Take one gallon of water, half a pound of sugar, half a pound of molasses, and boil them together for twenty minutes; when cool, add a teacupful of yeast; put the whole into a jar, and lay a vinegar plant on the surface of the liquor. Cover the jar with paper, keeping it in a warm place, and it will produce very good and wholesome vinegar in about six weeks.

The vinegar plant is a minute fungus, forming what is commonly called "the mother of vinegar." A bit of this thrown into the above liquid rapidly increases, and changes the sugar and water into vinegar. The plant will form of itself in the first instance, but this will require a longer time. Afterward it may be divided and transferred to other quantities of the mixture, to accelerate the process of vinegar making.