Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 26.djvu/443

Rh An elevation of less than two thousand metres would unite this land with South Georgia, South Sandwich Land, and the Antarctic Continent. The chain of the Andes has not the same continuity in these regions as in the north of the continent. The labyrinth of islands and channels constituting the Straits of Magellan and Le Maire is only a continuation of the isolated moraines and canons, now dry, which so singularly break up the ground of Patagonia. The presence of marsupials and the seventy-seven common species of plants likewise point to the possibility of a former nearer relation to Australia and New Zealand than now exists.

Wine-Statistics of the World.—The greatest wine-producing country of the earth is France, which also furnishes the greatest variety and the most-sought-for wines. The total production of the country has fluctuated greatly in late years, on account of the ravages of the phylloxera. It was nearly 2,246,000,000 gallons, wine measure, in 1875, and less than 689,000,000 gallons in 1879. The average is estimated at 1,456,000,000 gallons. The vine is cultivated in all but nine of the eighty-six departments, but most extensively in the southern departments, that of Hérault leading the list. Italy ranks the second among the wine-lands, with an average production about half that of France, or of 715,000,000 gallons, the total value of which is estimated at a milliard of lire. The export trade is growing fast and has become very large. Spain follows as the third greatest wine-producing state, with 583,000,000 gallons. The southern wines are in greatest demand, and the export trade is assuming enormous dimensions. Next in order is Austria-Hungary, with 371,000,000 gallons, a large part, and the choicest, of which is produced in Hungary. Portugal is fifth among European wine-lands, with 132,000,000 gallons, among which are the famous port wines, forming the basis of a large export trade. Germany, with only a small part of its land in cultivation for wine, and an annual return of 95,400,000 gallons, does not produce as much as it consumes, but imports from France and Austria-Hungary. Russia produces 53,000,000 gallons, chiefly in the southern provinces, or those bordering on the Black and Caspian Seas. Of the smaller states, Greece produces about 39,750,000 gallons; Switzerland, 36,320,000; European Turkey, 26,000,500; Roumania, 31,800,000; and Servia, 13,250,000. Belgium makes the smallest showing of all the European states that produce any wine. The total production of the fourteen states enumerated is estimated at 3,577,500 gallons a year. Wine is also a very important staple of Asiatic agriculture, and forms a notable item in the crops of all of Asiatic Turkey, Palestine, Arabia, Persia, Afghanistan, Bokhara, and parts of India, while in Cochin China, China, and Japan, it is of relatively small account. In Africa it is a considerable item in Algeria and the Cape Colony, and is made in only mentionable quantities in Egypt, Abyssinia, Morocco, the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal. The wine culture of the Canary Islands and the Azores has recently suffered greatly from diseases of the vines. The United States produced 23,453,000 gallons of wine in 1880, and it was worth $16,000,000. More than a quarter in value of the product came from California. Wine is produced in a primitive way in Mexico, Brazil, the Argentine Republic, and Chili. The wine industry has been developed to a considerable importance in Australia, and promises to grow.

Science and Industrial Development.—One of the demands of the times, according to "Nature," is for the co-operation of scientific investigation in the study of new principles with artisan skill, in immediately applying the new discoveries to practical uses. As among the fields in which such a combination might prove itself valuable, it is suggested: "There is great need of some system of light railways which can be laid down on ordinary roads, and so cheaply that the traffic available on such roads may be sufficient to pay a fair return on the capital. . . . The storage of power, such as that of the tidal-wave, with cheap and ready means for giving it out when and where it is needed, offers a wide field for invention, and may lead to the most fruitful results. The transmission of power to long distances, whether by electricity, compressed air, or otherwise, is a somewhat similar problem, which at present occupies the attention of many