THE VINE IN SOUTHERN FRANCE. 793 



hectoliters, equal to 317,000,000 wine gallons, valued at $79.000,000, we 

 have a grand total of $338,000,000 as the value of the wine and beer 

 annually consumed in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 



JAMES BILEY WEAVER, 



Consul- General. 

 UNITED STATES CONSULATE GENERAL, 



Vienna, April 8, 1884. 



FRANCE. 



SOUTHERN FRANCE. 

 \ 



REPORT BY VICE-CONSUL MARTIN, OF MARSEILLES. 

 [Republished from consular reports, No. 41^.] 



Climate, soil, etc. The climate of that part of France which is washed by 

 the Mediteranean can be placed among the most pleasant in the world. 

 Extreme heat and cold are alike unknown, and while under the influence 

 of regular sea-breezes the thermometer rarely shows a temperature of 

 more than 80 or 86 Fahrenheit in summer, the winters are remarkably 

 mild, and snow and ice are in fact a rarity in the country. On the other 

 hand, drought is exceptionally severe, and in the warm season months are 

 sometimes passed without a drop of rain to moisten the parched ground. 

 The water streams are mere torrents, which can not supply any water 

 for irrigating purposes in the dry season, and, when swollen in the fall 

 by frequent floods of rain, rush impetuously to the sea, carrying away 

 large quantities of the light vegetable earth, in the place of which they 

 leave rocks and pebbles brought down from the steep barren hills with 

 which the country is covered. 



The soil is generally light and stony, calcareous or argillaceous, some 

 times granitic or schistic. Frequent and strong winds from the north- 

 west sweep across the country, and, being cold and dry, are extremely 

 injurious to agriculture. 



For all these reasons the modes of cultivation and the produce of the 

 soil are widely different from what they are in the other parts of France. 

 The culture of grain, so largely predominant elsewhere, is here confined 

 to a few plains and valleys that are favored with means of natural or 

 artificial irrigation, and is entirely inadequate to the demands of local 

 consumption. Arbustive culture, on the other hand, is extensive, and 

 furnishes the country with most of its revenue. The olive tree, which 

 is not cultivated beyond a compartively short distance from the Medi- 

 terranean shores, and the vine, which is more extensively grown in 

 these than in any other parts of France, stand foremost in that branch 

 of agriculture. 



Varieties. In a general way, vines in this country can be planted in 



