48         Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.    {A  j^uaryj898rm' 
WINE  PRODUCTION  IN  FRANCE. 
The  following  information  concerning  the  above  subject  is  taken 
from  Kew  Bulletin,  in  its  issue  of  May  and  June,  1 897  : 
The  annual  wine  production  of  France,  which,  during  the  twenty- 
five  years  preceding  the  year  1879,  amounted  on  the  average  to 
1,000,000,000  gallons,  a  quantity  sufficing  both  for  the  wants  of 
home  consumption  in  this  country  and  for  those  of  the  export  trade 
to  foreign  countries  (about  65,000,000  to  75,000,000  gallons  per 
annum),  has  since  that  time  (in  consequence  of  the  ravages  of  the 
phylloxera  and  other  vine  diseases,  as  well  as  of  unfavorable  atmos- 
pheric influences  during  many  years)  declined  to  an  average  annual 
yield  of  about  725,000,000  gallons,  a  falling  off,  therefore,  of  about 
275,000,000  gallons  per  annum. 
In  order  to  meet  this  deficiency,  France,  as  is  well  known,  has 
been  obliged  to  import  largely  foreign  (more  especially  Spanish, 
Italian,  Portuguese  and  Dalmatian)  wines,  which  are  to  some  extent 
sold  in  their  original  state,  but  the  far  larger  proportion  are  used  for 
blending  with  the  light  French  wines  of  the  commonest  class. 
These  blended  Franco-foreign  wines  find  a  ready  market,  as  they 
are  by  no  means  always  unpalatable,  and  often  very  fair  (nor  are 
they  unwholesome,  as  they  are,  after  all,  mixtures  of  the  pure  juice 
of  foreign  and  French  grapes) ;  they  are  served  as  so-called  "  vin 
ordinaire"  in  a  large  number  of  even  the  better  class  of  hotels  and 
restaurants  all  over  France.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  the 
dearth  of  the  cheapest  kind  of  French  wines,  which  in  former  times 
were  abundant  enough  to  be  obtained  even  by  the  most  modest 
purse,  has  given  rise  to  a  great  development  of  the  manufacture  of 
artificial  wines  (made  from  raisins  and  other  grape  substitutes),  and 
these  find  a  ready  market,  especially  amongst  those  poorest  classes 
of  the  population  who  look  more  to  the  low  price  than  to  the 
quality  of  the  liquor,  of  which  they  are  accustomed  to  drink  a  large 
quantum.  That  in  the  Gironde,  for  instance,  this  daily  quantum  of 
wine  is  considerable  amongst  both  the  poorer  and  wealthier  inhabi- 
tants is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  average  annual  consumption 
of  wine  per  head  of  the  population  in  this  department  amounts  to 
32  34  gallons. 
