand and currency. My object is to be useful, my
style plain, and only laboured to be rendered easy to be understood, and
convey the necessary instruction to those who may honor this work with a
perusal, or resort to it for information, and that it may be useful to
my countrymen, is the sincere wish of

THE AUTHOR.

INTRODUCTION.

It is not more than twenty years since whiskey was first offered for
sale in the seaport towns in large quantities; and then, owing to its
badness, at a very low price. Since that period it has been gaining
ground yearly, and at this time, it is the second great article of
commerce, in the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland.

In the interior of these states, it has nearly excluded the use of
foreign distilled spirits, and I fancy might be made so perfectly pure
and nice, as to ultimately