Number of miles of railway, 1884, 950; with 300 miles under construction. Number of miles of telegraph lines, 2,920; number of miles of wire, 7,084; number of telegraph offices, 226. Number of postoffices, 931.
FRANCE.
A country of Europe, the fourth in size. Named from a Germanic tribe, the Franks, which invaded Gaul, A.D. 486. Area, including Corsica and adjacent islands, 204,177 square miles. Climate one of the finest in Europe. Average temperature ranges from 50° at Dunkirk to 62° at Toulon: that of Paris is 51°. Rainfall: at Paris, 22 inches; at Bordeaux, 30 inches.
France has a coast line of 320 miles; the continental boundary line is 962 miles. Largest river, the Loire. The Alps on the east, and the Pyrenees on the south, connect France with the most magnificent mountain systems of Europe. The French portion of the Alps has a length of 280 miles.
The republic is divided into 87 Departments, Salary of President, $120,000; length of term, 7 years. Paris, the capital and second city in Europe; pop., 2,239,928. Lyons, the second city in size, and centre of silk industry; pop., 376,613. Twenty-nine towns have a population of over 50,000; and 91, over 20,000.
Agricultural pop., census 1881, 18,249,209. Number of acres cultivated, 67,000,000. In 1883, 37,039,040 acres were in cereals, of which five-sevenths were wheat and oats; total production, 742,176,807 bu. Number of acres in orchards, 560,000; yearly production of cider, 220,000,000 gallons. Vineyards, 5,240,340 acres; annual average of wine product, 720,000,000 gals.; value, $225,000,000. Champagne vintage averages 20,000,000 bottles, 17,000,000 of which are exported; 1,204,145 acres under beet-root cultivation in 1883, yielding 32,230,312,000 lbs. of sugar.