19 / 96
Mr.
Davis
thinks
that
it
was
about
the
year IGGO
that
lluiii-
bullion
was
clipped
of
two
of
its
syllables,
but
the
hrst
mention
of
the
abridged
word
in
any
public
document
in
Barbadoes
ap-
pears
to
have
been
in
an
act
passed
in
1668
to
prevent
the
sale
of
both
brandy
and
rum
in
the
tippling
houses
near
the
most
frequented
highways
or
roads
of
the
island.
The
word
"Hum,"
however,
occurs
in
certain
orders
of
the
Government
and
coun-
cil
of
Jamaica
as
early
as
1661.
As
to
the
exact
date
of
the
beginning
of
this
industry
in
the
United
States,
Rum
appears
to
have
been
manufactured
in
New
England
before
1687,
as
"New
England
Rum"
sold
in
that
year
at
Is.
6d.
per
gallon,
which
is
practically
to-day's
wholesale
price
for
New
Rum,
not
including
the
internal
revenue
tax.
In
the
old
days
of
this
country
many
of
the
best
men
of
the
town
of
Boston,
in
addition
to
being
great
ship
owners,
were
distillers
of
New
England
Rum,
those
two
industries
being
put
down
in
the
history
of
the
times
as
two
of
the
most
important
in
Boston,
and
the
commodity
itself
was
not
only
used
as a
staple
for
family
consumption
and
as
a
cheering
adjunct
to
official
and
social
events,
as
the
hiying
of
corner
stones
of
pub
lie
buildings
and
the
building
of
churches,
but
was
early
used
as
one
of
the
great
instruments
in
assisting
to
civilize
and
Chrstianize
our
black
brothers
in
Africa.
During
all
of the
time
since,
the
distillation
of
Rum
has
been
contined
almost
entirely
to
New
England,
all
the
Rum
made
in
this
country,
in
fact,
having
come
to
bear
the
distinctive
name,
"New
England
Rum,"
as
being
different
from
the
imported
article.
The
Rum
of
domestic
use
to-day,
which
has
been
aged
for
many
years
in
the
wood,
is
very
different
from
the
"hot,
hellish,
and
terrible
liquor"
above
referred
to.
Much
care
is
taken
by
tiiose
distillers
making
a
specialty
of
fine
old
Rum
in
the
selec-
tion
of
their
molas.ses,
the
fermentation
and
distillati(ni,
as
well
as
in
the
selection
of
the barrel
and
storage
in
which
it
is
kept.
Both
as
an
art
and
an
industry,
the
business
of
distilling
Rum
has
remained,
as a
sort
of
heirloom,
through
successive
genera-
tions
in
some
of
our
oldest
and
most
resjiectable
New
England
families,
who
have
taken
pride
and
pains
in
bringing
it
up
to
the
highest
attainable
standard
of
jierfection.
The
general
tendency
noticeable
in
other
lines
of
business,
too
numerous
to
specify
individually,
toward
consolidation,
or
at
least
towards fewer
and
larger
manufacturing
iilants,
has
applied
as
well
to
the
manufacture
of
New
England
Rum,
and
while
in
1753
there
were
sixty-three
distilleries
in
Ma.s.sachusetts,
and
fifty
years
ago
perhaps
thirty
small
distilleries
scattered
along
the
New
England
coast
from
New
Haven
to
Portland,