Vol. XXIII. No. 12.] 



POPULAR SCIENCE [f^EWS. 



181 



;^onie, BariQ, aiid Gardeij. 



THE PRODUCTION OF CHAMPAGNE 

 IN FRANCE. 



The curious illustration (from La J\'atnre) 

 accompanying this article is intended to give 

 a graphic representation of the importance of 

 that peculiarly French industry — the manufac- 

 ture of eft'ervescing wine, commonly known 

 as Champagne, from the name of the Depart- 

 ment where it is principally produced. The 

 largest bottle represents the stock on hand in 

 the cellars of the dealers in the year 1888 — 

 nearly nine and a half million gallons. A 

 single bottle holding this quantit}' would be 

 445 feet high, and 125 feet in diameter at the 

 base. 



The next largest bottle represents the aver- 

 age annual production of the last twelve 

 years, amounting to over five million gallons, 

 and requiring a bottle 32 ^ feet high and 9^ 

 feet in diameter ; while the smallest bottle 

 represents the average annual exportation 

 {expedition) of the last twelve years, which 

 amounts to 19,343,750 bottles, or nearly four 

 million gallons, of which the larger propor- 

 tion is sent to this country and Russia. 



Two well-known structures of Paris — the 

 Arc de Triomphe and the Cathedral of Notre 

 Dame — are shown in the engraving, for pur- 

 poses of comparison, and we may also remark 

 that if the Washington Monument was a hol- 

 low shaft, the amount of champagne now 

 stored in the French cellars would be more 

 than sufficient to fill it completely to the top. 



It must be remembered that these enormous 

 figures apply only to one kind of wine, and 

 do not include the much larger quantities of 

 still, red wines produced in France. These 

 are much more popular with the natives, 

 who drink comparatively little of the etterves- 

 cing varieties. In 1888, for instance, only 

 three and a half million bottles of champagne 

 were consumed in France itself, while over 

 eighteen and a half millions were exported to 

 other countries. 



It has always been supposed that niuch of 

 the alleged champagne sold in this country 

 was entirely innocent of any admixture of 

 grape-juice, but if the above figures are cor 

 rect, and indicate the actual production of 



genuine wine, it would seem as if the supply 

 might equal the demand. If one wishes to 

 be on the safe side, however, he can do so by 

 confining himself to that best of all beverages, 

 water, which is, at least, never intentionally 

 adulterated. 



[Original in The Popular Science ^ttos.} 

 THE HORSE-SHOE PELARGONIUM. 



BY FRED'K LEROY SARGENT. 



The more common name of this "scarlet geran- 

 ium" was given to this plant many years ago, when 

 it was first brought from its native home, the Cape 

 of Good Hope, and today this name still remains as 

 the one most widely used. Botanists have now de- 

 cided however, that this is not a true geranium like 

 the crane's-bills and herb-roberts of our fields and 

 woods, but a rather more highly organized member 

 of the same family, and entitled, therefore, to a 

 separate name. The peculiar beak-like fruit, to be 

 described later, suggested the idea that pelagos, the 

 Greek name for a stork, be made into pelargonium, 

 as the name for these plants, just as geranos, the 

 Greek for crane gave the name geranium to the 

 crane's-bills on account of their similar fruits. 

 Moreover, since under the hand of the florist, pink 

 and white varieties of this species are now as com- 

 mon as scarlet ones, to call them all "scarlet pelar- 

 goniums" seems hardly right, and, as there is 

 almost always, on the leaves, some trace of a horse- 

 shoe like zone, the name "horse-shoe pelargonium" 

 appears appropriate, especially as the same pecu- 

 liarity has led botanists to call the plant I'elargon- 

 ium zonale. 



There are but few of our cultivated flowers that 

 have more interesting secrets to disclose to the 

 thoughtful observer, and a reverent examination of 

 this common house-plant may bring us close to 

 some of the most beautiful mysteries of vegetable 

 life. The great event of the plant's life is of course 

 the production of flowers, but before this can be 

 accomplished there must be the slow accumulation 

 of food materials day after day, by means of the 

 roots and leaves. While the rootlets are absorbing 

 mineral matters dissolved in the moisture around 

 them, thus supplying the crude sap which slowly 

 ascends in the stem, the leaves are drinking in the 

 carbon-laden gases of the air, and out of these raw 

 materials, elaborating the nutritious juices which 

 are to nourish every part. This wonderful process 

 of food making takes place however, only in the 

 sunlight, and it follows that a good exposure of the 

 leaves is of the highest importance for the plant's 

 welfare. How well this is accomplished will be 

 apparent to anyone who will examine a flourishing 

 pelargonium-plant. If growing out of doors, ex- 

 posed to light from above, the leaf-blades will be 

 mostly horizontal. The young and vigorous ones 

 are uppermost, and on short stalks so arranged 

 around the stem that each blade gets as much sun- 

 shine as possible without shading its neighbors; 

 while the older ones, lower down, are carried out 01 

 shadow, as well as may be, by their longer stalks. 

 When growing in the house near a window, and so 

 illuminated from one side, the leaves, as is well 

 known, are forced to change their position, and 

 under such circumstances exhibit a degree of sensa- 

 tiveness to outward influences and a power of move- 

 ment that reminds us of the lower animals. The 

 end to be attained is the same as before — to get the 

 upper surface of the blades fully exposed and at 

 right angles to the source of light. Comparing the 

 .the leaf-stalk to an out stretched arm and the blade 

 to a hand, the movements which take place may be 

 described as sometimes a bend at tlie shoulder and 

 sometimes a twist of the whole arm. Any or all 



of these movements may be combined and a sweep 

 through an angle of over 90° may be accomplished 

 in a few hours. What is perhaps quite as remark- 

 able is that the leaves stop moving just as soon as 

 they are properly placed, and hold themselves like 

 little targets facing the sun. 



A somewhat different kind of inovement, due to a 

 peculiar manner of growth is exhibited by the young 

 flower-stalks. As soon as a flower bud is old 

 enough to leave the nest-like circle of protecting 

 leaves at the top of the flower-branch, its stalk 

 elongates, and for more rapid growth on the upper 

 side, curves downward so as to bring the bud an 

 inch or so below the base of the cluster. The parts 

 of the flower now develop rapidly and in a few days 

 the bud is almost ready to open. Now growth be- 

 gins throughout the under or concave side of the 

 stalk and before long the stalk becomes straight and 

 carries the bud up into the cluster of open flowers, 

 there to unfold. 



On examining a flower which is fully open 

 (choosing an old-fashioned single variety) it will be 

 seen that the parts are arranged as shown in Fig. i, 

 which represents such a flower cut in half. In the 

 centre, surrounding the pointed prolongation of the 



Fig. I. 



axis (A) are the five divisions of the pistil, each 

 with its delicate recurved stigma (B) connected by 

 a slender style (C) to the ovary-cell (D) containing 

 two ovules, one of which is destined to become a 

 seed. Around the pistil are grouped the stamens, 

 seven in number, five long ones (E) and two short 

 ones (F). When the flower first opens, each 

 stamen-thread has at its tip a tiny sac (F) filled 

 with pollen-dust, but these sacs fall oft' after a while, 

 leaving nothing but the threads. Next in order 

 comes the circle of brightly colored petals (G) and 

 outside of all the five green sepals (H). Finally at 

 the back of the stalk we find a long tube (I) begin- 

 ing in an opening (J) at the base of the uppermost 

 sepal and ending in a little pouch (K) which is gen- 

 erally filled with a sweet nectar very dear to insects. 



In trying to understand the meaning of this elab- 

 orate series of organs, we get a useful hint from this 

 strange nectary. Here is evidently an inducement 

 offered to nectar-loving creatures to visit the flower, 

 and as experience shows that pelargoniums which 

 bloom indoors where such visitors are excluded, are 

 not nearly as likely to set seed as when the plants 

 grow in the open air and are visited by butterflies 

 and humming-birds, it would appear that in some 

 way or other these nectar-seekers help the plant to 

 ripen its seeds. 



Now it has long been known that a plant cannot 

 produce seeds unless pollen, either from the same 

 flower or from another flower of the same kind, 

 reaches the stigma and exerts its mysterious fertiliz- 

 ing influence upon the ovules; but it was reserved 

 for Mr. Darwin to discover, not many years ago, 



