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November 2, 1882. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 409 
half an inch, the aggregate for the period being about 4^ inches. 
Few persons are aware that an inch of rain over an acre of ground 
means 101 tons, or 22,623 gallons, of water. Accepting as correct the 
Registrar-General’s estimate of the gross area of London and its 
immediate suburbs, it would therefore appear that an inch of rain 
over the London district weighs in round numbers 45 millions of 
tons, and amounts to the overwhelming volume of 10,000 millions of 
gallons of water. Estimating the total amount of rain in London 
during the past fortnight as 4£ inches, and applying this amount to 
the above figures, we find that the weight of water which has fallen 
has exceeded 190 millions of tons, while in volume it has amounted 
to 42,500 millions of gallons. In attempting to grasp such enormous 
numbers the mind becomes lost, but some idea of the immensity of 
the volume may be gained by imagining it all to be concentrated 
into one reservoir or basin. Supposing such a reservoir to be quite 
square and 40 feet in depth, the sides of the square would be more 
than 13,000 feet in length, and a walk round it would entail a journey 
of very nearly ten miles. If we imagine the water to be enclosed 
in a cubic vessel, the sides of such a receptacle would be each about 
1896 feet long.” 
- Messrs. W. & A. Gilbey recently communicated an inter¬ 
esting letter to the Times on the vintage in France, from which 
we cite the following notes :— 
“ The extent of land under vine cultivation in France 
affords striking evidence of the importance of the Vine to the 
prosperity of that country. The average production of wine in 
France is estimated at 184 gallons per acre. One-twenty-fifth part 
of the total area of France is appropriated to wine-production, and 
the number of acres under Vines, which a hundred years ago were 
just under 4,000,000 (four million),now exceeds 5,000,000 (five million) 
acres, and this notwithstanding the fact that 1,400,000 (one million 
four hundred thousand) acres of Vines have recently been destroyed 
by the phylloxera. At the same time, with this large additional 
extent of vineland, a state of things appears to have arisen in France 
something similar to that against which we hear a good deal of 
complaint in England at the present time—that is to say, the land is 
getting into the hands of a smaller number of holders ; for although, 
as we have ptated above, there are now a million more acres under 
Vine cultivation than there was a century ago, the number of the 
proprietors of vineyards, which in 1829 was 2,169,504, had fallen in 
1878 to 1,932,573 only.” 
-Relative to the Phylloxera and its eradication it 
is stated that 
“ In the department of Herault, which produces between a fifth and 
a sixth of the entire French vintage, thanks to the energetic efforts 
of its Vine-growers, who have had recourse to American Vines for 
the purpose of replacing the Vines which have died from the effect 
of this insect scourge, this department is fa9t recovering from its 
first scare, and is rapidly regaining its old position and former confi¬ 
dence. In the Charentes, the great cognac-producing districts of 
France, unhappily the same is not the case. There the proprietors 
appear to have resigned themselves to what they have come to regard 
as inevitable, and cereals are fast taking the place of the Vine. On 
inquiring the reason for this we were informed that of the two most 
generally accepted remedies for the destruction of the phylloxera, 
one, that of the employment of insecticides, such as sulphur of carbon 
and sulpho-carbonate of potassium, has been found too costly ; while, 
owing to the rocky nature of the soil and the small surface of 
earth, the land is said, on the other hand, not to be suitable for the 
planting of American Vines. In another of the large wine-producing 
departments above referred to—the Gironde—the phylloxera has 
undoubtedly also made some progress and created much alarm. 
Looking, however, at the wealth of the proprietors in this district 
and the importance of the interests at stake, it is quite certain that 
no effort will be spared, and hardly any expense found too great, 
to save the Vines of this department, which are regarded as the most 
precious of all the Vines of France.” 
- TnE following shows the yield of the •wine-pro¬ 
ducing countries of the world 
“ It is estimated that the total average annual production of all the 
wine-producing countries of the world is nearly 3,000,000,000 (three 
thousand million) gallons, and that of this quantity about 35 per 
cent., or rather more than one-third, is derived from the vineyards of 
France. The total quantity of wine exported by France during the 
last four years has been 240,750,000 gallons ; the value of the quantity 
thus exported for the year 1881 alone being nearly £10,500,000. 
According to French statistics, England in reality is the best 
customer of France, taking between a sixth and a seventh of the 
total quantity of wine she exports ; the next largest consumers, in 
order of importance, being Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Algeria, 
the Argentine Republic, and the United States.” 
ROSE REVE D’OR. 
I quite agree with your correspondent M. F. Woodley in con¬ 
sidering Reive d’Or to be one of the very best climbing Roses, its 
principal merit being that, though it is excelled in power of growth 
on a warm wall by, perhaps, Climbing Devoniensis alone of Teas 
and Noisettes, it yet keeps the base well covered with sprays and 
foliage, in this respect far surpassing any other Rose in my ex¬ 
perience. But I cannot agree with him that it should be grown 
in a cool bouse. I find it perfectly hardy and evergreen on a 
warm wall in the severest winter we have had for the last five 
years. Yet, though covered with a mass of bloom in the spring, 
secondary flowers are with me comparatively few ; and I think 
few who are acquainted with the whole class of Teas and Noisettes 
would place it among the first twelve, for Roses must be judged 
by their flowers, and a good bloom of Reve d’Or, though very 
pretty, is hardly first-class.—A. F. M. 
PRODUCTIVENESS OF POTATOES. 
To show what may be done with the Potato by cultivation I 
send you a statement of the produce of one tuber of Magnum 
Bonum planted whole in the garden at Glan-y-wern in March 
last, and this day raised with the following result:— 
lbs. ozs. 
7 Potatoes, each above 1 lb., weighed. 7 9 
9 ,, „ ,, 4 lb., ,, .... 8 2 
10 ,, „ ,, 5 lb., ,, . 6 7 
7 „ ,, „ I lb., „ . 2 19 
6 small Potatoes . 0 4 
39 Potatoes weighing. Total 25 6 
The stems of the haulm, instead of being allowed to trail upon 
the ground, were attached to stakes placed round the Potatoes, 
thus exposing both the surface of the ground and the foliage of 
the plant to the sun, air, and moisture. The seven principal 
stems ultimately attained the height of about 7 feet. The Pota¬ 
toes were well formed and even in character, as an analysis of 
the weight shows, the heaviest weighing 1 lb. 3 ozs., while the 
remaining six of the first lot averaged 1 lb. 1 oz. each. The nine 
Potatoes of the second lot averaged 14£ ozs., the ten in the third 
lot averaged 10£ ozs., and the seven in the fourth lot averaged 
6f ozs., the remainder were very small. 
The parent Potato was moderate in size, planted on a bed of 
turfy loam without manure. Fresh soil was added as the tubers 
increased in size. A can of liquid manure was applied six or seven 
times, and water in very dry weather. The haulm remained 
perfectly sound to the last, the foliage throughout being very fine 
until the last fortnight, when the leaves began to die. The ground 
occupied by this Potato was about 4 feet square.—P hilip S. 
Humberston, North Wales. 
AUSTRALIAN ORCHIDS. 
The great Australian continent, though abounding in distinct 
types of vegetation and possessing a tropical climate over a large 
portion of its surface, does not include many representatives of 
that beautiful family the Orchidaceas which a few degrees farther 
north are so numerous in the islands of the Malayan Archipelago. 
This is doubtlessly due to the comparative dryness of the 
climate and the peculiar conformation of the surface, which is 
somewhat basin-shaped, the higher parts being near the coasts, 
the large central portion presenting a flat extent of land, mostly 
arid and desert-like, but relieved in a few localities by slight 
elevations. In such a country we could not expect to find any 
remarkable luxuriance of epiphytal vegetation like the humid 
forests of Brazil produce, and we have instead an abundance of 
those peculiar dry-climate types, such as the members of the Rue 
family, the Eucalypti, the Proteas, and others, mostly distinguished 
by firm or leathery foliage, which frequently possesses powerful 
aromatic odours. In a few districts, however, Orchids are found, 
and these include several beautiful species. They are nearly all 
natives of some part of the east coast from Moreton Bay to Torres 
Straits, but the terrestrial species far exceed the epiphytes in 
number; and though outside the genera Dendrobium, Cymbidium, 
and Sarcochilus there are few of the latter class, yet the others 
are represented by such genera as Thelymitra, Cadadenia, and 
Pterostylis, which are scarcely known in English gardens, though 
two familiar terrestrial Orchids have been observed there—namely, 
Phajus grandifolius and Calanthe veratrifolia ; but these can only 
be regarded as strays fr©m more northern latitudes. With these 
exceptions the terrestrial Orchids of Australia do not possess much 
value in a horticultural point of view, and do not need considera¬ 
tion here; but the epiphytes well deserve attention, commencing 
with the 
Dendrobiums. —This handsome genus, the species of which are 
so well known and admired in gardens, has about twenty forms 
that are either indigenous to or naturalised in Australia, and are 
