Brandy Now Made in France.
It appears from a report just furnished to the Academy of Science by M. Girard, the chief of the Paris municipal laboratory, that the production of genuine brandy has almost ceased in France. During the decade 1840-1850, the quantity of alcohol annually distilled in the country averaged some 25,000,000 gallons, seven-eighths of which were obtained from wine. In 1883, though the quantity of spirits manufactured had more than doubled, not quite 500,000 gallons were the distilled juice of the grape. Most of the alcohol now produced is made from grain, but a certain proportion of it is obtained from the distillation of cider and perry; and even beet-root, molasses, and potatoes are made to furnish a spirit, though of a very inferior kind.