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A Table of Meteorological Observations at Columbus, Ohio. 83° 3′ W. Barometer 740 feet above the Atlantic.

Lat. 39° 57′ N. Long. By J. B. Richard.

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REMARKS.-The greatest height of the barometer was 29.82 inches February 10th. The least 28.15 inches November 19th.

Extreme range, for the year, 1.67 inches.

The total quantity of rain, including 234 inches melted snow, was 41.75 inches -being 1.81 inches above the average quantity.

HOW VINEYARDS ARE MANAGED IN FRANCE.

The vineyards of France cover an area of about 5 millions of acres, mostly hillsides and stony soils; their annual production is an average of 60 millions of hectolitres, or 1600 millions of gallons, which at the average price of 50 francs or $10 the hectolitre (374 cts. per gallon), amount in round numbers to $600,000,000.

Agricultural industry has greatly enhanced the value of this raw material, by turning the coarsest part of it into alcohol, brandy and ether; the former article being used, instead of water, by several lines of sea and river steamboats. Finer wines, being properly clarified and attended to, acquire a double, some of them a tenfold value, in the space of two or three years.

These vineyards supply, also, the elements of various branches of agricultural industry, most of them having fruit trees planted between the rows of vines. Thus large quantities of plums, peaches and cherries are gathered therefrom, to be either dried or preserved in jars, with liquor and syrup; the superabundant fig trees of the south supply the commerce with a well known article of exportation; whilst the olive tree seems to be the natural companion of the vine, the pomegranate, apricot, pear, apple, almond, chestnut, quince and walnut prosper among the vines, which protect their roots against heat.

Having no positive records as to the value of the extra crop of fruit and oil— leaving aside the increased value of wine derived from age, management and distillation-we will consider the vintage of 1861, as presented by acknowledged

French authorities.

Owing to late frosts and rains in the spring of the year 1861, and also to protracted, excessive drought in the subsequent summer and fall, the product of the vintage fell short by one-fourth of an average yield, viz: to 45,000,000 of hectolitres. Supposing this short crop placed into whisky barrels, piled five upon one another, and drawn into a line, they would extend from Washington to London. The average price of the hectolitre being $9 50, this crop amounts to $427,000,000. Deducting therefrom one-half for taxes and cost of production, we find a net profit of say $200,000,000, that is $40 to the acre, besides fruit and other values already noticed.

In the meanwhile the wheat crop of France was disastrous, owing to the aforesaid atmospherical phenomena; $100,000,000 worth of foreign wheat was wanted and obtained; to avert famine the French farmer had to give up half of his profit on wine, but he still retains $20 profit on the acre with a short crop. Such is the importance of the wine interest. The moral effects of wine growing are still

greater; drunkenness checked; health sustained or restored; cheerfulness and happiness promoted, age protracted, social intercourse encouraged.

A distinguished wine grower of France, Dr. T. Guyot, lately introduced a new mode of trimming and managing the vine, which bids fair to create a revolution in that line. His method is being eagerly adopted, because experience shows its merits, which are almost wonderful, as evinced by numerous records. For instance, in 1861 a Mr. Laurens, President of the Agricultural Society of Ariège, made an experiment in his own old vineyard of about half an acre; he trimmed one row of vines according to the old method, and the alternate line was treated according to the new. All circumstances being equal, the result was as follows:

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Thus, the mere operation of trimming may increase the value of the French vineyards and their annual production to the amount of over $800,000,000; the mode of "planting," as recommended by Dr. Guyot, appears to have a still greater effect, inasmuch as it improves the quality of the wine, besides the quantity.

The system of "cultivation" is a novelty in itself, and a step towards that future state of perfection which will free agriculture from atmospherical injuries. Following Dr. Guyot's instructions, many a vineyard is protected from frost, wind, sun or rain, according as the case requires, by straw mats, which are spread over or by the side of the vines; these mats are supported by a permanent system of iron wires and sticks; they are rolled up in winter and piled at convenient distances, so as not to interfere with plowing or spreading the manures. Machinery being applied to the manufacture of straw mats, they are produced in immense quantities, and sold at the reduced price of 2 cents the yard.

Dr. T. Guyot lately published a book on wine and vineyards, which ought to be in the hands of every person in this country who has a vine, or who intends to plant any. Perhaps it will be discovered that our wine growers are not in the right path; that the German system of planting, cultivating and manufacturing wine may be very good with the cold climate and poor ground of Germany, but our rich soil, hot summers and late falls are perhaps fitted to grow generous, highly-flavored wine, instead of the sourish lymphatic nectar that we drink.

The treaty of free trade between England and France, which is being extended to other nations, opens new markets to the cheap wine of France; the demand is already considerable from those countries where heavy tariffs heretofore predominated, so that new plantations are being made to supply anticipated demands.

Cooperage is, of course, an important industry in wine growing districts; there, American staves find a ready market and obtain remunerative prices; thus, for instance, pipe staves 7 feet long 6 inches wide command 10 cents apiece; these are destined for brandy pipes and casks, which in part return to us with attractive

form and fiery contents; they are also exclusively used to store up the finer wines which grow in the district of Bordeaux. This trade has been heretofore in the hands of Southern merchants at New Orleans, Charleston and Norfolk.

The celebrated, highly-flavored Burgundy wine, which is almost monopolized by the rich merchants of Holland and Belgium, being unable to withstand uninjured the rough shakes of land or sea conveyances, reaches the Flemish cellars through quiet canals, and is there allowed to mature its flames by long and quiet sojourns of ten to twenty years.

The Burgundy barrels are made from the good timber of the Ardenne forest, mostly oak; but the greatest part of the French common wine is put into chestnut barrels.

The chestnut tree is extensively planted in the central and southern mountains of France; it grows as well in orchards as in thickets, and produces, besides timber, staves and hcop-poles, an excellent large fruit, which is the principal nutriment of numerous, strong, healthy, long-lived populations. The chestnut is also constantly found in all the markets of France, either dry, during the year, or fresh in the season, that is, during the fall and winter, when, on account of its reduced price (50 to 60 cents a bushel), it is to be found upon the table of the poor as a nutriment, and of the rich as a luxury; in both cases it is boiled with salt, or roasted over bright coals by means of a roaster.

Our native chestnut trees should be subjected to cultivation and grafting; then we would have a fruit worth eating, because it would acquire three or four times its present size.

The cultivation of the chestnut tree on a large scale would be very profitable, on account of its rapid growth and the variety of its products; besides hoop-poles, staves and timber, it affords a good nutritious fruit, which is adapted to the manufacture of starch, molasses, alcohol and sugar.

Dr. Guerrazi, of Florence, obtained from the Italian chestnut 60 per cent. of good flour, which was made into bread; from a second lot of the same fruit he made 40 per cent. of molasses, and therefrom some crystallized brown sugar, in the proportion of 10 per cent. of the chestnut. These experiments were frequently repeated in various parts of Europe.

In order to estimate the value of such products in regard to our State, we take the statistics of the poorest district of France. The county (or department) of Haute Vienne contains 100,000 acres of chestnut groves, yielding 24 bushels of fruit to the acre; the bushel weighs about 60 lbs. ; that is 1440 lbs. to the acre, and 144,000,000 lbs. for the county.

Reducing this into flour, we find at 60 per cent. 96,500,000 lbs., equal to 482,500 barrels. The same, made into molasses, would give 57,500,000 lbs., or 7,000,000 gallons; and if we reduce it into sugar, we find 14,400,000 lbs. Finally, the acre yields 860 lbs. of flour, or 60 lbs. of molasses, or 144 lbs. of

sugar.

Considering that 860 lbs. of flour represent about 22 bushels of grain to the acre, that it can be obtained for periods of fifty years, without plowing or sowing, it is

worthy the attention of our farmers. Imported, large chestnuts are found by the bushel every winter in New York, and can be used for seed.

When the vintage is abundant, casks, barrels and pipes are much sought after, prices rise in consequence of the demand; poor peasants are obliged to resort to oil or grease barrels, which require much cleaning and scouring, and still command a price of $2 to $3. These even are not always available; in such an emergency, the standing crop not being allowed by municipal authorities to remain ungathered, many an unfortunate farmer who could not sell his wine has been reduced to the dire necessity of pouring it away in order to make room for his new vintage.

No less desperate is the position of some others, who having bargained for large lots of wine to be delivered at the distillery, by an unlucky fall in the price of brandy, find themselves deprived of the total value of their wine, and scarcely recover the expenses of transportation. Indeed brandy, pure genuine brandy, is sold as low as thirty-two cents a gallon, in some districts, when the vintage is plentiful. This was generally the case before the appearance of the "oidium." Although this parasitical fungus is very hurtful to the wine, it was hailed by many selfish individuals as a blessing, because the price of brandy reached a high figure, viz: 81.50 per gallon. It remains now (1861) at the reasonable price of 75 cts. per gallon, but it will probably rise again in 1862 on account of the last partial failure; and also because the wine of 1861 is of a superior quality, and will not be made into brandy.

The expenses of transportation are not incurred on account of tolls or bad roads. The highways in France are all macadamized or paved, always kept in good order, and utterly free of toll-gates. Turnpikes are free also. They are kept as well as anywhere else. Therefore the cost of transportation is to be ascribed solely to the bulk and small value of the merchandise.

To solve the difficulty farmers in good or moderate circumstances established their distillery at home. An apparatus is to be found in every cottage and almost in every house of certain villages within the most prosperous districts, such as are found around Cognac, La Rochelle, Montpellier, Cette and Narbonne, in the south.

Remote, poor villages and farms have the occasional advantage of a transient, portative distillery, working on shares, and producing tolerable or even good brandy. The observer cannot fail to be surprised at the positive fact that no one drinks brandy in the districts of production. Should a confirmed, foreign drunkard happen to traverse that country he would give his preference to wine, and thereby avoid intoxication. Such is the daily repeated experience which is practiced upon northern soldiers. At home they get drunk with northern whiskey or southern brandy. When in the south, or even in Paris, they abandon alcohol, try to get drunk on wine, and find it very difficult to succeed.

The foregoing assertion may seem somewhat heterodox to zealous partisans of the "Maine liquor law," because it implies that wine cures drunkenness and does

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