distilleries, but since an extra duty of 1 0 ore was imposed on spirits manufactured
from this cereal, the import for this purpose has diminished
very considerably.
Regarding the employment of the potato for the purpose of manufacturing
spirits, it may be mentioned that, as early as the middle of the 18th century,
i. e., immediately after the introduction of the potato into Sweden, it was discov-
■ered that use could be made of it for distilling purposes, although the
.general use of the potato for the purpose in question probably did not occur
before the beginning of the 19th century. As to the proportion of the potato-
-crop used for spirits, it may be stated that, in 1872, about 17 % of the total
potato-crop of the country and 1‘5 % of the grain-crop, found their way to the
distilleries; in the manufacturing year 1912— 13, there were used 235 165 quintals
of grain of all kinds and 1 772 000 hectoliters of potatoes and, as the harvest in
1912 was estimated at 28 311 982 quintals of - grain of all kinds and 28 175 600
hectoliters of potatoes, there was, consequently, employed in .191.2—-A3 for the
manufacture of spirits, only 0"83 % of the grain-harvest and 7'6 % of the potato-
■crop.
The spirit industry is becoming more and more an independent branch
of industry, while, in earlier times, and even as late as the seventies,
it was partly carried on as a branch of agriculture.
The number of the very small factories, which often confine themselves
to the mashing of their own products, shows an absolute decrease. The
^average amount manufactured per distillery which, in the seventies,
■amounted to about 1 10 0 hectoliters, had, for the quinquennial period
1907—-12, increased to 2 978 hi.
While, during the fifties all the provinces of the kingdom carried on the
distilling of spirits, nowadays it is chiefly Skane, Uppland, Blekinge,
Gastrikland, and Halland that pursue the business. Of all the provinces,
Skane, in 1912—13, occupied the first place, having 72. % of all the
distilleries and nearly 71 % of the total manufacture.
A special phase in the manufacture of spirits in Sweden was the experimental
distilling carried on w ith lichens, which, on the proposal of Professor Sten-
berg, was carried on during the years 1867— 77. Reindeer-moss contains a
kind of cellulose which can be easily saccharified and be made to ferment aleo-
holically. The spirit manufactured from lichens had a peculiar flavour, which
made it difficult to dispose of the article.
Sulphite Spirits. In spite of repeated attempts to employ wood-fibre
—■ either in the form of sawdust or of peat — for the production of
-spirits, no very satisfactory result has -been reached in the effort to obtain
spirits from wood. On the other hand, two Swedish engineers, J. A.
Wallin and G. Ehstrom, have succeeded in producing spirits from the
waste-lye from the sulphite-cellulose factories. It was found that this
waste-lye contains about 2 % of fermentable sugar, which can be made
-to ferment in the ordinary way by means of yeast. By this process there
is obtained a spiritous solution which, it is true, contains only about
1 volume-percentage of alcohol, but by modern methods of distillation
it is easy to obtain from it a 95—96 % spirit. This manufacture has
already gone on for some years and, in 1912, was pursued at three sulphite
factories, viz., Skutskar in Uppland Ban, Kvarnsveden in Koppar-
berg Lan, and Bergvik in Gavleborg Lan. The amount of sulphite spirit
manufactured during 1912 amounted to 43 466 hi of 50 %-spirit, or
about 10 °/o of the entire amount of spirits produced in the country. I f
a large number of the sulphite factories of Sweden produced sulphite
spirits, however, the entire Swedish demand for spirits could be satisfied,
for, after suitable rectification and re-distillation, sulphite spirit becomes
quite palatable. At present, however, all such spirit is either methylated
or exported.
Taxation. The distillation of spirits began in Sweden as early as the 15th
century, but was not subjected to any control until the year 1638, when a levy
on the manufacture was made for the first time, distillation for home consumption
and that for sale being treated on different bases. From that time onwards,
the distilling industry has had a very chequered career, having been altogether
prohibited in years when the grain crop has been poor. In 1775, the distillation
o f spirits became a State monopoly, being carried on at Crown works. This state
of things was, however, abolished in 1798, the license to distil having, as early
as 1787, .been leased to private persons.
The system adopted in some countries of fixing the amount of spirits allowed
to be distilled, was once tried in Sweden too, for in 1799 the amount to be
distilled was restricted in accordance with an assumed consumption of IT s liters
per male and 5 ’? liters per female of over 15 years of age, or an average of 6
liters per inhabitant of the whole population. (This quantity, which was thus at
that time considered a reasonable and natural amount, is somewhat less than the
lowest average in recent times @E|6-i liters per inhabitant in 1909.) As early
as 1800, however, this arrangement was abandoned, and it was enacted that, in
the rural districts, only farmers should be entitled to distil, the size allowed for
the still being made proportionate to the area of the farm.
. In the early part of last century, the taxation of spirits was made to depend
on several different factors, viz., the cubic contents of the still, the assessed
T able 76. S pirit Manufacture.
Annually * No. oi
factories
Steam engines Raw materials employed Spirits produced 2
No. HP. Grain Root crops
quintals 111
Molasses
quintals
Total
hi
Per day
hi
1871—75 . . . 429 399 835 2 634 259 9 1 3 0 457188 11-74
1876—80 . . . 380 70 640 346 4 6 4 2 314 424 3 352 445019 12-01
1881—8 5 . . . 293 93 833 292 505 1 8 3 9 717 5 333 381 440 13-99 !
1886—9 0 . . . 172 107 920 243 293 11 5 0 5 404 .5 281 336430 15 '4 7
1891—95 . . . 138 113 1 0 1 6 292 878 1 2 4 0 212 1 6 1 5 2 330182 1 7 1 4
1896—0 0 . . . 128 132 1 2 6 9 378 3 1 9 1 372 790 4 3 1 8 6 421190 2 1 0 0
1901—0 5 . . . 133 157 1 6 6 7 2 7 1 4 4 9 1 8 1 6 873 32 060 401 757 20-90
1906—1 0 . . . 131 150 1 9 6 4 244 976 1 7 4 0 688 49 040 427 595 22-30
1910 (1910/11) 142 154 2 211 180 8 0 0 11 9 5 4 887 27 051 407160 2 2 7 0
1911 (1911/12) 139 148 2 328 169 928 1 6 3 9 937 30 527 402 152 24-00
1912 (1912/13) 143 148 2 332 235 165 1 932 721 . 2 7 483 453301 24-20
1 Manufacturing-year, ending September 30. — 2 Reduced to 50 % alcohol.
/