On the American continents vineyards flour ish and vines are grown in the United States, both east and west of the Rockies, in Canada, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Uru guay and Bolivia. The early Spanish mission aries who settled in California found the wild vine growing in profusion, and devoted much time and labor to the cultivation both of the native species and the cuttings which they from time to time imported from European stocks. Owing to the attraction of the gold mines viticulture received but scant attention until 1875, when a viticultural commission was appointed for the purpose of encouraging the wine-making industry of that country. A State board of viticulture was created in 1880 to carry on the development. In 1887 the out put of Californian wine was 4,000.000 gallons; 16 years from the creation of the board it had risen to 18,000,000 gallons, while the average for the five years 1908-12 was 43,500,000 gal lons of wine and 2,200,000 gallons of brandy. Before the war nearly 800,000 acres of vine yards existed in the Crimea, the Caucasus and Bessarabia, which produced an average of over 77,000,000 gallons of wine per year. The statis tics for the production of wines in 1914 were thus stated by the French trade journal, Motu teur Vinicole (gallons) : In the third year of the European War the French government requisitioned for mili tary consumption 200,000,000 gallons of wine of the 1917 vintage, representing one-fifth of the total production, and also 40,000,000 gal lons from her Algerian colony. Storage arrangements were made to receive this enor mous quantity of wine, which represented a value of $100,000,000. So essential was the regular supply of pure wine considered for the well-being of the troops that similar excep tional precautions were taken to safeguard the wine crop in Italy, not only for soldiers serving at the front, but also for the sick and wounded in hospitals.
In the United States, the annual product of wine was valued at $13,120,846, but deducting the cost of the grapes and materials used in the process of manufacture, the value was only $6,495,313.
Brandy is the spirit obtained by the distilla tion of wine. It was known in Europe in the Ilth century, though its use did not become general till the 16th century. All brandies should be grape spirits; there are many differ ent types and qualities, though none of greater excellence than those of Cognac, the name of a small town on the river Charente in France. The only brandy entitled to the name of Cognac is that distilled from the wines grown within a limited district known as the Region Delim itie. A good type of brandy, known as Armag nac, is made in the department of Gers; and large quantities are distilled in the south of France, in Spain and every part where the wine industry flourishes.
Rum, in the olden days, used to be distilled from the juice of the sugar-cane, and atafia') was the name given in the sugar-cane growing districts to the spirit distilled from molasses. The quantity of real rum which is now dis tilled as of old is almost negligible, and the spirit sold as rum is in practically all cases what is known in the West Indies as tafia.
Gin is a spirit distilled from grain and recti fied or redistilled with juniper berries, and is one of the purest spirits made. Holland pro duces and consumes more gin than any other country; England ranks second.
Absinthe, or wormwood, has long been known as a medicinal plant of value in cases of fever, but it was only at the end of the 18th century that it was first used at Couvet, in Switzerland, for the preparation of a spirituous liqueur. As usually sold it is a spirit contain ing as much as 72 per cent of alcohol, though some varieties contain only 57 per cent. On account of the deadly ravages it caused among those addicted to it, absinthe is prohibited in Switzerland and France.
Medicated wines are mixtures, consisting usually of port or Tarragona, to which various extracts of meat or malt and many other sub stances, such as iron, pepsin, cocaine, etc., have been added. Their indiscriminate use is to be deprecated, as they correspond to no formula, and the patient who takes them may be ex posed to the peril of becoming the unconscious victim of alcoholism, and, in the case of coca wines, of the cocaine habit as well.
Whisky, variously described as a °universal beverage" and a °universal curse,* was prac tically unknown outside the Celtic races until quite recent times. How and by whom it was invented or discovered is unknown, though it is more than probable that the art of distillation was discovered and rediscovered again and again in different parts of the world. A de scription of its manufacturing process is given under WHISKY (q.v.) ; see also ALE AND BtEER.
Distilled and Malt The dis tilled liquor industry of the United States is larger than that of any other country, though it was exceeded by Russia before the ukase of 1915 doing away with vodka. The malt liquor industry of the United States is greater than that of either Germany or the United King dom. Taking both liquors together as one in dustry in the United States it ranks as the eighth in value of manufactured products. This method of measuring the liquor industry is mis leading, however, owing to high taxes paid on liquor, which swell the apparent volume of business, when counted in dollars. Measured by the number of employees and of wages paid, the combined liquor industries of the country would rank below the 13th industry. The malt liquor or brewing industry, which is capitalized at over $671,000,000, and has annual expenses of $300,000,000 a year (of which $62,000,000 is taxes), only pays wages of $41,000,000 a year; while the distilled liquor branch of the industry, with over $72,000,000 capital and annual ex penses of $200,000,000, pays over $150,000,000 tax, and only $3,000,000 in wages. The manu facture of beer became an active industry in the United States about 1840, being largely due to the energy of the German population.