LIQUOR AND THE LIQUOR TRAF FIC. The term liquor is applied to alcoholic or spirituous fluids whether distilled or fer mented. The first of these include wine and liquor made from the juice of fruits and in which the natural sugar is converted into alco hol by exposure to the open air. The second class includes beer, ale and porter, in which the starchy ingredients are by certain processes changed into sugar before fermentation can take place. The third division includes brandy, whisky, rum and gin, and whether these be de rived from fruits or grain, the distillation process is carried on further by condensation and vaporization.
Wines.— France and Italy are the two great est wineliroducing countries in the world. The former is noted for the two distinct varieties of red wine, claret and Burgundy, and two varieties of white wines, Chablis and Sauternes, all healthful and innocuous beverages. The finest sparkling wine, champagne, also comes from France, and is not permitted (since 1910) to be shipped abroad under the name of °cham pagne') unless it was produced within the two topographical districts delimitated by the gov ernment — those of the Riviere, facing the river Marne, and those of the Montagne de Reims, which include a number of famous vine yards. The Italian soil and climate are ad mirably suited to viticulture; prodigious quan tities of grapes are produced with but little care or attention. Sparkling wines are made on the low hills of the Azti and Montferrat region, while dry red wines are largely pro duced in Tuscany. The island of Capri yields some excellent white wines; the white Muscat wines of Vesuvius and the red Lacrima Christi are grown in the Neapolitan district. Algeria produces some fine natural and wholesome wine, which is shipped principally to France. Hungary is famous for the celebrated Tokay wine, while Austria, Switzerland, the Balkan states, Greece, Turkey and many of the Mediter ranean islands boast extensive vineyards. Spain is noted for its sherry and Tarragona. The
three principal classes of sherry are the Fino, a pale, delicate wine, the Amontillado and the Oloroso, a full dark wine. In Germany the vine can only flourish within a restricted area of the south and west. The °hocks" and "moselles" of Germany were used in England under the Saxon kings —a trade that existed till 1914. The famous port of Portugal enjoys a large export trade. Vermouth, of which there are two types, Italian and French, is a beverage with a basis of aromatized white wine. That of the Italians was written about by Cicero; it is made from a matured muscatel wine, sweetened with sugar and tinctured with a variety of herbs. The French variety differs on account of its basis being very "dry" white wine. Algeria has become a valuable vineyard within the last 40 years, and produces a whole some, natural wine which is largely sent to France for local consumption. Wine has been made in South Africa since the introduction of the vine into the Cape in 1653. The best Cape wine is Constantia, made at the government wine farms near Cape Town. Other brands are produced and exported. The famous Malmsey wine of old came from Crete between 1204 and 1645 while the Venetians held the island. After its conquest by the Turks in 1669 the export ceased, and the somewhat similar wines of Greece, Cyprus and other eastern Mediter ranean islands were sold in England as Malm sey. During the 18th and 19th centuries, how ever, the wine that bore the closest resemblance to the original was raised in Madeira, whither the true Malmsey grape of Candia had been introduced by the Infante Dom Henrique some three centuries before. Sicily is famous for the generous wines of Marsala, a fortified white wine, vatted and blended in much the same way as sherry. The two firms which control that industry were founded by two Englishmen. Despite handicaps of soil and climate, Australia has grown into a considerable wine-producing territory.