368 [Assembly 



FRENCH WINE STATISTICS. 



Mr. Goodrich furnished the following statistics upon the vine- 

 culture in France : 



Nearly 5,000,000 acres of land are employed in the cultivation 

 of the vine in France, from which is made annually 900,000,000 

 gallons of wine. The average value is 15 cents a gallon. The 

 French wines have doubled or trebled in value within the past 

 two years. Average annual total value of the wine crop, a frac- 

 tion less than $100,000,000. 



Exports. — 50,000,000 gallons are annually exported. The south 

 western and south -eastern districts of France are the most pro- 

 ductive. 



Brandy. — 12,000,000 gallons of brandy are annually exported. 



Excise. — The excise duty on wines and their distillations in 

 1853 was $235,000. 



Laborers. — The number of persons employed in the cultivation 

 of the vine and manufacture of wine is a fraction short of 2,000,000, 

 and 240,000 persons are engaged in selliog wine. Most of the 

 wine lands are untillable, sterile and hilly. The wine culture 

 does not average a return of more than 1 ^ per cent annually. 



Disease. — The disease of the vine is pretty general throughout 

 France, though the southern secUon suffers most. This disease 

 has prevailed tor three or four years, and threatens to destroy the 

 business. 



ADULTERATED BRANDY. 



Prof. Mapes also stated nearly all the French brandy now im- 

 ported is made of four-fifths beet root rum, and one fifth grape 

 brandy. The fashion use to be to import the brandy and mix it 

 here with cheap liquor, but the French have taken the wind out 

 of our sails. The Professor said there was a mistake about old 

 brandy being healthy ; the liquor least deleterious to the human 

 stomach is pure spirit. He had tried all kinds enough, he 

 thought, to constitute him a judge. 



