POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



429 



An elevation of less than two thousand me- 

 tres would unite this land with South Geor- 

 gia, South Sandwich Land, and the Ant- 

 arctic Continent. The chain of the Andes 

 has not the same continuity in these regions 

 as in the north of the continent. The laby- 

 rinth of islands and channels constituting 

 the Straits of Magellan and Le Maire is only 

 a continuation of the isolated moraines and 

 canons, now dry, which so singularly break 

 up the ground of Patagonia. The presence 

 of marsupials and the seventy-seven common 

 species of plants likewise point to the possi- 

 bility of a former nearer relation to Austra- 

 lia and New Zealand than now exists. 



Wine-Statistics of the World. — The 



greatest wine-producing country of the earth 

 is France, which also furnishes the greatest 

 variety and the most-sought-for wines. The 

 total production of the country has fluctuated 

 greatly in late years, on account of the rav- 

 ages of the phylloxera. It was nearly 

 2,246,000,000 gallons, wine measure, in 

 1875, and less than 689,000,000 gallons in 

 1879. The average is estimated at 1,456,- 

 000,000 gallons. The vine is cultivated in 

 all but nine of the eighty-six departments, but 

 most extensively in the southern depart- 

 ments, that of Herault leading the list. Italy 

 ranks the second among the wine-lands, 

 with an average production about half that 

 of France, or of 715,000,000 gallons, the 

 total value of which is estimated at a 

 milliard of lire. The export trade is grow- 

 ing fast and has become very large. Spain 

 follows as the third greatest wine-produc- 

 ing state, with 583,000,000 gallons. The 

 southern wines are in greatest demand, and 

 the export trade is assuming enormous di- 

 mensions. Next in order is Austria-Hun- 

 gary, with 371,000,000 gallons, a large part, 

 and the choicest, of which is produced in 

 Hungary. Portugal is fifth among European 

 wine-lands, with 132,000,000 gallons, among 

 which are the famous port wines, forming 

 the basis of a large export trade. Germany, 

 with only a small part of its land in cultiva- 

 tion for wine, and an annual return of 95,- 

 400,000 gallons, does not produce as much 

 as it consumes, but imports from France and 

 Austria-Hungary. Russia produces 53,000,- 

 000 gallons, chiefly in the southern prov- 

 inces, or those bordering on the Black and 



Caspian Seas. Of the smaller states, Greece 

 produces about 39,750,000 gallons ; Switzer- 

 land, 36,320,000 ; European Turkey, 26,000,- 

 500; Roumania, 31,800,000; and Servia, 

 13,250,000. Belgium makes the smallest 

 showing of all the European states that 

 produce any wine. The total production 

 of the fourteen states enumerated is esti- 

 mated at 3,577,500 gallons a year. Wine 

 is also a very important staple of Asiatic 

 agriculture, and forms a notable item in 

 the crops of all of Asiatic Turkey, Pales- 

 tine, Arabia, Persia, Afghanistan, Bokha- 

 ra, and parts of India, while in Cochin- 

 China, China, and Japan, it is of relatively 

 small account. In Africa it is a consider- 

 able item in Algeria and the Cape Colony, 

 and is made in only mentionable quantities 

 in Egypt, Abj-ssinia, Morocco, the Orange 

 Free State, and the Transvaal. The wine- 

 culture of the Canary Islands and the Azores 

 has recently suffered greatly from diseases 

 of the vines. The United States produced 

 23,453,000 gallons of wine in 1880, and it 

 was worth $16,000,000. More than a quar- 

 ter in value of the product came from Cali- 

 fornia. Wine is produced in a primitive way 

 in Mexico, Brazil, the Argentine Republic, 

 and Chili. The wine industry has been de- 

 veloped to a considerable importance in Aus- 

 tralia, and promises to grow. 



Science and Industrial Development. — 



One of the demands of the times, accord- 

 ing to " Nature," is for the co-operation of 

 scientific investigation in the study of new 

 principles with artisan skill, in immediately 

 applying the new discoveries to practical uses- 

 As among the fields in which such a combi- 

 nation might prove itself valuable, it is sug- 

 gested : " There is great need of some sys- 

 tem of light railways which can be laid down 

 on ordinary roads, and so cheaply that the 

 traffic available on such roads may be suffi- 

 cient to pay a fair return on the capital. . . . 

 The storage of power, such as that of the 

 tidal-wave, with cheap and ready means for 

 giving it out when and where it is needed, 

 offers a wide field for invention, and may 

 lead to the most fruitful results. The trans- 

 mission of power to long distances, whether 

 by electricity, compressed air, or otherwise, 

 is a somewhat similar problem, which at 

 present occupies the attention of many en- 



