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Transcriber’s Notes

  In this document, texts between _underscores_, =equal signs= and
  ~tildes~ represent texts printed in italics, in bold face and
  underlined texts, respectively.

  More Transcriber’s Notes may be found at the end of this text.




[Illustration: Muscat of Alexandria Raisin Grape, First Crop. One-half
Natural Size.]




  THE RAISIN INDUSTRY.

  A PRACTICAL TREATISE
  ON THE
  RAISIN GRAPES,
  THEIR HISTORY, CULTURE AND CURING.

  BY GUSTAV EISEN.

  SAN FRANCISCO:
  H. S. CROCKER & COMPANY, STATIONERS AND PRINTERS,
  1890.


  Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890, by
  GUSTAV EISEN,
  in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.




PREFACE.


Of late years the raisin industry has been prominently before the
horticulturists of California. Many people now make their living and
acquire wealth by the cultivation of the raisin grapes, and many are now
studying the methods of cultivation, pruning, curing and packing while
waiting for their vines to bear. The literature of the raisin industry
is a very scant one, and, with the exception of a few notices in works
of travel, or in treatises on general fruit culture, we find not a
single book in which this important and interesting industry is made the
special subject of study and discussion. A book on the raisin industry
may, therefore, be considered timely. I have endeavored to so write it
that it would contain something of interest to all those connected with
the growing and curing of the raisin grapes, to those who have already
succeeded in building up fame and fortune, as well as to those who have
just begun the cultivation of the vine, and who have as yet only
realized the pleasures, but not the profits, of the industry. The
historical part of the book will principally interest the former; for
the latter the practical part on cultivation, pruning, curing and
packing is intended.

As our climate and other conditions differ from those of any other
country in the world, so must our methods of cultivation and curing
differ from those practiced elsewhere. Foreign methods, while
interesting and, in some respects, of great importance to us, had to be
greatly modified and improved upon before our growers succeeded in
producing raisins equaling the best from the raisin districts of the Old
World. It has cost years of experimenting and study to attain success,
as well as much money and disappointment to many who had nothing to
guide them when they commenced.

These processes by which success was achieved can now become the
property of all, and a safe guide to even the most inexperienced
beginners. The methods advocated here are the result of practical
experience of the author, as well as of the most successful
raisin-growers of this State.

For the benefit of those of our readers who now study the raisin
industry at a distance, but whose steps may in the future be directed to
this Coast, a descriptive tour through the raisin districts of our State
has been added in order that they may see what our country is like,--the
country of the raisin and the fig; the country of almonds, olives,
oranges and prunes; the country where health, profit and enjoyment are
more than anywhere else derived from horticultural pursuits. It is for
these prospective readers, that the short biographical sketches of our
principal raisin-men are intended,--short records of the pioneers of the
raisin industry,--men who have broken the way which is now easy to
travel, and through whose experience and perseverance others are now
being benefited.

  GUSTAV EISEN.

  SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., OCTOBER, 1890.




TABLE OF CONTENTS.


                                                                   PAGE.
  HISTORICAL                                                           5

      Raisins                                                          5

      The Currant                                                      6

      Muscatels                                                        7

      Dehesa Raisins                                                   7

      Lexias or Lye-dipped Raisins                                     9

      Various Kinds of Raisins                                        10
      --Muscatels; Currants; Belvideres; Black Smyrnas; California
        Malagas; California Sun-dried Sultanas; Seedless Muscatels;
        Thompson Seedless; Dried Grapes; Lexias; California Dipped;
        Smyrnas; Faros; Huascos.


  RAISIN DISTRICTS                                                    10

    Foreign Districts                                                 10

      Raisins in Ancient Times                                        10

      Modern Raisin Districts                                         11

      The Malaga District                                             12
      --Extent and Age; Climate; Soil; location of the Vineyard;
        Varieties of Grapes; Characteristics of the Raisins; Yield
        of Grapes; Distances of the Vines; Pruning; Manuring and
        Fertilizing; Drying Floors or Sequeros; Drying and Curing;
        Packing; Labor.

      Valencia and Denia                                              15
      --Extent of the District; Soils and Appearance of the
        District; Climate; Irrigation; Quality of the Raisins;
        Planting and Care; Dipping and Scalding; Drying and Curing;
        Packing and Disposing of the Crop; Export and Production.

      Corinth and Currants                                            22
      --Historical and Geographical Notes; Characteristics and
        Quality; Soil and Irrigation; Preparation of the Land;
        Distances of the Currant Vines; Care of Cuttings; Planting
        and Grafting; Pruning the Vines; Care of the Vineyard;
        Ringing the Branches; Drying and Curing; Cost of Currant
        Vineyards in Greece; Consumption and Production.

      Smyrna Raisins                                                  30
      --Districts in Smyrna; Climate; Care of the Vines; Dipping,
        Drying and Curing; Production and Export; Cost of Vineyards
        in Smyrna; Other Varieties of Raisins.

      Italy and Italian Raisins                                       36
      --Lipari and Belvidere; Pantellaria; Calabria.

      Chile and Huasco Raisins                                        36
      --Characteristics; Location; Varieties; Soils; Climate;
        Irrigation; The Vineyard; Drying and Curing.

    California Raisin Districts                                       38

      A General Review                                                38
      --Early History; Later Planting; Acreage and Crops.

      Yolo and Solano                                                 40
      --Soil and Climate; The Vineyard; The Crop.

      Northern California                                             43
      --General Remarks; Placer County; Yuba County; Sutter County;
        Colusa County; Butte County; Tehama County; Shasta County.

      Fresno, Merced, Tulare and Kern                                 44
      --Extent and Location; Soils and Climate; Irrigation; The
        Vineyard; Pruning and Other Operations; The Crop.

      San Bernardino County                                           48
      --Location and Acreage; Climate; Irrigation; Soils; The
        Vineyard; The Crop; The Profits and Other Items.

      Orange County and Santa Ana                                     52
      --General Remarks; Location; Climate; Soils and Ripening; The
        Vineyard; The Crop and its Curing; Yield and Profits.

      San Diego and El Cajon                                          55
      --Location and Acreage; Climate and Rainfall; Soils; The Vines
        and the Vineyard; The Crop.

      Other Raisin Districts                                          59


  CLIMATIC CONDITIONS, SOILS, LOCATION AND IRRIGATION                 60

      Climatic Conditions Favorable and Unfavorable to the Raisin
      Industry                                                        60
      --Limits of the Raisin Districts; Dry Seasons, Spring and Fall
        Rains; Winter Rains; Frost in Spring and Winter; Summer
        Temperature; Winds, Injurious and Beneficial; Fogs and
        Moisture in the Air; Ideal Conditions of Climate.

      Soils                                                           67
      --General Remarks; Malaga; Valencia and Denia; Smyrna; Zante;
        Chile; Fresno; Other Soils in San Joaquin Valley; Orange
        County; Redlands and Riverside; El Cajon; Subsoils; Hardpan
        Soils; Comparative Value of Soils; Alkali Soils;
        Fertilizing.

      Irrigation                                                      77
      --Introductory Notes; the Necessity of Irrigating the Raisin
        Vines; Health and Longevity  of Irrigated Vines; The Bearing
        Quality of Irrigated Vines; Quality of Irrigated Grapes;
        Various Methods of Irrigation; Irrigation by Flooding;
        Irrigation by Furrowing; Subirrigation; Seepage; Drainage;
        The Influence of Irrigation on the Soil.

      The Raisin Grapes                                               87
      --Introductory Notes; Muscatel or Gordo Blanco; Muscat of
        Alexandria; Huasco Muscat; Other Varieties of Muscat;
        Seedless Sultana; Black Currant; Other Varieties of
        Currants; Thompson Seedless; Other Seedless Grapes; Malaga;
        Feher Szagos; Other Raisin Grapes.


  DISEASES AND INSECT PESTS                                           93

      Powdery Mildew or Uncinula                                      93
      --General Notes; Characteristics; History and Distribution;
        Remedies.

      Downy Mildew or Peronospora                                     95
      --General Notes.

      The Vine Plague                                                 96
      --Characteristics; Nature and Cause; Damages; Remedies.

      Leaf-hopper                                                     98
      --Characteristics; Damages; Distribution; Remedies.

      Red Spider                                                     100
      --Characteristics; Remedies.

      Caterpillars                                                   100
      --Characteristics; Damages; Remedies.

      Black-knot                                                     102
      --Characteristics; Remedies.

      Grasshoppers                                                   102
      --General Notes; Remedies.


  THE RAISIN VINEYARD                                                104

      Planting                                                       104
      --Distances for Muscat Vines; the Marking Out of a Vineyard;
        Relative Value of Cuttings and Rooted Vines; The Making of
        Cuttings; The Care of Cuttings; Planting Cuttings; Care of
        Young Cuttings; Transporting Cuttings to Distant Parts;
        Rooting Cuttings; Care of Rooted Cuttings; Planting Rooted
        Vines; Proper Time for Planting; Cost of Cuttings and Rooted
        Vines; Winter Plowing; Plowing Devices; Cultivation; Back-
        furrowing; Cross-plowing; Weed-cutters; Cutter-sled; Hoeing;
        Time for Cultivation.

      Grafting the Muscat on Other Stocks                            117
      --Time for Grafting Raisin-vines; Points to be Observed in
        Grafting; Various Methods of Grafting; Stocks and their
        Influence.

      Various Summer Work                                            121
      --Sulphuring; Tying Over; Covering the Vines; Thinning the
        Crop; Ringing the Vines; The Vineyard Labors of the Year.

      Pruning                                                        124
      --Winter Pruning or Pruning Hard Wood; Bleeding of the Vines;
        Summer Pruning or Pruning Green Wood; Root-pruning;
        Suckering.

      Various Vineyard Tools                                         130
      --General Notes; The Sheep’s-foot; The Planting-bar; The
        Dibble; Planting Chains; Spades; Hoes; Plows; Cultivators;
        Randel Disc Cultivators; The Ash-trough; Sulphuring Cans and
        Bellows; The Cutter-sled; Vineyard Trucks; Shears.


  DRYING AND CURING                                                  133

      California Sun-dried Raisins                                   133
      --Notes; Time of Ripening; Signs of Maturity; Picking;
        Cleaning; Drying on Trays; Turning; Reversing; Slanting the
        Trays; Elevating the Trays; Stacking Against Rain and Dew;
        Taking Up; Covering; Drying-floors; Dryers; Sweatboxes;
        Trays for Drying.

      California Lye-dipped Raisins                                  149
      --General Notes; Dipping Process; Drying and Curing; Stemming,
        Grading and Packing.


  THE PACKING-HOUSE                                                  153

      Buildings and Mechanical Appliances                            153
      --The Packing-house; The Stemmer and Grader; The Sweating-
        house; The Presses; Boxes and Cartoons; Packing Frames and
        Packing Trays; Facing-plate; Scales; Labeling Press; Tables;
        Bags and Bagholders; Trucks; Trays for Weighing; Followers;
        Paper; Tin Boxes.

      Loose Raisins                                                  158
      --Stemming and Assorting; Packing and Cleaning; Sacking;
        Facing, Top-up Method; Facing, Top-down Method; Comparative
        Value of the Two Methods.

      Layer Raisins                                                  162
      --Sweating and Equalizing; Packing Layers, Top-up Method;
        Packing Layers, Top-down Method; Filling; Nailing and
        Trimming; Labels.


  STATISTICS OF IMPORTATION, PRODUCTION AND PRICES                   169
      --Production of Raisins in California from 1873 to 1889;
        Number of Acres in Raisin Grapes in California in 1890;
        California and Malaga Prices, Importation, etc., from 1871
        to 1889; Exports of Malaga Raisins from 1864 to 1889;
        Exports of Valencia Raisins from 1850 to 1889; First Cost of
        Crop of Valencia Raisins; Production and Distribution of
        Smyrna Raisins from 1844 to 1884; World’s Raisin Production
        in 1890; Importation of Raisins, Currants and Figs into the
        United States from 1873 to 1878; Importation of Raisins,
        Currants and Figs into the United States from 1879 to 1888;
        Consumption of Currants and Raisins per Head of Total
        Population in 1884; Prices Ruling in the California Raisin
        Districts.


  THROUGH THE CALIFORNIA RAISIN DISTRICTS                            181

      Through San Joaquin Valley to Fresno                           181

      From Los Angeles to Santa Ana                                  189

      From Santa Ana to San Diego                                    192

      El Cajon                                                       195

      Riverside                                                      199

      Redlands                                                       202

      An Hour in a Packing-house                                     205


  RAISIN-GROWERS AND THEIR VINEYARDS                                 208
      --G. G. Briggs; R. B. Blowers; Robert McPherson; T. C. White;
        Miss M. F. Austin; Joseph T. Goodman; A. B. Butler; William
        Forsyth; A. D. Barling; San Joaquin Valley Raisin Packers of
        1889.


  LITERATURE                                                         215
      --Introductory; List of Books of Reference.


  GENERAL INDEX                                                      219




THE RAISIN INDUSTRY.

A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE RAISIN GRAPES, THEIR HISTORY, CULTURE AND
CURING, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CALIFORNIA, BY GUSTAV EISEN.

_Copyrighted._




HISTORICAL.


RAISINS.

The word “_raisin_” as spelled and pronounced to-day, is not of very
ancient origin, but rather a corruption and evolution of older words,
both spelled and pronounced differently. Thus Falstaff replies to Prince
Hal: “If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man
a reason upon compulsion” (Henry IV, Act II, scene 4). Also, Cooper, in
his dictionary of 1685, indicates that “_raisin_” and “_reason_” are of
identical sounds. The derivation of the word has, again, been very
variously suggested either from “red” or “rose” color, connecting it
with the German and Danish word “_rosine_;” and it has even been
suggested that the word was derived from the fact that the raisins were
cured in the “rays” of the sun. The true derivation, however, is from
the Latin word “_racemus_,” meaning a bunch or cluster. Richardson, who
first points out this derivation, quotes: “Whether a reisyn (E. V.
graap, _racemus_) of Effraym is not better than the vindages of Abiezer”
(Wicliffe Judges VIIJ, 2). “And there shall be left in it as a rasyn”
(E. V., braunches of a cluster). Marginal note, “A rasyn is a lytil bow
with a lytil fruit” (Idem. Is., XVIJ., 6). But we have much older
testimony of this derivation being the correct one. An old document
states that, in 1265 A. D., the Countess of Leicester paid in London
twelve shillings for fourteen pounds, or, as the statement reads in
Latin, “_Pro uno fraello racemorum_;” which, translated, would be, “for
one frail of bunches.” The evolution of the Latin word _racemus_ was
thus seen to have been accomplished rapidly enough; but, on account of
the illiteracy of the olden times, it was spelled and pronounced
promiscuously. Thus we meet with such spellings as “_reysyns_,” in 1266;
“_reysons_,” in 1447 (“Russell’s Book of Nurture”). In 1554 the
_Stationers’ Company_ in London paid twopence for one pound of “_greate
reasons_;” while Andrew Borde, in his “Dietary” of 1542, says that
“_great raysens be nutrytyve, specyally yf the stones be pulled out_.”
In 1578 Dodoens speaks of dried raysens. In 1685 the word “raisin” is
used and spelled as in our days, and from that time on the different
spellings were used, if not promiscuously, still without any great
uniformity. The term of “greate raysens” was introduced to distinguish
them from the smaller raisins, or currants. In our own days, the latter
is seldom classed or alluded to as a “raisin” proper, although it,
strictly speaking, should be considered as such. The tendency at present
in California is to make the distinction between “raisins” and “dried
grapes,” meaning by the former certain varieties of grapes which have
been skillfully dried and cured, and which are superior in taste,
flavor, thinness of skin and saccharine matter. “Dried grapes,” again,
are simply any kind of grape, especially wine-grapes, which have only
been dried, and which have not undergone that skillful treatment which
the grape-grower is so proud of, and justly enough designates as
“curing.” They are an outgrowth from the late efforts of the French wine
merchants to make genuine French wine out of anything that is sweet, and
as they are immensely preferable to beets, potatoes and glucose, they
will always be in demand.

With the above definition of the “raisin” accepted, we can proceed to
consider their different varieties, their names and derivations. The old
designations of the different varieties were derived from the places
where they were produced, without special reference to the grapes from
which the raisins were made. Thus we had Malagas, Currants, Valencias,
Denias, Turkish and Italian raisins. But since it has been found that
the same kinds of raisins have been produced in very different
localities, and that some localities can produce all the different
kinds, a new division has been found necessary. Thus, disregarding the
many various brands with which this and other markets are flooded, the
following different varieties of raisins will be found the principal
ones: _Currants_, _Muscatels_, _Dipped_ and _Sultana_.


THE CURRANT.

The _currant_ is one of the very oldest raisins known. As early as 75 A.
D. Pliny speaks of the fine grapes grown in Greece, the berry being
thin-skinned, juicy and sweet, and the bunch being exceedingly small.
This, then, must be the currant of later times. After this first mention
of this grape, the same drops out of history for ten centuries, and the
name currant is first to be identified with raisins de Corauntz, or
rather, “reysyns de _Corauntzs_” as late as 1334. As early as the
eleventh century, a lively traffic in this kind of raisins had taken
place between the Greek producers, the _Venetians_ and other of the
Mediterranean merchant nations. In 1334 we find them called “corauntz;”
in 1435, “corent;” and old MS. of the Grocers’ Company in London, speaks
of “x butts and vi roundelletts of resins of Corent.” Thus spelled, the
name was used for years. In 1463 “reysonys of Corawnce” were three pence
per pound, and in 1512 the Duke of Northumberland paid two pence per
pound for rasyns of Corens. In 1554 the name had changed to currans, and
the Stationers’ Company provided for a banquet “5 punde of currans at
one shilling and eight pence.” In 1558 the same company provided for “6
punde of currance for 2 shillings.” In 1578 we find in Lytes’
translation of Dodoens’s “Herbal,” in the description of different
varieties of vines, that “Small raysens, commonly called Corantes, but
more rightly raysens of Corinthe. The fruit is called in the shoppes of
the countrie,[1] passulae de Corinthe; in French, raisins de Corinthe;
in base Almaigne (Dutch) Corinthea; in English, Currantes, and small
raysens of Corynthe.” Here, then, is indicated for the first time that
the true and correct name should be “raisins of Corinth.” But we need
not follow this evolution any longer; there can be no possible doubt
that the name _currant_, the one now accepted for this class of raisins,
is derived from the town of Corinth, on the mainland of Greece,--the
Morea of our days, the Peloponnesus of the ancients. Until the time when
the Turks conquered Greece, the port of Corinth was the principal point
of export for this class of raisins, and while, after the subjection of
Greece this commerce entirely ceased, still this fruit always continued
to bear the name by which it first became known to commerce.

  [1] Holland, Dodoens was a learned Dutch botanist.


MUSCATELS.

The principal and most valued class of raisins are the Muscatels or
Muscats. They all derive their name from the Muscatel or Muscat grape,
from which these raisins are made. As to the origin of the name Muscat,
opinions differ. The most popular one is that the grape got its name
from the supposed musky flavor peculiar to this variety of grape. It is,
however, far more likely that the name is a very ancient one, and
derived from the Latin word _Musca_, meaning a fly,--these fine grapes
when drying being especially attractive to flies. The Romans called this
grape, “Uva Apiaria,” meaning bee grapes, or grapes beloved by bees,
from the fact that the bees are especially attracted to these grapes
when they are being dried. The Muscat or Muscatel would then not
originally designate a certain variety of grapes, but grapes used for
drying generally. In the course of time the name was transferred to or
especially given to the _best_ grape for drying purposes,--the Muscatel
of our own times.


DEHESA RAISINS.

The finest or at least the most expensive brand of raisins made is the
_Dehesa_ raisin of Malaga. They are produced from the Muscatel variety
and the name they bear has an interesting origin, giving us at the same
time an insight in the development of the agricultural and horticultural
resources of Spain. The word “Dehesa” is found by reference to a good
Spanish dictionary to mean pasture ground. The “Dehesa” raisins then are
pasture-ground raisins, or raisins grown on former pasture ground. The
way the raisins came to be given such a name is as follows. Between the
years 800 and the end of the fifteenth century, the fairest part of
Spain as well as Portugal was occupied by the Moors. Contrary to their
nature in other countries, they proved here extremely industrious, and
excelled both as merchants, artisans and agriculturists. The waters of
the streams were conducted to the land in aqueducts, dams were thrown
across the rivers, reservoirs were formed, and the whole of Southern
Spain became most highly cultivated, rich and prosperous. In fact, if
the historians are to be believed, and the yet remaining views of former
grandeur can be trusted, no country either in ancient or modern times
has ever in prosperity rivaled the ancient Moorish kingdoms of Granada
and Andalusia. In the thirteenth century the Christian knights and kings
of Central and Northern Spain succeeded in conquering the Moors, who
again were unmercifully expelled, massacred or enslaved, their cities
burned and razed, and the fertile and cultivated districts utterly
ruined. Vast tracts were depopulated and abandoned, and, nature taking
its course, wild grass, shrubbery and trees soon covered the former
highly cultivated plains. In the course of time these uncultivated lands
attracted the attention of the highland shepherds, who drove their herds
to them during the winters, again returning to the mountains at the
advent of the dry season.

By degrees the self-taken rights of the sheepmen became more widely
recognized, and, while the less valuable lands were taken possession of
by the poorer peasantry, these pasture lands were set apart for the
exclusive use of the sheep-owners. The pasture lands thus being free, it
was no wonder that the sheep industry flourished, and that the flocks
increased. The wool industry soon became one of the most important in
Spain. The flocks were principally owned by nobles and monks, and the
poor peasants, who constituted the only agricultural population, had
very little if any chance to oppose the ever greater encroachments of
the wandering flocks or their insolent owners. The Merinos, or moving
sheep, were wintered in the warm valleys of Andalusia, Murcia and
Estremadura, only to be again removed to the cooler mountains of Leon
and Castille at the advent of spring. What curse this would entail on
the agricultural population is easy to be seen. The sheep were moving in
bands of 10,000 each, and 700 to 800 such flocks were moved annually
twice through a country devoid of fences or inclosures of any kind.
Numerous disputes and constant bloody fights arose between farmers and
the shepherd, to settle which the “Council of the Mesta” was instituted.
In tyranny, this dreaded institution was only equaled by the famous
Inquisition, with which in birth and death it was almost
contemporaneous. In the year 1556 a code of laws was promulgated, and a
compromise was entered upon. But the tyranny of the shepherds, upheld
through their “Mesta,” was in no way diminished. The latter continually
extended its power, encroached upon new territory, appropriating
gradually the finest pastures of Spain, and finally obtained a monopoly
of the wool trade. Its tyranny became at last intolerable. The shepherds
of the Mesta were more dreaded than robbers and highwaymen in every
place through which they passed. Agriculture became almost impossible.
At last the “Mesta” was abolished by the Cortez in Cadiz in 1812, and a
few years afterwards the pastures or Dehesas were sold. One of the
finest Dehesas near Velez, Malaga, was planted to Muscatel grapes, and
through the combined fertility of the soil, and the abundance of
moisture, the vineyard proved a great success. So fine were the grapes
grown there that they attracted great attention; no such fine grapes had
ever been seen in Andalusia before. The merchants to whom the first
raisins were sold were much astonished, and wonderingly asked whence
they came. The reply, “from the Dehesa,” was from that time on applied
to the finest Muscatel grapes.


LEXIAS, OR LYE-DIPPED, AND OTHER RAISINS.

The third class of raisins are the _dipped_ raisins, so called from
being dipped in boiling lye before being dried and cured. The Spanish
name for these raisins is _Lexias_. The name _Lexia_ is, again, derived
from a more ancient word, the Latin _lixivium_, or _lixia_, meaning
_lye_. To-day the continental name for this class of raisin is _Lexias_,
when the more specific names of Denias and Valencias are not used. Here,
in America, we generally use these names, and whenever we speak of
Valencias and Denias we mean the dipped raisins of these districts. To
the above three classes of raisins we might appropriately add Sultanas
and Malagas. The Sultanas are made from the Sultana grape, a seedless
grape from Asia Minor, now grown in many Mediterranean countries, as
well as here in California. The Malagas, again, were originally the
Muscatels grown around Malaga, in Spain; but of late this name is being,
with considerable confusion, applied to a coarser raisin made in
California from a grape here called, for want of a better name, the
Malaga grape.

Among names which were formerly much used, but which have gone out of
use, was the Solis, or sun-dried raisins, especially the sun-dried
Muscatels of Malaga. As early as 1295 A. D., the Muscatels were
generally called thus: Raisins of the sun; Solis, or sun-dried, so as to
distinguish them from the inferior dipped, or Lexias. In our own time,
this name was nearly being revived, when a couple of years ago our
California _sun-dried_ raisins were spoken of in opposition to our
_machine-dried_ raisins, and when both classes had their earnest and
enthusiastic champions.

We cannot leave this chapter on names without referring to classes of
raisins receiving their names from certain localities. Of course, the
number of such names may be almost endless. It is, however, only of
interest to refer to the principal ones, such as have been known to
commerce in former days or are yet known. Thus, we designate as Malagas
any of the raisins grown and shipped from Malaga. The Smyrnas (formerly
Smirna) are those from Smyrna, in Asia Minor, both sun-dried and dipped
raisins; the Alicantes, dipped raisins, from Alicante, in Spain; the
Denias, dipped raisins from Denia, in Spain; the Valencias, dipped
raisins from Valencia (include Denias); the Lipari, raisins from the
Island of Lipari, near Sicily; the Belvideres, from the same island and
from the Island of Pantellaria; the Calabrian raisins, from Calabria, in
Italy; the Faro raisins, from the port of Faro, in Algarve, Portugal. We
have above already referred to the currants, from the town of Corinth
and the Grecian Islands, and the Malagas, from Malaga. The latter were
also known as “great raisins,” on account of their superior quality.
Among the latter we should, of course, count the California raisins;
but, unfortunately, our raisin-growers have not until quite recently
recognized the necessity of adopting names which should at once show the
locality where the raisins are produced. But we will return to this
further on.


VARIOUS KINDS OF RAISINS.

_a._ _Sun-dried_ raisins.

1. _Muscatels_, or Muscats, from Malaga or California. The former, also
known at various periods as “Solis,” or sun-dried, or “great raisins,”
on account of their very superior qualities.

2. _Currants_, raisins made of the small currant grape, originally from
Corinth.

3. _Belvideres_, raisins from Calabria, in Italy, and from the Islands
of Lipari and Pantellaria, near Sicily.

4. _Black Smyrna_, properly only a dried grape, not exported to this
country.

5. California _Malagas_, made from the Malaga grape.

6. California sun-dried _Sultanas_, made from the Sultana grapes in this
State. And, lastly,--

7. _Seedless Muscatels_, made in California, and being the smallest
Muscats separated from the larger seed-bearing berries.

8. _Thompson Seedless_, a new, very promising raisin now being produced
in this country from vines imported originally from Constantinople,
producing seedless grapes, slightly larger than the Sultanas.

9. _Dried grapes_ of any description, especially wine grapes, exported
from this and Mediterranean countries for wine-making to France, England
and the Eastern States.

_b._ _Dipped_ raisins.

10. _Lexias_, or Dipped Muscatels, from Denia, Valencia, Alicante, in
Spain.

11. California Dipped, especially second-crop Muscatels. Proper name not
yet established.

12. Smyrnas, which again may be either _Sultanas_, _Chesmes_ or
_Elemês_. The first from the Sultana grape, the two latter, the “red”
grapes, from Dipped Muscatels.

13. _Faros_, from Algarve, in Portugal, not known in this country.

_c._ _Dried in the shade._

14. _Huasco_ raisin, from Chile. To this list might be added many more
varieties of less importance.




RAISIN DISTRICTS.


_FOREIGN DISTRICTS._


RAISINS IN ANCIENT TIMES.

Previous to the production of raisins in California within the last
twenty years, the raisin industry of the world was entirely confined to
the Mediterranean district of Europe and Asia. At that period, however,
raisin grapes became more disseminated, and raisins were produced to
begin with in small quantities in widely distant countries, such as
Chile, Australia and California. By virtue of their climatic conditions,
the Mediterranean countries were the only parts of Europe where raisin
culture could be successfully carried on, though it is almost certain
that the original home of the raisin grapes must be looked for
elsewhere. In searching for the original habitat for the ancient
varieties of raisin grapes, we must look further east to ancient Persia,
or to the tablelands of Western Asia generally. In remotest antiquity,
grape culture was carried on there, and in the ancient records of
travelers in those countries we find mentioned dried and seedless
grapes. We can trace the origin of two varieties of raisin grapes to the
beginning of our era, which must then already have attained perfection.
As has been mentioned before, Pliny spoke of a small, sweet and
remarkable grape grown by the Greeks, evidently the “currant;” he also
mentions _Uva Zibebae_ and _Uva Alexandria_.

The Latins generally spoke of Uvae Apiariae or Uvae Muscae, our present
Muscatels or dried grapes generally. This carries us back fully nineteen
centuries. But we may well believe, even in want of records, that the
drying of grapes was practiced centuries before.


MODERN RAISIN DISTRICTS.

Leaving remote antiquity, it was only in the Mediterranean basin, and in
comparatively modern times, that the drying of grapes developed to an
important industry, and in more recent times yet that grapes were
exported to Northern Europe. While thus the industry is old, it was not
until the eleventh century, at the time of the Crusades, that it became
important. The returning knights brought with them taste for and
acquaintance with the products of the East. Northern Europe became the
consumers of raisins, regarding them as the greatest luxuries, only to
be afforded by the rich. It has been reserved for our time to make the
raisin a necessity even in humbler homes. The perfection to which the
raisin industry has attained is of modern origin not yet half a century
old.

The raisin districts of the world are not large, and while for centuries
every effort was made to extend the planting of raisin grapes and their
curing into raisins, few of these efforts have been crowned with
success. While raisin grapes may grow and be turned into raisins in
almost every part of the Mediterranean basin, experience has
demonstrated that it has only proved a paying business in comparatively
few localities. The reasons of this are not fully apparent; but they are
evidently dependent both upon climatic conditions and upon the
capability of the natives to learn and profit by the experiences of
others, and upon their enterprise in venturing upon a new industry. On
the other hand, it is not likely that, even with extensive experiments
and with the aid of large capital, the growing and curing of the raisin
grapes could be very extensively extended. The question there as well as
here is not one alone of agricultural consideration, but a financial
problem dependent upon the labor supply, the facilities for shipping,
climatic conditions during the curing season, etc. Such being the case,
all the more interest is attached to those localities and districts
where the raisin industry flourishes, and where there is every
probability that it will remain a success.


THE MALAGA DISTRICT.


_Extent and Age of the District._--Malaga has been known to export
raisins since 1295 A. D., but must have been a raisin-producing district
centuries before. The raisin cult, then, is no doubt of Phœnician
origin, and has been practiced in the same locality for two thousand
years or more. Under the Romans the raisin industry was continued, but
appears to have deteriorated and later on to have been abandoned
altogether, as the local tradition credits the Moors with having
re-introduced the raisin grape into Velez Malaga. The raisin district of
Malaga extends along the southern coast of Spain for a distance of sixty
or seventy miles. The district is subdivided into several other
districts. Thus, the subdistrict of Malaga proper occupies a plain
eighteen miles long by nine miles wide, in the northeast corner of which
is situated the town of Malaga.

The best part of the whole district is, however, found at Velez Malaga,
situated northeast of Malaga proper. It was here the raisin grape was
first planted by the Romans or Phœnicians, and it was here also the
devastating phylloxera first made its appearance. The raisin vineyards
extend here not over a _vega_ or plain, but occupy the fertile country
along the coast or the litoral towards Malaga proper.

Beyond Velez Malaga to Algaroba, the Muscatel grape is of inferior
quality, and is greatly superseded by the red Muscats, principally
exported to France.

Another district is _Marbella_, on the coast, and in the interior we
find _Ronda_ and _Albuñol_. Of the principal towns in these districts,
the population of Malaga is 120,000, that of Velez Malaga 24,000, of
Marbella 7,700, and of Ronda 19,000.


_Climate._--The climate of Malaga is the very mildest. Frost is almost
unknown, and is never heavy. The average temperature of Malaga during
the winter months of November to January is 56 degrees Fahrenheit, while
that of Pau in France is 41, and that of Nice 47. Malaga is well
sheltered on the north and east by mountains, but is open to the south.
It is the most equitable climate of Europe, although the winds are
sometimes trying. The summer is very tempered. The air is, however,
moist, and fog, while rare, is not entirely absent. Rain sometimes falls
during the growing season of the grapes, and quite frequently during the
drying season. But the fog is warm and not specially injurious to the
grapes, the latter often growing within reach of the spray on the
seashore.


_Soil._--The soil of the Malaga vineyards varies considerably, the best
being a reddish clayey loam with much sand and gravel. But we have also
other varieties of soil, such as the white ash, gray alluvial soils, and
the very sandy loam on the hills.


_Location of the Vineyards._--In former years, the vineyards were
principally located on the hillsides, only occasionally extending to the
level plains. Of late, however, the hillside vineyards have suffered
from the phylloxera and various other diseases, and many of them have
been dug up. The lowland vineyards are now the best, although even they
are, by far, not free from disease. Few of the vineyards are located on
entirely level ground, there being but little such in the district. The
nature of the country is rolling, with small valleys or flats. The
raisin grapes grow apparently well both inland and on the coast.
According to Consul Marston, about eighty per cent of the vineyards are
situated on rolling land, ten per cent on lowland and ten per cent on
the very coast. The vineyards on the coast are actually within reach of
the spray.

The vineyards are generally small, none being over eighty acres in
extent. Most contain, perhaps, from three to four acres each; while from
twenty to forty acres is considered a good-sized vineyard.


_Varieties of Grapes._--The principal variety used is the Gordo Blanco
or Muscatel. It is identical with the grape known by us under that name,
and which was imported to us from Malaga. But several types are found,
although none superior to the Gordo Blanco.


_Characteristics of the Raisins._--The Malaga raisins were, until
lately, the finest raisins in the world, and for the present have only
the California raisins to compete with. They are characterized by great
sweetness, deep bluish color, great size and by good keeping qualities.
The best raisins are those called Dehesas, being produced on the valley
lands of the districts.


_Yield of Grapes._--The yield of Malaga vineyards varies of course. The
best yield eight or nine tons of grapes to the acre,--just like those of
California. But there is a great difference between new and old
vineyards. In many vineyards where formerly the yield was nine tons, the
soil has been so exhausted by continuous croppings that to-day, even
with manuring, two or three tons of grapes must be considered a high
yield.


_Distances of the Vines._--The older vineyards had their vines set seven
feet by seven feet, but of late the vines are planted generally eight
feet by four feet, thus much closer than by us in California.


_Pruning._--The pruning of the vineyard is performed very much as in
California. Formerly the soil had to be removed from the vines before
they could be pruned; now this is not necessary except while the vines
are very young. The various branches are pruned back to a few inches,
with two eyes each, while the heads are elevated only a few inches above
the ground.


_Manuring and Fertilizing._--The Malaga vineyardist fully understands
the value of manuring his vineyards, and uses for this purpose not only
all fertilizers available at home, but also imports directly from
distant countries. The most valued fertilizers are the Mexican and
Chilean guanos or phosphates. The Mexican phosphate costs in Malaga
sixty-five dollars per ton; still it is used by all the principal
vineyardists, who know the value of fertilizers. In fact, concentrated
fertilizers are a necessity to the Malaga vineyards; without them they
could not be cropped. Even the most virgin soil is exhausted in ten
years’ time by constant croppings of raisin grapes; no paying crops
could be expected if fertilizers were not used yearly. This fertilizing
of the soil is, however, of recent origin, and fifty years ago was
almost unknown.

When home manures are used, it is placed in holes dug round the roots of
the vines, which, after exposure to the air for several months, are
again filled up at the advent of spring, generally in March, before the
vines start to bud.


_Drying-floors, or Sequeros._--The raisins, when picked, are dried on
so-called _sequeros_, or drying-floors, characteristic of the Malaga
district. These floors are of different sizes and lengths in different
vineyards, but everywhere constructed on the same general principles.
Where an incline or a hill is found, the floor may simply be built on
the slope, with no artificial elevation; but, where the ground is level,
the structure of the _sequero_ is different. The floor must always face
the south, and the back is raised to give the floor the proper slope.
The _sequero_ thus consists of four walls, the front one of which is
only a foot high, and the back wall from six to eight feet high. The
side walls slope between these, generally with an angle of forty-five
degrees. In length, these floors vary from forty to fifty feet,
according to the different ideas of the vineyardists. The whole interior
is filled with black gravel, and is tamped hard. These _sequeros_ are
divided in beds, fourteen feet or so wide, by tiles that are sunk, thus
forming walks of several feet in width, and which also serve for leading
off the rainwater. Around every little bed of this kind are small
upright tiles to prevent the rainwater entering from the walks. Finally,
in the center of the bed, is a long row of upright tiles, high enough to
support either boards, mats, or more generally canvas, in order that
they may shed the rain into the tile walks. The value of such floors is
evident. Being covered with canvas, etc., every night, the heat is
preserved, and every morning, when the sun rises, the grapes are yet
warm. The drying on such beds has never, in fact, been interrupted. The
drying-floors are also useful in case of too hot weather, when the
grapes can be properly sheltered with canvas and prevented from being
cooked; when finally dried, the covering, again, will serve to keep the
moisture from too quickly evaporating.


_Drying and Curing._--When the grapes are picked, the best vineyardists
separate the bunches immediately in three different grades. Each grade
is placed by itself on the gravelly drying-ground, and remains there to
dry. When half dried, they are taken bunch by bunch by a workman, who
picks out bad or overdried berries and rubbish, and in putting the bunch
back turns it over. In ten days the grapes are generally dried, provided
the weather has been favorable. Every night the canvas covering is slid
down over the _sequero_, and the grapes protected from dew and cold, or
rain. The drying is sometimes greatly hastened by the _Terral_ or hot
winds blowing from the plains of La Mancha, a wind very similar in its
effect to the desert wind of Riverside and Santa Ana, in California.


_Packing._--The raisins in Malaga are packed by the large growers
themselves, and every such grower packs almost to a man. The generally
accepted idea that a few packers living in Malaga pack all the raisins
is erroneous. This is not the case.[2] Nearly all packers there are also
growers owning their own vineyards. The raisins are all packed in
22-pound boxes or in quarters, etc., according to the demands of the
trade.

  [2] According to A. B. Butler.

The various raisin brands packed in Malaga are different according to
the different markets that are to be supplied. Thus for England we have:
Finest Dehesa, three crown; finest Dehesa, two crown; finest Dehesa, one
crown; Dehesa; Choice layers; London layers, three crown; London layers,
two crown; London layers, one crown.

For France again we have: 1 Imperiaux; 1 Royaux; Couches; Surchoix;
Choix; Ordinaire; Surcouches, etc.

The loose raisins or _Brena_ and the seedless or _Escombro_ generally go
to the continent or even to the United States. The old terms Garoon or
Sun are now never used.

For American markets we have: Imperial Dehesa; Royal finest Dehesa;
finest Dehesa; fine Dehesa; Dehesa; London layers, three crown; London
layers, two crown; London loose, one, two and three crown.

Boxes are generally made from fir imported from Portugal, at fifteen
cents each. Of late years, however, they are also received from Canada,
and cost only seven cents each.


_Labor._--The labor in Malaga is the most expensive in Spain, the best
laborer being paid forty cents per day, while in Denia the labor is
obtained for fifteen cents only; but it must be remembered that the
packing of the Malaga raisins is a much more particular work than the
packing of the dipped Denias.

The price paid for Malaga raisins at the packing-house is at an average
of seven cents per pound for the best, or from one to two cents more
than what is paid in California. The lower grades bring from two and a
half cents upwards.


VALENCIA AND DENIA.


_Extent of the Districts._--The Valencia raisins, or, as they are
called, the Lexias or Spanish dipped raisins, are produced in the
province of Valencia, situated on the east coast of Spain. The district
contains three sub-districts, the southern one, the Alicante district,
extending from Villa Joyosa in the north to Elche in the south. The
raisins of the Alicante district are inferior to those produced in the
other districts, both as regards quality and quantity. The most
northerly district is the Valencia district proper, extending from
Cullera in the south to Castellon in the north. North of the latter
place the Muscat grape does not come to perfection, and even within this
district comparatively few raisins are now produced as compared with a
few years ago. But the bulk of all the raisins produced in the province
are exported from Valencia city, and hence these raisins are known as
Valencias, while in reality they come principally from Denia.

The bulk of the Valencia raisins come from the central district, or the
Denia sub-district, comprising the land between Villa Joyosa in the
south and Cullera in the north, or about thirty miles on each side of
the town of Denia. Towards the interior the raisin district extends at
the most nine miles, but the average is less, so that the whole district
over which the Denia vineyards are spread includes only an area of 350
square miles, equal to ten townships of land, or about 224,000 acres. A
large part of this land is not cultivated, and consists of mountains and
waste places only suitable as watersheds. The town of Denia is the
principal town of the sub-district, and has now a population of about
2,600 people. It is situated about half way between Valencia in the
north and Alicante in the south, on the shore of the Mediterranean, in
about the latitude of Sacramento in California, or thirty-eight degrees,
fifty minutes north. Being one of the oldest towns in Spain, Denia was
first founded by the Phœnicians, who here established the worship of
Diana, from which word the name Denia is a corruption. The Phœnicians
also introduced the grapes, and possibly also the drying of raisins; but
the local tradition gives the honor of the latter industry to the Moors,
who are said to have brought with them the variety of grape known as the
Muscat of Alexandria. During a part of the year, Denia is the export
harbor for the raisins of the district. This is only possible in the
early part of the raisin season, as then only are the winds
favorable,--the so-called harbor being nothing but a roadstead. Later in
the season, when storms and rains set in, all the raisins are shipped to
Valencia by railroad, and from there exported by steamers and sailing
vessels.

Among other industries of the Denia district are the cultivation of
onions, the manufacture of cotton goods, its sardine fisheries, etc.,
all giving work to the vineyard workers during a time of the year when
there is nothing or but little to do in the vineyards and
packing-houses.

The raisins of Denia are not all of the same quality, but vary according
to the locality where grown. The whole district is dotted with small
villages, all producing raisins. The principal ones of these are,
besides Denia proper, Jabea, Jaraco, Jerrea, Oliva, Pedreguer, Jalon,
Gandia, Ondara, Vergel, etc. Of these, Denia proper produced in 1876
over 2,500 tons of raisins, Jabea 1,700 tons, Oliva 1,600 tons,
Pedreguer 1,000 tons, Retoria 900 tons, Jalon 850 tons, Ondara and
Benisa 800 tons each. But, besides these, there are some twenty odd more
villages or smaller raisin centers, which produce from 200 to 700 tons
each, or an aggregate of 20,000 tons of raisins.


_Soils and Appearance of the Districts._--The soils of the province of
Valencia, where the vineyards are situated, are of various kinds, such
as cretaceous and calcareous soils, containing admixtures of clay, sand
and gravel. The color is often red, changing to gray where irrigation
has been practiced, but much of the soil is of an ashy white color,
similar to that of bottom lands generally. In many of the lower situated
plains, the soils are blackish or dark gray, especially so where stable
or other manures have been used for years.

Many vineyards are situated on the hillsides or on the rolling lands,
where the gravelly soils produce raisins of smaller size and in less
quantity, but sweeter and finer flavored. But the largest bulk of the
vineyards are on comparatively level land, which can be and which is
irrigated. The raisins produced on these low grounds in the moist and
cool valleys are larger, but not of equal flavor and sweetness. In wet
seasons, the hillsides are preferred, the valley lands then being too
wet and cold. Accordingly, as the seasons are wet and cold, or dry and
warm, the various localities produce raisins of different qualities,
which again are valued and paid for differently. The extent of the
valley or plain lands decides the extent of the raisin districts, and of
late years the rolling vineyards have decreased in quantity, while those
on the plains have increased, until at the present time almost all the
plain lands are occupied with raisin vineyards, especially in the Denia
sub-district.


_Climate._--The climate of Denia and its surroundings is rather cold and
windy; damaging spring frosts, as well as early fall rains, frequently
interfere with the setting of the grapes and with the harvesting of the
crop; it has even happened several times that the entire crop has been
seriously injured by one of these, or by both causes combined. Farther
north, or in the Valencia district proper, the climate is milder, and
frost is rare. Oranges are here at home, while the culture of raisin
grapes becomes less every year. North of Castellon the climatic
conditions are such that no raisin culture is possible.

As compared with the climate of Malaga, that of Denia is much less
favorable to the raisin grape. The production of sun-dried and undipped
raisins in Denia is not possible, and, although it has been attempted
several times, it has seldom succeeded. The rainfall of Denia averages
twelve inches per year. The rainiest months are those of November,
February and April, but the heaviest rainfall at one time occurs quite
frequently in the first week of September, while light showers are not
uncommon in August, at that time doing much damage to the grapes or the
just exposed raisins.


_Irrigation._--Not only is irrigation necessary to grow the vines
successfully and to produce an abundance of grapes, but the irrigation
in the province of Valencia is necessary to the health and longevity of
the vines. Nowhere else in Spain is the water so abundant, and no saving
of the water is necessary in the majority of the districts. Through an
abundance of water, the soil on the lowlands has now filled up to such
an extent, that in the best vineyards the surface water is only from
five to eight feet from the surface of the ground. Those vines which
could not be irrigated have gradually become diseased, and the hillside
vineyards are being rapidly abandoned and devoted to something else.
Upon the abundance and constancy of the water depends the prosperity of
the whole province, and there is hardly a more prosperous country in
Spain. To show the close connection between irrigation and raisin
production in Spain, it will no doubt interest many to know something of
the irrigation system and the irrigation districts of the province of
Valencia, than which no more important ones are found in Spain.

The district of Alicante is supplied with water from the river Monegre,
and the Elche district from the river Minalapo. In the northern part of
the province is the Murviado irrigation district, taking its water from
the river Palencia. The Jucar irrigation district, situated immediately
south of the _huerta_ of Valencia, takes its water from the Jucar
river, distributing 850 cubic feet of water per second upon some 50,000
acres of land.

The Valencia irrigation district consists of 26,350 acres of land close
to the town of Valencia, and is watered by the river Guadalaviar, or, as
it is generally called, the Turia. The water is distributed through
eight canals, each carrying from 35 to 120 cubic feet of water per
second, the combined low-water discharge of all the canals being from
250 to 350 cubic feet of water per second. Of the importance of
irrigation in this district, we can judge when we learn that the above
26,350 acres contain 72,000 inhabitants and sixty-two villages, or an
average of 1,774 people per square mile, not including the city of
Valencia itself, with a population of 120,000 people. It is also
remarkable that this enormous population on a territory not as large as
the arable land surrounding any one of our principal inland towns in
California, is not alone due to the irrigation and care of the land, but
to the minute subdivision of the land, which makes this culture and
irrigation possible. It is a practical illustration of the value of the
colony system as inaugurated in California, showing what we can expect
of our inland plains when they become fully irrigated and the land
properly subdivided.


_Quality of the Raisins._--It has already been stated that the grapes
grown in Denia are the Muscat of Alexandria, which were introduced there
by the Moors. Farther south, in the Alicante district, other varieties
are more common, but play no important part in the raisin production of
the district. The Valencia raisins are inferior to those of Malaga, the
want of heat requiring them to be dipped in lye before drying. This,
again, gives these raisins a peculiar reddish, semi-transparent color,
which unfits them for table raisins. The Valencia raisins are
principally used for cooking; even the best grades of Valencias are
inferior to the inferior grades of Malaga raisins. During the last
season (1889) large quantities of Denia grapes were cured on the Malaga
style, and with great success. Large quantities of such sun-dried Denias
were sent in bulk to Malaga, and there repacked for export to the United
States, the Malaga crop having so diminished that the usual demand could
not be supplied. Years in which such sun-drying is possible in Denia are
rare.


_Planting and Care._--The Muscat cuttings are planted generally in
February. The best cuttings are considered to be those taken from vines
at least six years old. The cuttings are set at various distances
according to the richness of the soil. The richer the soil the less room
is given the vines. Thus the vines are set either five by eleven feet or
five by twelve feet, or, in other words, they are set in rows eleven or
twelve feet apart, with the vines five feet apart in the row. The depth
of the cutting is regulated by the moisture of the surface soil, but
averages eighteen inches. The vines begin to bud in the middle of March,
and are from the start subject to great care and constant cultivation.
The first operation after the cutting is planted is to cut off the top
bud as soon as the vine starts to grow, leaving the two shoots only from
the two lower buds. No more shoots are allowed to grow the first year.
Next winter the smaller of these two branches is cut off completely and
the remaining branch is pruned back to two eyes. In the second year the
young shoots from the vine are allowed to grow to ten inches or so long,
when all are cut away except two of the strongest. Next winter again
these are pruned so to leave only two eyes on each, or four buds on the
whole vine. In the succeeding years the branches are gradually increased
in number, but always pruned back to two eyes. After the vine is five
years old, it is seldom increased as to branches; it is then always
pruned back to the same number of spurs. It can be said that the Denia
growers pay less attention to the quality of the raisins, and prune more
to attain quantity. They leave more spurs on their vines than do those
in Malaga, and in this respect resemble many of our own California
growers, who frequently leave from twelve to fifteen spurs on a vine.
The vines in Denia are also raised higher above the ground than in
Malaga, very much as we have been in the habit of pruning our own vines.
At the age of three years the vines come into bearing; but no fine
raisins are made until the vines are five or six years old.


_Dipping and Scalding._--The dipping process is one of the greatest
importance, and gives the peculiar characteristics to the Valencia or
Denia raisins. As a similar process will sometime or other be more
generally used in California, a more detailed description may prove
interesting to California growers. We can probably not do better than to
imitate them, although in mechanical appliances we will readily improve
upon their methods. The dipping is always done at the drying ground or
_secadero_. The larger part of the dipping apparatus, or the kettles,
are placed under the ground so as to save heat and fuel. A trench eight
or nine feet in length is dug to the depth of three or four feet. At one
end is built a chimney protruding three or four feet above the level of
the ground. In the other end of the trench is built a brick wall with an
opening for feeding the fire. Some trenches are lined inside with
bricks, making them more permanent and solid. On the top of this flue,
and on a level with the ground, are built the kettles or boilers,
containing not less than twenty gallons each. The boiler nearest the
fire entrance is destined to contain a solution of lye or ashes, the one
next to the chimney being for boiling water only.

The lye is made from the ashes of burnt vine cuttings, together with
lime and sometimes some salt, by men who have acquired the art from
years of experience, and who know by the appearance of the scalded
grapes whether the solution is too strong or too weak. If too weak, the
skins of the grapes will be insufficiently cut, which will delay the
drying of the grapes, and cause them to rot if the weather is damp and
foggy. If, again, the lye solution is too strong, the skin will be
destroyed and the berries seriously injured.

The grapes to be dipped should be perfectly ripe. If dipped before, they
will become inferior both as to color and taste. The perfect ripeness is
a most important point. The grapes are picked in baskets of about ten
pounds each, and carried to the scalder. The man nearest him on the
right fills a perforated ladle with about twenty pounds of the grapes.
The ladle is made either of wire netting or of tin or zinc, with large
perforated holes about three-eighths of an inch wide. There is a scalder
at each boiler. The first scalder dips the grapes in the scalding water
for a second, and immediately hands them to the second scalder, who dips
the same ladle in the boiling lye solution for not over two seconds. The
grapes are then carefully turned out on trays to dry.

The dipping first in scalding water is of the greatest importance, both
in washing off the dust of the grapes and in preparing them to receive
the alkali wash with more effect. Since the hot-water process was
introduced, the Valencia raisins have materially improved in quality.
The grapes are never rinsed in cold water after being dipped, and it is
more than likely that the lye prevents molding, as, according to A. B.
Butler, dipped raisins are sometimes exposed to the rain for three weeks
without being totally ruined. In California, our dipped and washed
raisins spoil quickly if exposed to rain. The object of dipping is, of
course, to slightly crack the skins so as to allow the water to readily
evaporate. Dipped raisins dry sometimes in five days, while undipped
raisins would require as many weeks. Efforts to produce sun-dried
raisins without dipping them have repeatedly been made in Denia; but
they are invariably spoiled by the rain, and lately two firms were
ruined in their attempts to dispense with the dipping process.


_Drying and Curing._--After the grapes have been properly dipped, the
drying proceeds very quickly. The grapes are immediately spread on cane
trays or _cañezos_, about six feet long by three or four feet wide.
These cane trays are made of the common Italian reed or _Arundo donax_,
which grows everywhere, even in California, and is here incorrectly
known as bamboo. The trays are made either of split or of entire canes
tied strongly together. These trays are placed flat on the ground, only
leaving enough space around each one to allow the workmen free access to
the tray on all sides. After having been exposed to the sun for three
days, the grapes are turned, in order to dry evenly on both sides. On
the fifth day, the raisins are turned again, and, if the weather has
been favorable, many of the raisins are then ready to pack. A day or two
after this, all the raisins are ready, and are collected and housed. If,
again, the weather has been unfavorable, the drying is very much
delayed. At the approach of rain, the mats or trays are taken up and
piled on the top of each other, under sheds previously made. Every
drying ground has stationary appliances for this purpose. These simply
consist of poles stuck in the ground, and extending five or six feet
above the same. Other cross-rafters or scantlings are nailed between the
poles, thus forming rows of roofless sheds eight or nine feet wide, of
greater or shorter length. Painted canvas, or simply mats or empty reed
trays, are used as covers, under which the raisin trays are piled. Under
and between each tray are placed five little cubes of wood, for the
purpose of lifting the tray and preventing it from pressing too heavily
on the grapes underneath.


_Packing and Disposing of the Crop._--When at last the raisins are
dried, they are either stored by the producer, or, as is more generally
the case, are taken to the merchant or packer who has supplied the
grower’s wants during the year in anticipation of the coming crop. There
are thus a number of special packers in Denia, who own large and
splendid packing-houses in which the crop is yearly handled. The grower
never packs himself, the enhanced value of the raisins not being
sufficient to warrant the trouble. One of the best and by far the
largest packing-houses in Denia is owned by J. D. Arquimbau. A more
perfectly equipped establishment is not found anywhere else.

[Illustration: Views from Col. Wm. Forsyth’s Raisin Vineyard, Near
Fresno: Residence, Lake, Raisin Dryer, Packing House.]

All of the packing is done by women, while the men do the carting of the
raisins from the vineyards to the packing-houses. During the balance of
the year, when there is no more work in the packing-houses, these very
men occupy themselves with the sardine fishery, while their wives then
dress the sardines and pack them in oil. They have thus work all the
year round,--an absolute necessity in a country where the wages are so
small, and where the poor man has no chance to save up a capital. The
wages paid for packing in Denia is only fifteen cents per day; while in
Malaga the same work commands from forty to sixty cents per day. In some
of the warehouses in Denia, from two to three hundred women are
employed, as well as a number of men. The boxes now used are halves of
twenty-eight pounds, or quarters of fourteen pounds each. The large or
whole boxes of fifty-six pounds each are no longer in use. The raisins
are all packed “off-stalk,” or, as we say, “loose.” Bunch or stem
raisins, or “on-stalk” raisins, are seldom seen. This great improvement
in packing is of recent origin, and is due entirely to the influence of
English merchants. Some thirty years ago, the raisin industry of
Valencia had so deteriorated, that it threatened to entirely cease. The
cause of the deterioration was principally the habit of the buyers to
pay for crops, not according to the quality of the raisins, but
according to the quantity. The small farmer with a few hundred pounds of
raisins carefully cured was paid less, or at least not any more, than
the man who had hundreds of tons carelessly cured. As a consequence, it
was to no one’s interest to take any particular pains in curing. The
raisins deteriorated; no care was paid to packing; anything, almost,
stalks, dirt and bruised berries were dumped in boxes together; brands,
trade-marks and labels were unknown. The whole business was apparently
going to ruin. The orders from England became less and less every year.
Those from America almost ceased. The “equality price” or “average
price,” which has been so much in vogue in California, actually ruined
the Valencia raisin industry. We ought to take a lesson from them, and
change this system in time, or we will be in the same bad fix as they
were.

The improvement in Valencia raisins was entirely due to the energetic
efforts of English gentlemen. Mr. George Graham, agent for an English
firm, established himself in Valencia, investigated the raisin business,
and, seeing the true cause of the ruin, set himself to work to remedy
the same. He introduced better methods in growing, curing and packing;
and through his efforts a better price was paid for a better grade of
raisins, and it was not long before the raisin business was on an
entirely different footing. The object of the grower was from that on,
not only to increase the quantity, but to increase the quality as well.
To begin with, the raisins were shipped off-stalk or loose; but the
boxes were not faced. Now the raisin boxes are all faced, and the
raisins are carefully selected and assorted. As a consequence, the Denia
trade has of late years increased enormously, until at present all the
land available has been planted to raisins. There is at present but
little or no first-class raisin land left in Denia, and it looks as if
the raisin production there could not be further expanded.


_Export and Production._--Although the raisin industry had long existed
in the province of Valencia, it was only in late years that it assumed
an importance. They were already known as _Duracinae_ by the Romans.
Re-introduced or improved by the Arabs or Moors, it soon became a
prominent industry, and the export of raisins to England was already of
some consequence in the time of William and Mary. In the year 1638,
Lewis Roberts, in his merchant map of commerce, informs us that Denia
raisins cost eighteen rials or three shillings per hundred weight. In
1664, Gandia raisins were quite famous, and were known as Pasas. At the
end of the last century, the raisins from Denia and Liria reached forty
thousand quintals, or two thousand tons, distributed as follows: Spain,
six thousand; France, six thousand; England, twenty-eight
thousand,--equal to one million, four hundred and thirty thousand boxes,
forty thousand quintals, or two thousand tons. In 1862, the raisin
export from Valencia had dwindled down to seven thousand tons. In 1876,
it had again risen to nineteen thousand tons, and in 1883 to forty
thousand tons. Of these, nine hundred and seventy-nine thousand boxes
were exported to the United States, one million, three hundred and
eighty-five thousand were sent to England, and four hundred and
thirty-six thousand found their way to other parts of Europe and Spain.
In 1888, the yield was two million, three hundred and sixteen thousand
boxes of twenty-eight pounds each, equal to thirty-two thousand, four
hundred and twenty-four tons. If packed in twenty-pound boxes, this crop
would have equaled three million, two hundred and forty thousand, four
hundred boxes, or four times as much as California produced at the same
time. The crop of 1889 is calculated to have reached two million, eight
hundred thousand boxes of twenty-eight pounds each.

When we remember that this class of raisins is as yet hardly produced in
California, and that the nine hundred and seventy-nine thousand boxes or
more imported could and should be supplied by us, it would seem that our
fears of overproduction will not immediately be realized. The tendency
of the raisin market is now to supplant these Valencia dipped raisins
with California undipped or sun-dried raisins, the California Sultanas
being considered superior for the same purpose that Valencias were
formerly used.


CORINTH AND CURRANTS.


_Historical and Geographical Notes._--The principal and only raisins of
any great commercial importance which are produced by Greece are the
currants. We have already spoken of their name, and its supposed origin
from the town of Corinth, and of their having been mentioned by Pliny in
the year 75 A. D. The currants must thus very early have been of
considerable importance as a commercial product, although the great
increase in their production is of more recent date. The crusades which
brought the nations of the North in contact with the Orient and the
South also spread the knowledge of the Grecian currants to the distant
parts of Europe. After the Latin conquest, currants became a commercial
article, and we have every reason to suppose that, as early as the
beginning of the thirteenth century, currants had reached the English
shores, and that in the middle of the fourteenth century the English
trade was fully established. Raysins of Corauntz were quoted in 1374 at
two pence and three farthings per pound, equivalent to one dollar and
twenty-five cents in our money at its present value. In 1513, the first
English consul was appointed at Chios, and from that time on a direct
traffic was maintained between the Grecian Islands and the North of
Europe. In 1582, Hakluyt writes that efforts had been made to introduce
the coren plant or vine into England, but that the same failed to fruit.
The first introduction of the Zante vine into England is supposed by
Anderson to have taken place in 1533. In the end of the sixteenth
century, the currant traders were in full intercourse with the Venetians
on the Island of Zante, and the Turks on the mainland or Morea. In 1581,
the Levant Company received a monopoly in the trade of the small fruits
called currants, being the raysins of Corinth. According to Wheler, who
traveled in the Ionian Islands in 1675, Zante produced enough currants
to charge five or six vessels, Cephalonia three or four, and Nathaligo,
Missolonghi and Patros one each. Some few were also brought down from
the Gulf of Lepanto.

As to the native home of the currants, opinions have considerably
differed. Some have supposed Zante or Naxos to have been the original
home of this grape; while others, with better reasons, have held that
their original home was Corinth. Beaujour, who was French consul in
Greece in 1790, says: “The fruit is not indigenous to Morea. No writer
before the sixteenth century mentions it, and the result of my inquiries
is that the currant came from Naxos into the Morea about 1580. It is
true no such plant now exists in Naxos, but it has similarly disappeared
from the territory of Corinth, though it is very certain it was
cultivated there in former days, when the Venetians held the country.”
This account does not agree with the statements of Comte Grasset St.
Sauveur, consul to the Ionian Islands from France in 1781. He states, in
his History of the Ionian Islands, that “the first plants were imported
from Corinth to Zante about two centuries ago” (or about 1580). There
are no exact records of the time or of the introducer; but the date is
fixed by the regulations of the Senate of Venice relating to custom
duties. It is likely this introduction took place not much before 1553,
and was caused by the hostility of the Turks, who then held Morea, to
the merchant vessels of the other nations of Europe, who in fact forbade
them any entrance to the Gulf of Corinth, the principal export place for
the currants. Thus John Locke, who in 1553 describes Zante, speaks of
other products of the island, but not of currants.

Hakluyt states that, in 1586, the chief commodities of the island were
“oyle and currants.” The latter, then, must have been introduced some
time in the middle of the sixteenth century. Lithgow, a Scotch traveler
who in 1609 visited the islands and published an account of the same in
1633, informs us that, besides oyle and wine, Zante produced one hundred
and sixty thousand chickens of currants, each chicken of gold being
equal to nine shillings of English money. And he adds that the custom
duties on those currants amounted to twenty-two thousand piasters (one
piaster is equivalent to six shillings), a sum of money which those
Islanders could not have afforded (they having been, not above sixty
years ago, but a base, beggarly people, and in an obscure place) if it
were not that in England there are some who cannot digest bread, etc.,
without these currants. This seems to imply that, since the introduction
of the currant culture in the Island of Zante about the year 1550, the
Zanteans had suddenly become comparatively wealthy. So suddenly had this
important industry spread, that in 1610, according to Sandys, the chief
export of both Zante and Cephalonia was currants. In 1612, Coryat says
that “Zante is famous for its wine, oile and currants.” Fynes Moryson,
in his “Itinerary” published in 1617, states that “the English merchant
vessels exported currants from Zante and Cephalonia, and from Petrasso
in the Gulfe of Corinth.” Tavernier says, in 1678, that, “Corinth
exports great quantities of currants. Patras does the same, which is all
the trade from those two places.” In 1682, Wheler states that “the ports
of Patros, Nathaligo and Missolonghi, all three together having enough
to lade only one good ship every year.” Randolph, in 1689, mentions that
currants were first planted on the plains of Corinth, and that the plain
about Vostizza produced corn, currants and wine. Of Zante, he says that
it produced two thousand tons of currants. Thus it will seem as if,
through the fostering care of the Venetians, the currant trade was
transplanted from the mainland of Morea to the Islands of Zante and
Cephalonia, there to become of almost national importance. Until the
Turks were expelled from Morea, the latter never made any serious
efforts to recover the lost trade. First in later times the culture of
currants has again spread on the mainland, especially on the northern
shore of the Gulf of Corinth, and to-day the combined production of the
Morean vineyards is largely in excess of that of the Ionian Islands.

In our times the currants are exported either from the mainland of
Greece, the Morea, the ancient Peloponnesus, or from the Grecian
Islands,--Cephalonia and Zante. In Morea, the principal ports for the
exportation of the currants are Patras and Vostizza, although other
ports export a few. Even the Islands of Ithaca and Santa Maura
contribute a few. Efforts have been made to extend the culture of the
currant vine, and introduce it to other islands, but not with any great
degree of success. This is entirely attributed to climatic conditions.


_Characteristics and Quality._--The currants are small, seedless raisins
produced from the currant grape, which again is characterized by small
clusters, which, when perfect, are very compact like the heads of Indian
corn or maize. The skin of the berries is thin, the pulp very sweet,
with a strong flavor and aroma. The raisins are similarly aromatic and
very sweet, sometimes semi-transparent, but generally dark violet. The
flavor of the raisins is entirely distinct from the Muscatel, and is
very superior to that of the also seedless Sultana raisins.


_Soil and Irrigation._--The soil best suited to the currant grape is a
calcareous marl, which must be of good depth, loose, and easily worked.
Such marls are also prized for their great power of retaining moisture.
But vineyards are planted in Cephalonia, Zante and Ithaca in the most
different soils and situations. They are found in gray marls, in red
clay, on the plains and among the hills, in fact, in the most widely
different situations. The soil of Zante contains a small percentage of
sulphate of lime or gypsum, which is by many considered indispensable
for the successful and profitable culture of the currant vine. The
currant vine thrives especially in low and rich land which can be
irrigated, and irrigation is quite essential to the perfect development
of the grapes. Many vineyards, however, are not irrigated, the
irrigation, of course, only being practicable on the plains. This
irrigation is practiced from October to the end of December, often while
the natural rainfall supplies the artificial watering. The lands are
generally small freeholdings, owned by the peasants. The most valuable
currant vineyards are situated on the rich and level valley lands.


_Preparation of the Land for Irrigation._--The preparation of the land
for a currant vineyard is expensive, as the land is hardly ever level
enough to admit of the vines being immediately planted. The surface is
therefore first leveled and divided up in smaller cheeks or flats, each
one surrounded by a bank. The whole is covered with a network of
ditches, which are necessary for the perfect irrigation of the soil.
Where there is water enough, the vineyards are irrigated in November and
December, and are then flooded as often as practicable, the water
sometimes standing on the ground for weeks in succession. In perfectly
arranged vineyards, the irrigation is so managed that the water flows
from one check to another, and is first shut off at the advent of the
New Year, when the pruning and cultivation begins. By this plentiful
irrigation, the ground becomes thoroughly soaked, and remains saturated
until the next season, when rain again sets in and fills the irrigation
canals. No summer irrigation is used in old vineyards, and in young
vineyards only in case of great necessity.


_Distances of the Currant Vines._--The vines are set at various
distances, in some places four feet each way, in others again six by
ten, giving a various number of from 740 to 2,622 to the acre. In some
places, the old practice of planting the vines in groups of four still
exists. Each group consists of four vines one and a half feet apart, and
each group distant six feet from each other either way. Of late,
however, the vines are planted farther apart, probably because the soil
is becoming exhausted, a favorite way being to have the vines closer one
way than the other.


_Care of Cuttings, Planting and Grafting._--Great importance is attached
to procuring cuttings from a distance, or in getting new strains.
Cuttings from the nearest vineyard are never used, as they are
considered to produce inferior vines, and not do as well. To procure
cuttings or vines, the old vines are sometimes cut a few inches below
the surface of the soil, causing the parent plant to throw off numerous
suckers or shoots, which the following winter are separated and used as
we do rooted vines here in California. Three or four years will elapse
before they come into regular bearing. Some vineyards are produced by
grafting the black currant on the wine grape, and many wine vineyards
that do not pay are thus transformed into paying raisin vineyards. The
grafted vines come into bearing much sooner than those grown from
cuttings. The grafting is performed in Zante as follows: The soil is dug
away from the main trunk of the old vine to the depth of from twelve to
eighteen inches, and the trunk cut off square at the bottom of the pit.
Two or three scions are then inserted in the trunk, and made to slightly
project above the ground, in no case with more than two or three eyes.
Clay is then applied to the joint of the graft, and the trunk slightly
covered with leaves, and the hole then filled up with soil. The grafting
is done in the spring, and the cuttings must be kept dormant in dark and
cool cellars.


_Pruning the Vines._--The pruning is done in the fall, just as soon as
the leaves have fallen, and is performed in two parts. In December, the
vines are cleaned of all small, weakly or dead branches, and at that
time only the large and strong branches are left. In February, the
regular cutting back commences, two or three eyes being left on every
spur. There are as many different ideas of pruning the vines in Greece
as there are in California, each one having his favorite methods and
theories as to what is proper and what is not. Some vineyardists prefer
to delay the second pruning until after the vines have started to bud
out, and, when the young shoots are two weeks old, the old wood is so
cut that the bleeding of the vine will not run down on the bud. Bleeding
is at any time considered injurious. The principal pruning is therefore
conducted in February, as being the time most suitable to the currant
grape and conducive to the best crops. Mr. Manoti, a very intelligent
Zanteote currant grower, told Dr. Davy (_Ionian Islands_, page 343) that
he had at one time experimented with pruning the currant vine at
different times of the year. Those pruned in December yielded very few
grapes, which were large; those pruned in April gave plenty, but very
small berries. Again, those pruned in February were in every way the
best. Mr. Manoti added that if he had told one of his neighbors of his
experiments they would have laughed at him, and said, “Whoever thinks of
pruning the uva passa (or currant) in December or April.” This shows how
much the growers are opposed to experimenting and improving upon the
methods which have been handed down to them from their forefathers. As
we have shown, the currant vines are all very closely pruned, very much
in the same way as our Muscats. Seldom more than three spurs are allowed
to remain, each one with two or three eyes. Summer pruning or topping
the branches is never practiced on the currant vines, but generally on
the wine grapes. On the contrary the currant branches are carefully
guarded, and in order that they may not break are tied to stakes from
four to five feet high.


_Care of the Vineyard._--After irrigation is over, the vineyards are dug
over. The soil is dug up around the vines and placed on top of the
ground in small heaps, which process is considered beneficial both to
the roots of the vines and to the soil. In April, this soil is all put
back, and the ground leveled. Each vine is staked. By the middle of
April, the vines are in leaf. By the middle of July, the first fruit is
ripe, and by the middle of August the harvest has everywhere begun. The
stakes for the vines are imported at a cost of $15 or $16 per thousand,
and constitute the most expensive item in the construction of a currant
vineyard.

The mildew or oidium, which some fifty years ago spread all over the
world, destroyed many of the vineyards before the sulphuring was
discovered as a sure remedy. Sulphuring the vines is now regularly
practiced in all the vineyards; but there is a popular belief that the
raisins are no longer of the same fine and pure flavor as they used to
be before the advent of the oidium and the sulphur.


_Ringing the Branches._--A process much used in the currant vineyards is
the ringing of the branches. At the time of blossoming, some of the main
branches are cut in such a way that a small ring of bark is separated
from the branch near its base. The sap which ascends in the interior of
the branch, but which returns by the bark, is thus prevented from
returning, and must remain in the branch. The effect is that a large
number of clusters are formed with berries both larger and sweeter than
those not thus treated. But the practice is not without its drawbacks.
In the dry lands of Cephalonia, where it was first introduced, it was
soon discovered that the ringed vines began to fail after two or three
years, and the method had to be modified or abandoned. In Morea, where
the soil is moister and richer, the ringing did not prove as dangerous,
and is yet practiced, though great care is taken that the same branch is
never girdled or ringed in two successive years. Only the strongest
vines are able to resist the exhausting effects of the process; the
weaker ones should never be forced to overproduce.

The exhalations of fig-trees and pomegranate bushes are considered most
beneficial to the currant grape, and the former are found everywhere
among the plantations, especially along roads and ditches.


_Drying and Curing._--The drying and curing of the currant grapes are
done on drying grounds. These are simply leveled places covered with
fresh cow dung, or cow dung first mixed with water into a paste. When
this paste is dried, it presents a smooth surface, firm but elastic, and
entirely free from smell. This kind of drying ground is considered the
best kind. Inferior drying grounds are simply made of the cleared soil.
The currants dried on the latter are always full of sand and dirt to an
alarming extent, and bring an inferior price in the market. The bunches
are turned several times until dry, when they are raked over with a
wooden rake or broom, by which process the stalks are separated from the
berries. The berries are now gathered, and the better qualities are
winnowed in machines like our fanning-mills. The next step is to sweat
the currants, which is simply done by piling them in air-tight rooms.
The currants are here put in large piles, which by sweating and pressure
become so hard and solid that, when removing the berries, a sharp spade
is used for digging. The vintage begins in July in Zante; Cephalonia
grapes ripen almost one week earlier.


_Cost of Currant Vineyards in Greece._--In the Grecian Islands and
Morea, the best vineyard land varies between $80 and $125 per acre for
unimproved land. To prepare the land for the vineyard and irrigation, it
will cost, in extreme cases, from $20 to $50 more. The first year’s
cultivation and care of the young vines is, of course, different
according to locality, but the average is seldom less than $50 per acre.
The value of already planted property or a vineyard in good bearing is
seldom less than $320 per acre, and often as high as $650 per
acre,--four stremmas. Strange enough, in calculating the cost of a
vineyard in Greece, no one ever takes into consideration the price of
the plantation or the capital invested. The interest on the same is
never considered by the natives. In this respect they resemble our own
farmers, who, in calculating the expenses of their farms, never take
into consideration the labor of themselves and family. Of course, it is
almost impossible to obtain exact calculations of profit. The following
will serve as a sample: An acre of vineyard planted to currants yields
3,200 pounds. The price obtained for the same is two cents per pound, or
$64. The labor for the year on one acre is estimated at $45, leaving a
yearly profit of $19 per acre. In reality, however, this is not a true
statement, as it does not consider the interest on the capital. If the
same should be added, it is evident that there would be but little or no
profit in the growing of currants. The industry simply enables the
peasant who pursues the work to live and support his family, and
possibly to pay his taxes. Only the very best land and the best
vineyards can pay enough to enable its owner to save up a capital,
generally a difficult thing in Greece for any one but a merchant or
government officer.

As a rule, the cost of producing one hundred pounds of currant raisins
is not less than $1.35. Whatever the merchant pays above this to the
producer will be for the benefit of the producer. But, as a rule, this
way of buying direct is not in use. The merchant sells on commission,
and what this means we who have had experience in the raisin business in
this State all know. We will see how a calculation of an acre of
currants will look, when all the expenses are taken into consideration:

  One acre of currants equals 3,200 pounds at three cents per
  pound                                                        $96.00
                                                               ------
  Expense on 3,200 pounds at $1.35                     $43.00
  Packing and hauling                                    7.50
  Freight, insurance, duty, etc.                        22.50
  Interest on capital invested                          15.00
  Merchant charges say                                   8.00
                                                       ------
                                                               $96.00

In this instance the poor currant raiser has had no other profit than
the five per cent interest on his capital invested; he has, in other
words, come out even. But figures, sometimes, are apt to lie. The
profit, no doubt, is small to the producer, but it must still be some.
He makes, no doubt, fair wages according to his own ideas, and as he has
paid for his capital in labor, and probably never handled a dollar of
the same, he considers himself comparatively well-to-do. But, as currant
vineyards sometimes sell, and sell high, too, it is simply unaccountable
that the interest is never taken into consideration in estimating the
profits of the grower. The currant industry is, I believe, the only one
in the world in which this is not done. I have thus extensively dwelt
upon the profits and expenses of this industry in its native country, on
account of the many attempts to introduce the growing of currants here
in California. The question with us is, will it pay. Our advantage is
that our currants would be protected; but still it is very doubtful if
currant plantations would ever pay enough to warrant us to engage in the
same. The price paid at present is too low, and, as long as Muscatels
bring a higher price, it will probably be the favorite grape with us.


_Consumption and Production._--The importation of currants to England
was, at the end of the last century, about 3,600 tons. In 1832 this had
risen to 7,135 tons, in 1864 to 37,151 tons, and in 1876 to 48,595 tons.
As regards the production of currants in Greece, the average yield from
1816 to 1826 was, for Cephalonia, 2,000 tons, for Zante 3,000 tons, and
for Morea 4,000 tons or over. From that time on the exportations from
Zante and Cephalonia increased, while the export of Morea decreased.
Thus, in 1833, Zante and Cephalonia exported about 11,000 tons, and
Morea only 2,000 tons, this principally on account of the Greek
revolution. In 1840, the three places exported 14,206 tons, which again
in 1849 had risen to 30,850 tons, in 1858 to 32,950 tons, in 1868 to
55,283 tons, and in 1876 to 86,104 tons. This large crop was exported as
follows: England, 60,263 tons; Germany, 1,475 tons; Holland, 4,847 tons;
Trieste, 3,241 tons; America, 11,225 tons; Belgium, 4,105 tons; Various,
948 tons.

Since that time the production of currants has increased greatly in
Greece, especially on the mainland, and now it reaches yearly from
126,000 to 130,000 tons. During the last four years the production has
been about as follows (according to L. C. Crowe in the _California
Fruit-grower_): 1884, 130,000 tons; 1885, 114,000 tons; 1886, 126,000
tons; 1887, 127,000 tons.

In 1886 this crop was produced in the following places:

  Gulf of Corinth                                    7,000 tons.
  Vostizza                                          10,000   “
  Patras                                            12,000   “
  Gastuni, Pergos, Olympia                          38,000   “
  Kyparissia, Figliatra, Gargaliano                 17,000   “
  Ligudista, Pylos, Modone and Corone                9,000   “
  Kalamata and Nisi                                 14,000   “
  Missolonghi, Ætolico, Lepanto                      2,500   “
  Nauplia and Argos                                    600   “
                                                   -------
  Total for Morea and Acarnania                    110,000   “
  Ionian Islands, Cephalonia, Ithaca, Santa Maura   10,500   “
  Zante                                              6,000   “
                                                   -------
  Total                                            126,000   “

Of this crop the United States imported as follows (the freight to New
York in 1886 ranging from 17s. 6d. to 20s. per ton, gross): 1883, 13,895
tons; 1884, 10,175 tons; 1885, 8,283 tons; 1886, 8,755 tons.

In the United States, the consumption of currants has increased largely
during the last twenty-five years. In 1874, we imported 14,141,797
pounds of currants; but in 1888 the importations had increased to
30,636,424 pounds, valued at $1,176,532. The duty is now one cent per
pound in this country; while in England it is seven shillings per
hundred pounds.

The currants exported to the United States are known as Provincial
currants or American staple, and are not considered the best quality;
they are grown principally in Trifylla and Pylia and are shipped from
the ports Zante and Patras. Some come also from Vostizza, Catacolo,
Kalamata, Nauplia and Cephalonia. The Kalamata currants are inferior and
are mostly exported to France for brandy and wine making. The choicest
currants are those grown in Zante, and there known as “Cascalina.” They
go mostly to England, while the other products of the islands go to
Belgium, Holland and Northern Germany.


_Currants in California._--California has so far not cut any figure as a
currant-producing country, not because the currants will not grow here,
but because no one has ever seriously engaged in their culture. Currant
grapevines are scattered all over the State; but, to our knowledge, no
plantations are larger than an acre or two. In Fresno, a few acres of
currants are found in the Mirabelle Vineyard east of town, and a few
hundred vines are also grown on the Raisina Vineyard in the Central
Colony. Outside of these we know of only scattered vines. These currants
are all of the white variety, which is considered inferior to the black
currant of Zante and the mainland of Greece. When dried, they produce a
most beautiful semi-transparent raisin, entirely seedless, with a very
thin skin and of very fine flavor. The yield, however, has from some
cause or other not been equal to expectations, and, the price of
currants being lower than that of other raisins, the former has not been
considered as profitable as the Muscatels. Until we import the true
black currant from Zante and find the most suitable locality to grow
them, it is not likely that currant culture will make much headway in
this country. We have, however, no doubt that, with our various
climates, many places will be found in California where the currant will
yield enough to pay, provided our raisinmen will be satisfied with a
reasonable profit.


SMYRNA RAISINS.


_Districts in Smyrna: Their Extent and Climate._--The port of Smyrna, so
famous for its dried figs, is hardly less renowned for the immense
quantity of raisins and dried grapes of different kinds which are
shipped from there to all parts of the world. While Smyrna figs are
better known than Smyrna raisins, the latter are by far the most
important industry. Thus from 1880 to 1881 the raisin crop exported from
Smyrna was valued at $4,602,388; while the value of the fig crop did not
exceed $1,646,998, or about three million dollars less than the former.
Since that time the raisin trade has yet further increased, until it
to-day reaches one hundred thousand tons of raisins and dried grapes.
Unlike the figs, which are only grown in the interior valleys some
thirty to sixty miles from Smyrna, the grapes which produce the raisins
are grown in the immediate vicinity of the town. The large territory
which exports the Smyrna raisins can, however, be divided into several
sub-districts, each one having some characteristics of its own, both as
regards quality of raisins, time of ripening, etc. These districts are:
Chesme, Vourla, Yerly and Carabourna. The principal variety of grape
grown in these districts is the Sultana, a seedless grape with enormous
bunches. Many other varieties are found there also, such as “black” and
“red,” the latter said to be identical with the Spanish Muscat of
Alexandria, which I doubt.

The Chesme district is situated to the west on the peninsula near
Smyrna, its principal port for exportation of the crop being the town of
Chesme. The Chesme raisins are considered inferior to those of the other
districts. Three-fourths of the raisins from the district are exported
to Hamburg, Bremen, Stettin, Amsterdam, and to Trieste in Austria. The
latter town is the main distributing point for most of the raisins grown
in the eastern Mediterranean raisin districts.

The Carabourna or Karabournou district produces the best raisins,--both
of the Sultanas, the red and the black. The district is situated to the
east and north on the same peninsula as Chesme. The district is rough
and hilly, but the whole is cultivated to vines. The Carabourna “Elemês”
go about one-half to Russia, the balance to England and Trieste.

The Vourla district consists of a fertile plain lying on the isthmus
between the Bay of Smyrna and Scala Nova or Ephesus. The export place is
the port of Vourla, one of the finest harbors on the coast of Asia
Minor, and often the meeting place for fleets of the Western nations of
Europe during their remonstrances in Turkish waters.

The Yerly district immediately surrounds the town of Smyrna, and extends
from Nymphio in the east to Tourbali in the south and Sivri-Hissar in
the west, thus bordering the Vourla district. Yerly Sultanas are the
earliest in the market, sometimes being ready in the first weeks of
August.

Small quantities of raisins also come from Tyra, Bairdir, Aidin and
other places in the fig districts in the interior. The Island of Samos,
off the coast of Asia Minor, produces raisins of several kinds, such as
Sultanas, black raisins, principally for distilling abroad, and Muscatel
raisins, the latter reaching three thousand tons in favorable seasons.
The Island of Cos or Stanchio is also famous for its Sultana raisins,
said to be the finest of any produced in Turkey.

The climate of the Smyrna raisin districts is very mild, allowing farm
labor to be performed the year round. The temperature seldom falls below
the freezing point, while from the middle of May to the middle of
September it ranges from 70 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade.
During the summer, the _Imbat_ or seabreeze tempers the heat and makes
the climate pleasant to live in. The grapes begin to ripen about July
first, the Sultana grapes being the earliest. The rainfall is abundant
during the rainy months of the year, September to April, and averages
twenty-five inches, varying from fifteen inches in dry seasons to
thirty-three inches in very wet years. The following table of the
rainfall is taken from the consular reports published in 1884:

_Table showing the monthly rainfall in the city of Smyrna, in inches and
hundredths of inches, during the nineteen years ending with 1882._

Compiled by W. E. STEVENS, Consul at Smyrna.

  =====+======+======+======+======+======+======+
   YEAR| Janu-|Febru-|March.|April.| May. | June.|
       | ary. | ary. |      |      |      |      |
       |      |      |      |      |      |      |
  -----+------+------+------+------+------+------+
   1864|  3.59|  1.53|   .58|  3.75|  1.59|   .80|
   1865|  7.07|  9.05|  4.43|  1.42|   .23|   .34|
   1866|  1.40|  1.78|  1.79|   .20|   .95|   .63|
   1867|  2.63|  3.14|  1.16|   .37|  1.37|   .67|
   1868|  8.30|   .32| 11.24|   .92|   .83|   .67|
   1869|  3.21|   .74| 12.07|  1.78|   .19|   .59|
   1870|  5.79|  2.81|  2.29|  2.24|   .07|   -- |
   1871| 11.10|  1.19|  1.29|   .66|  1.09|   .39|
   1872|  3.17|  1.46|   .50|  4.18|  3.09|   .60|
   1873|  2.41|  5.64|  2.08|   .50|  2.38|   .16|
   1874|   .14|  5.82|  1.92|   .40|   .15|   -- |
   1875|  4.58|  9.48|  5.78|  1.36|   -- |   -- |
   1876|  2.88|  1.45|  2.53|  3.12|   .42|  1.76|
   1877|  3.08|  2.92|  4.84|  1.11|  3.47|   .94|
   1878|  6.27|  2.10|  3.00|  4.97|   .29|   .13|
   1879|  4.28|  2.69|  1.61|   .35|  2.36|   .01|
   1880|  1.61|   .30|  2.87|  1.69|  2.69|   .18|
   1881|  6.15|  3.92|  1.74|   .80|  1.45|   -- |
   1882|  1.27|  1.17|  1.04|  3.45|   .66|   .09|
  -----+------+------+------+------+------+------+
  Aver-|  4.15|  3.03|  3.30|  1.75|  1.22|   .42|
  age  |      |      |      |      |      |      |
  -----+------+------+------+------+------+------+

  =====+======+======+======+======+======+======+======
   YEAR| July.|  Au- | Sep- | Octo-|  No- |  De- | Year-
       |      | gust.| tem- |  ber.| vem- | cem- |  ly
       |      |      | ber. |      | ber. | ber. |total.
  -----+------+------+------+------+------+------+------
   1864|  2.40|   .50|  3.30|  3.51|  6.80|  1.49| 29.84
   1865|   .10|   -- |   -- |  1.27|  2.67|   .10| 26.69
   1866|   .13|   .06|   .39|   .08|  3.84|  3.91| 15.16
   1867|      |   -- |   -- |  1.54|  5.76|  7.08| 23.72
   1868|   .27|   .07|   .52|  1.30|  4.92|   .84| 30.20
   1869|   .04|   -- |   .08|  1.81|  3.46|   .80| 24.77
   1870|   -- |   .47|  3.95|  4.45|   .18|  6.73| 28.98
   1871|   -- |   -- |   .07|  1.36|  7.04|  4.58| 28.77
   1872|   -- |   -- |  2.82|   -- |  3.65|  4.76| 24.23
   1873|   -- |   -- |   -- |  2.50|  2.92|  2.62| 21.21
   1874|   -- |   -- |   .02|   .30| 10.31|  8.99| 28.05
   1875|   -- |   -- |   .15|  2.87|  4.86|  3.96| 33.04
   1876|   .54|   -- |   .08|   .94|  5.75|  8.48| 27.95
   1877|   .11|   .36|   .61|  4.00|  6.09|  5.98| 33.51
   1878|   .40|   .63|  1.22|   -- |   .44|  8.50| 27.95
   1879|   -- |   -- |  1.38|  2.71|  4.06|  1.81| 21.26
   1880|   .04|   -- |  1.32|   .60|  4.09|  2.49| 17.88
   1881|   .10|   -- |   -- |  5.47|   .15|  4.72| 24.50
   1882|   -- |   -- |   -- |  1.02|  7.89|  4.56| 21.25
  -----+------+------+------+------+------+------+------
  Aver-|   .22|   .11|   .84|  1.88|  4.47|  4.34| 25.73
  age  |      |      |      |      |      |      |
  -----+------+------+------+------+------+------+------

As will be seen, most of the vineyards are situated within the reach of
the seabreezes, some even being almost on the edge of the waters of the
Mediterranean. The best vineyards are those which are situated inland
from seven to twenty miles from the coast. The vineyard districts are
all rough and hilly, except those in the Vourla district, which are on
comparatively level ground. While some vineyards stretch from the
seashore, others reach an elevation of four hundred feet or over. The
soil varies with the districts. The best soil for the Sultanas is
considered to be hippurite limestone soil, common in some districts.
This white, marly soil is in places mixed with a yellow-ocher-colored
loam, with sand and gravel. The abundance of the rainfall makes
irrigation unnecessary, and no vines are grown with irrigation.


_Care of the Vines._--While no general irrigation is needed, the young
vines are watered by hand in years of exceptionally light rainfall. The
vines are generally grown from rooted cuttings, which have been planted
in trenches the year before. Previous to the planting of a vineyard, the
soil is dug to the depth of three or four feet. If this can be done the
year before planting, it is considered better, as resulting in a quicker
and stronger growth of the vines.

In older vineyards, the vines are set in rows six or seven feet apart,
and with three or four feet between the rows. The vines are not grown to
standards, but from branching stalks from one to two and a half feet
high, with an average height of one and a half feet from the ground. No
stakes are used, and only occasionally is there seen a prop under
heavier loaded branches.

The pruning is done in the winter, when the vines are comparatively
dormant. The superfluous branches are then cut away, and the remaining
ones are cut to two or three eyes each. The cultivation was, until
lately, performed in the simplest way with pick and spade. The first
digging is done in January, at which time also the ground is manured.
This is done by digging pits and trenches in the vineyard, which are
filled with goat and camel dung. These trenches remain open for a month
or more, and are after that time filled in. The first digging in the
soil is done in November, the second one in January and February, when,
in leveling the ground, it is at the same time dug over again one foot
or more. The third or last digging is performed in March, when simply
the weeds are spaded under. Of late years, vineyardists from other
Mediterranean districts have settled in Smyrna and brought with them
better methods. Greek farmers have especially done much to improve the
old ways of cultivation used by the slovenly or ignorant natives.

In May, the young shoots are pinched back after the grapes have set well
and began to develop. The pinching of the ends produces a second crop,
which, besides being later, also consists of smaller grapes than the
first. All sterile and inferior shoots are then cut off, and this is
repeated during the summer in order that the vines may not be weakened
unnecessarily. The vines come into bearing in the third year, begin to
pay expenses in the fourth year, and leave a profit in the fifth year
after being set out. In the seventh and eighth years the vines are
considered in full bearing.

The Sultana grapes begin to ripen in July. The vintage begins towards
the end of July, and lasts until the middle of August. Other varieties
of grapes are later, lasting from the middle of August to the end of
September, their vintage seldom lasting as late as the first week of
October. The first raisins are ready about August 1st, and the last
Sultanas are all in by September 1st, the other varieties of raisins
coming in later.


_Dipping, Drying and Curing._--The curing of the grapes into raisins
requires great care, and nowhere is any more skill shown than in Smyrna.
Its raisins are the most beautiful of any, their splendid appearance and
transparency being due to the process employed. The drying is done on
drying-floors, which sometimes consist of the bare ground only, at other
times of elevated beds of earth a foot or so high. When the soil is not
naturally hard and suitable for drying-floors, it is first prepared by
cutting off the weeds, and is then watered and packed until a smooth and
hard surface is produced. This hard bed is sometimes left bare, and at
other times covered with matting. In other places the grapes are dried
on canvas, or on trays made of the Italian reed, or of grasses. These
trays are raised on props three or four inches above the ground, and are
loose so that they may be put on top of each other to exclude the sun,
rain or fog, according to locality and season. Great stress is laid upon
having the grapes fully ripe. Before thus exposed, the grapes are
dipped in a solution of lye and oil, and upon the skill in this
performance depends the beauty and value of the raisins. A potash is
made from the ashes of the vine cuttings of the previous year. About one
gallon of this potash solution is mixed with from twenty to twenty-five
gallons of water, making a weak lye solution of a strength of from five
to six degrees in Beaume’s “Lyeometer.” A similar strength would be
obtained by dissolving one pound of pearl ash in ten gallons of water.
Tubs of wood or zinc of the size of two and a half by two feet are used
for dipping. To every such tub of twenty-five gallons is added from
one-fourth to two gallons of olive oil. The latter quantity is used in
the Karabournou district, where the finest raisins are made. When of
proper strength as regards both oil and lye, the wash runs off from the
bunches smoothly; when, again, the wash runs off in small globules,
there is a deficiency of either oil or potash. The grapes are loaded in
small baskets of twenty-five pounds each, and immersed in the wash for
half a minute. They are then taken out and spread either on the ground
or on trays or canvas. In the interior, where the sun is hot, the reed
mats are placed on top of each other to exclude the sun. The same is
also done if rain or fog is feared. After a few days of exposure, and
when partially dried, the raisins are sprinkled every morning with the
same lye solution, but without oil. The Sultanas are dried in from five
to eight days. This dipping process is also used for the larger
Muscatels, but the lye is made stronger, probably reaching the
proportion of about one and a half pounds of pearl ash to five gallons
of water. The carefully dipped raisins have a pure greenish amber color,
and a peculiar flavor. They are worth twenty per cent more than undipped
fruit.

The Sultanas of the better grades are now sold off-stalk or loose. The
finest brands are the Chesme elemê, or Chesme select. Elemê means choice
or select, and is used both for raisins and figs. The yield of an acre
of Sultana vines varies in different vineyards, according to the quality
of the soil. A good yield is considered about seven tons of fresh
grapes, or about two and a third tons of raisins.

The price of the Smyrna Sultanas fluctuates considerably; but it may be
said that the best grades are always from twenty-five to thirty per cent
higher than the dipped raisins of Valencia. Thus, in 1843, dipped
Valencias brought six and a quarter cents, while the Smyrna Sultanas
brought ten cents. In 1844, the Valencias were quoted at ten cents,
while the Sultanas brought twenty cents per pound. Of late years, the
Smyrna Sultanas have fluctuated between four and a half and twelve and a
half cents per pound.


_Production and Export._--The production of Smyrna raisins and dried
grapes has enormously increased during the last few years. In 1844, the
average crop was only from six to eight thousand tons. In 1868, this had
increased to nineteen thousand tons, and in 1871 we find the export from
Smyrna to be forty-eight thousand tons. In 1881, this had grown to
seventy-five thousand tons (according to the consular report of
Consul-General G. H. Heap of Constantinople). Of the districts already
mentioned, Chesme and Vourla produce about three times as much as Yerly
and Carabourna. A somewhat varied estimate of the Smyrna raisin crop is
given by Consul W. E. Stevens of Smyrna, in his report dated February
28, 1884. According to him, the raisin crop of Smyrna should amount to
one million, nine hundred thousand hundred weight or ninety-five
thousand tons. These two consular estimates would give Smyrna as
follows: 1871, forty-eight thousand tons; 1872, thirty-one thousand
tons; 1879, seventy-five thousand tons; 1881, forty-nine thousand tons;
1884, ninety-five thousand tons. This, of course, includes all kinds of
raisins. As regards the Sultana raisins, the reports of the two consuls
also differ. By Consul Stevens, it is estimated to be thirty-two
thousand, five hundred tons, or sixty-five million pounds; while Consul
Heap puts the figures at only nineteen million, four hundred thousand
pounds, or only nine thousand, seven hundred tons. We have no means to
verify the statements, but are inclined to think the higher figure the
more correct. If it is true that the raisin yield of Smyrna to-day
reaches one hundred thousand tons, it would be absurd to think that only
ten per cent should be Sultanas, which is the principal raisin grape of
the district. It is more probable that at least one-third of the whole
crop consists of Sultanas. About eighty per cent of all the Sultana
raisins go to England, ten per cent are consumed by Eastern Europe and
Russia, a small part only going to the United States.


_Cost of Vineyards in Smyrna._--The cost of vineyards in the Smyrna
district varies just as it does elsewhere. Bearing vineyards change
hands at from three hundred to four hundred and fifty dollars per acre.
The yearly labor on an acre of vines, including pruning, cultivation and
drying, amounts to fifty dollars an acre or more. The average yield per
acre averages from about eighty-five to ninety dollars, leaving a profit
of from thirty to forty dollars, equal to from about eight to ten per
cent on the capital invested. I believe, however, that these figures may
be modified, and that the profit on an acre of average vineyard often
reaches from fifty to sixty dollars. The fact that an acre of vineyard
sells for four hundred and fifty dollars indicates that it must not only
give a fair but a good interest on that sum. The raisins from one acre
of a Smyrna vineyard are sold for $88. The interest on the par value of
an acre ($450) for one year at five per cent is $22.50. The other
expenses during the year amount to $50, leaving, as net profit, $6.50.
The above is a low estimate copied from English statements.


_Other Varieties of Raisins._--Besides Sultanas, Smyrna produces an
enormous quantity of raisins of other kinds. The demand for these has
been and is constantly increasing, the most being shipped to
manufacturers of wines, distilled liquors of all kinds, jellies, jams,
etc. These varieties are known as Large Black and Large Red. These
varieties are grown in all the Smyrna districts, and in quantity far
exceed the Sultanas. The following will give an idea of how this trade
has increased of late. Red and Black Smyrna raisins in tons: 1868,
12,795; 1876, 15,500; 1881, 40,000; 1883, 45,000; 1888, 60,000. The
price varies from three to four cents per pound in the local market.
Judging from the constantly increased export of these kinds of raisins,
it is not likely that the production of the same is likely to soon be
overdone.


ITALY AND ITALIAN RAISINS.


_Lipari and Belvidere._--Of the Mediterranean countries, Italy produces
the smallest quantity of raisins. We cannot imagine this to be on
account of unsuitable soil and climate, but more on account of the
tardiness of its people to take kindly to new industries and improve
upon their older methods. In former years the raisins from Southern
Italy were much exported to Northern Europe; to-day the trade is
insignificant. In the sixteenth century, the raisins from Lipari and
Belvidere were of considerable repute, but were, however, considered
inferior to the Spanish raisins. The Island of Lipari, to-day
principally known on account of its volcanoes, produces yet so-called
Lipari currants of larger size than those from Morea. They are of much
inferior quality, being hard and dry and of oblong shape.


_Pantellaria._--The Island of Pantellaria, between Sicily and Africa,
also produces raisins of somewhat better quality, which, if better
packed, would favorably compare with the Lexias of Valencia and Denia.
The Pantellarias, or Belvideres, as they are known in the market, are
principally consumed in Northern Italy and Southern France. They are
sweet and good raisins, which, if carefully and intelligently handled,
would rapidly improve in quality.


_Calabria._--Since the destruction of the Calabrian raisins through the
mildew, the raisin production of this peninsula has largely increased.
In 1876, it had reached eight thousand tons, but must now probably be
double that amount. The Calabrian raisins produced on the mainland of
Italy are of good quality, and are principally exported to France.


CHILE AND HUASCO RAISINS.


_Characteristics._--The Chile or Huasco raisin is one of the finest
raisins in the world, and in the opinion of the author superior to both
Spanish and California raisins. They excel in sweetness and aroma as
well as flavor; their skin is thin, and the seeds are small. The color
is entirely different from sun-dried California or Spanish raisins,
being yellowish amber with a fine and thin bluish bloom, indicating that
they have been dried in the shade or in partial shade without dipping in
lye or other solutions.


_Location._--The number of acres devoted to raisin culture in Chile is
not known. The grapes for this purpose are grown almost exclusively in
the valley of the Huasco, back of the port of Huasco in the province of
Atacama. There appear to be two distinct valleys of the same name, one
situated only twenty minutes’ ride from the port of Huasco on the
Pacific Ocean, the other farther inland about sixty miles from the
coast. In the former place, the culture of the raisin grape is very
limited, the whole valley and town only containing four hundred people,
of which not all are occupied with the raisin industry. The interior
valley is more extensive, and the largest quantity of the Huasco raisins
come from this place. The port of Huasco is situated in latitude
twenty-seven degrees, thirty minutes south, longitude seventy-one
degrees, sixteen minutes west.

[Illustration: Muscatel or Gordo Blanco Raisin Grape, Second Crop.
Two-thirds Natural Size.]


_Varieties._--The grape used for raisins is a variety of the Muscat,
very similar to the Muscat of Alexandria. Grapevines transplanted to
California resemble this variety very much, but, according to Professor
Hilgard, set their fruit better, and do not suffer so much from colure.
It is said that these grapes were imported to Chile long ago by the
Spanish conquerors, and it is supposed they grew the vines from seed
brought from Spain, and selected the best of the seedlings. In this way
the slight difference of the Huasco grape from the Muscat of Alexandria
can be accounted for.


_Soils._--The soil in the coast valley consists of a reddish, sandy
loam, which changes to a fine yellow sand, of great richness. This sand
covers the hills almost everywhere in the vicinity of the Huasco river,
the nature of the country being a rolling one.


_Climate._--The climate is notoriously dry, and rain falls only very
seldom between June and September, is of short duration and very scant.
In the interior valley, rain is said to be seldom known, and the climate
there can be called entirely rainless. Dew is abundant in the winter,
but the summers are warm and dry.


_Irrigation._--Near the coast no irrigation is required, but in the
interior valley the grapes are irrigated three times a year, first when
the buds begin to swell, second when they begin to blossom, and lastly
when the fruit is well advanced.


_The Vineyard._--The vines are planted six feet one way by eight feet
the other, and the intermediate space is often planted to alfalfa,
giving three crops of hay each year. The heads are kept low, the vines
are pruned heavily, and only two eyes left on each cane. Sometimes whole
branches are cut away, especially if they do not bear well. The vines
are grown both on hillsides and in the valleys on the bottom lands. Many
of the vineyards are surrounded by elevated arbors or trellises, over
which the vines are trained, to keep off the heavy spring winds which
otherwise would break the branches,--windbreaks, in fact. The
cultivation of the Huasco vines is of the most primitive kind. The land
is poorly cultivated, and the fact that alfalfa is grown between the
rows of the vines indicates that the industry is not highly developed.
On the other hand, it is not impossible that the crowding together of
various things on the land may help to give the grapes a certain flavor
or aroma.

There is said to be a great difference between the various Huasco
grapes, some being very superior to others. The inferior kinds are
called simply Muscats, while the better kinds are the Huascos. It is not
known if these varieties come from different kinds of grapes, but it is
likely that this is the case. Vines of the best variety transplanted to
other localities than the Huasco valley give invariably indifferent
results, and produce raisins inferior to the Huasco.


_Drying and Curing._--The poorer qualities are simply dried on boards or
on the roofs of the houses in the sun; but the fine and most valuable
raisins are dried in the shade. When ripe, the bunches are carefully
picked and taken to open sheds with thatched roofs, and there hung up to
dry. The raisins are turned at intervals, and when ready are packed in
twenty-five-pound boxes without any great care or skill. The best
Huasco raisin sells at fifty cents per pound in the local market, and is
decidedly the most high-priced raisin known. The best variety is scarce
even in Chile, and in Chilean statistics I could not find any quoted.
The following houses in Huasco are dealers in fruits and raisins: Juan
Quijada, Ramon F. Martinez, and José Manuel Balmaceda. The export from
the port of Huasco in 1885 amounted only to $685,853. How large a
portion of this was raisins is not known.


_CALIFORNIA RAISIN DISTRICTS._


A GENERAL REVIEW.


_Early History._--While the planting of raisin grapes and the production
of raisins in California dates back some thirty odd years, the raisin
industry cannot be said to be as yet twenty years old. Already, in 1851,
Col. Agoston Haraszthy grew Muscatel vines from seeds of Malaga raisins.
On the 25th of March, 1852, he imported the Muscat of Alexandria from
Malaga, and ten years later, during a visit to that place on September
27, 1861, he selected cuttings of the Gordo Blanco which afterwards were
grown and propagated on his San Diego county vineyard. The same year he
imported Sultana vines from Malaga, and white and red Corinth from
Crimea. Col. Haraszthy was thus the first one to introduce the
raisin-vines in this State. Another importation of the ovoid Muscat of
Alexandria was made in 1855 by A. Delmas and planted at San José,
according to a statement made by his son D. M. Delmas,[3] the prominent
San Francisco lawyer. G. G. Briggs of Davisville also imported Muscatel
grapes from Malaga in Spain; while R. B. Blowers of Woodland, Yolo
county, started his raisin vineyard in 1863 from Gordo Blanco cuttings
received from Col. Haraszthy. In 1876, W. S. Chapman, imported the best
Muscatels from Spain for his colonists in the Central California Colony
in Fresno, which proved in no way different from those already growing
there. Who produced the first raisins in California will probably never
be satisfactorily known. According to page 88 of the Report of the State
Agricultural Society of California, 1863, cured raisins were exhibited
by Dr. J. Strentzel at the State Fair in 1863.[4] The first successful
raisin vineyards in the State were those planted by G. G. Briggs at
Davisville in Solano county, and by R. B. Blowers at Woodland in Yolo
county. Both these gentlemen grew the raisin grapes on a large scale,
and shipped raisins extensively. The Briggs vineyard consisted mainly of
Muscats of Alexandria, while the Blowers vineyard contained the Gordo
Blanco. Both these vineyards produced raisins as early as 1867; but it
was not until 1873 that their raisins cut any conspicuous figure in the
market. That year six thousand boxes were produced in the State, the
majority by far coming from these two vineyards.

  [3] See also Wickson’s “California Fruits,” page 357.

  [4] _Same_, page 79.


_Later Planting._--In 1873, in the fall, the Muscat vines were first
brought to the Fresno raisin district, where twenty-five acres of Muscat
of Alexandria were planted in the Eisen vineyard. A few years later, or
in 1876 and 1877, T. C. White planted the Raisina Vineyard in the
Central California Colony near Fresno from Gordo Blanco Muscatels
brought from R. B. Blowers’ vineyard at Woodland. The following year, or
in 1877-78, Miss M. F. Austin began improving her Hedgerow Vineyard,
also in the same colony, with grapes of the same kind as Messrs. White
and Blowers. Robert Barton had also planted some twenty-five acres of
Muscat grapes, but did not make raisins until later. The year 1879 saw
the first planting of the A. B. Butler vineyard, now the largest
vineyard in the State. J. T. Goodman had begun improving his place at
the same time; while Col. William Forsyth entered upon raisin-grape
growing between 1881 and 1882, most of his grapes, however, being
planted a year or two later. From that time the raisin vineyards in
Fresno multiplied rapidly, and about 1886 and 1887 raisin production
became recognized as the principal industry of the district.

The history of the development of the raisin industry in the other
districts of the State runs very much the same. Riverside had entered
the field in 1873, when the founder of that colony, Judge John Wesley
North, planted there the first raisin-vines of the variety Muscat of
Alexandria. But raisin-grape growing did not become general until 1875
and 1876, when the largest vineyards in the colony were planted. In El
Cajon valley in San Diego county, the first raisin vines of the Muscat
of Alexandria variety were planted in 1873 by R. G. Clark; but the
raisin industry did not get a good start until some six or seven years
ago, while most of the vineyards were planted from 1884 to 1886. In
Orange county, raisin grapes were planted at the same time as in
Riverside and El Cajon by MacPherson Bros., near Orange, now called
MacPherson. The raisin industry developed rapidly, and Robert
MacPherson, the largest grower and packer in the district, and at one
time in the State, handled yearly over one hundred thousand boxes, while
the yearly crop of the district rose to one hundred and seventy thousand
boxes.

In Central California, the raisin industry is gradually spreading from
the original center around Fresno, the greater freedom from rain and the
better facilities for irrigation being great inducements for the
settlers to engage in the growing and curing of the raisin grapes. The
San Joaquin valley is especially adapted to the production of raisins,
the Fresno raisin district being by far the largest, and now producing
almost one-half of the raisin crop of the State. In San Bernardino
county and district, the raisins are also grown to great profit and with
great facility, and are of equal quality with those of the interior of
the State. But the raisin industry is here gradually giving way to the
culture of oranges and other citrus fruits, and the increase in the
raisin acreage has therefore not been so great as in the San Joaquin
valley. In El Cajon, irrigation is not used, and the raisins produced
there are very similar to the Malaga raisins, but through absence of
irrigation the crops are smaller than in any of the other districts in
the State. In Los Angeles and Orange county district, the raisin
industry has suffered immensely from the ravages of the vine plague, an
as yet entirely mysterious disease, and the output of raisins there has
dwindled down to almost nothing. But the farmers of the district are
ready to replant whenever there are any prospects that the vines will do
well again.

In the interior of California, north of Solano and Yolo counties, large
quantities of raisin grapes have been planted during the last few years,
both in the foothill valleys, out on the plains, and in the bottom lands
of the Sacramento, Yuba and Feather rivers, etc. Raisins of very good
quality have been produced in that part of the State for years in
limited quantities, but it is yet a question to what extent that section
can compete with the central and southern parts of the State. In Sutter
county around Yuba City the cultivation of a seedless raisin grape is
advancing rapidly, the raisins made from it being of excellent quality
and finding a ready market.


_Acreage and Crops._--The quantity of raisin-vines planted cannot be
estimated correctly; but it is certain that at least sixty-five thousand
acres of Muscat vines are now set out in the State, including grapes in
bearing, as well as vines lately set out.

California enjoys a climate peculiarly adapted to the culture and curing
of the raisin grape. The summers are warm and rainless, the winters
again moderately rainy. The interior is free from injurious fogs and
heavy dews, while the most southern coast is only visited by warm fogs,
which are not greatly harmful to the grapes. Irrigation is practiced
almost everywhere, except in El Cajon valley, and in some of the
northern districts of the State, but even there it is no doubt that
judicious irrigation would be beneficial and greatly increase the crop.
The demand for California raisins has kept pace with the improvements in
curing and packing, and has steadily increased from year to year. What
the future has in store only the future can tell, but it is almost
certain that first-class raisins will always be in demand, while
inferior grades may from time to time bring lower prices. The ruling
price of raisins in sweatboxes, as they may be had from those growers
who do not pack themselves, has been from four to five cents per pound.
Of late years, the tendency is developing to pay according to quality,
and from three to seven cents was the ruling price for unpacked raisins
in sweatboxes during last season (1889). This practice will greatly
promote the raisin industry and encourage growers to grow large grapes
and fine bunches, and to cure their raisins well. It will also benefit
the buyers, who will know what they pay for, and who will be able to
furnish better grades, and more of the best grades than formerly, when
good, bad and indifferent raisins brought five cents per pound.

The raisin crop of 1889 did not exceed one million boxes. Should we
venture upon a statement as to the distribution of the same among the
various counties or districts of the State, the following figures would
be found as near correct as it is possible to get them:

  Fresno district         475,000 twenty-pound boxes.
  Tulare                   15,000    “     “     “
  Kern                      4,000    “     “     “
  Yolo and Solano         120,000    “     “     “
  Scattering               25,000    “     “     “
  San Bernardino          265,000    “     “     “
  Orange and Los Angeles    8,000    “     “     “
  San Diego                75,000    “     “     “
                          -------
                          987,000    “     “     “


YOLO AND SOLANO.


_Location and Acreage._--The district is situated north of San Francisco
Bay, bordering on it as well as on the Sacramento river, and is a part
of the Sacramento valley. The number of acres overreaches seven
thousand, and is increasing yearly. The principal vineyards are those of
the late G. G. Briggs at Davisville, Solano county, with three hundred
acres, and at Woodland in Yolo county, four hundred and sixty acres; E.
Gould, also at Davisville, two hundred acres; H. M. Larou, at same
place, about fifty acres; sundry vineyards around Davisville, fifty
acres; around Woodland and Capay valley, some four hundred acres;--or in
full bearing more than two thousand acres. The district comprises the
southern part of Yolo and the northern part of Solano counties. The
grape used for raisins is principally the Muscat of Alexandria, except
the vineyard of R. B. Blowers, which is composed exclusively of Gordo
Blanco. The Muscat of Alexandria is generally preferred, as it makes a
fine raisin and bears well.


_Soil and Climate._--The soil varies somewhat; the best is a deep gray,
alluvial bottom-land soil; other soils are not much thought of for
Muscatel raisin grapes. The average depth of water is about eighteen
feet from the surface. It is not necessary, as a rule, to first level
the land, as the ground is very level naturally. The rainfall averages
thirteen inches. The most rain falls in January and February; the least
falls in August. There is seldom a shower in the summer, but about
November 1st rains are almost always certain to interfere with the
drying of the grapes. Sometimes the rain comes in October, when it
causes considerable damage to the grapes and partially dried raisins.
There is very little dew in summer time, but plenty in October and also
some in September. The temperature is considerably modified by the
nearness of the bay. It reaches in the hottest part of the summer one
hundred and fourteen degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, but only for a day
or two. The average highest is about ninety degrees Fahrenheit in the
shade, while the heat almost every day in July and August shows
eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit in the shade. Thus this district is
considerably cooler than the San Joaquin valley and San Bernardino
county, but warmer than Los Angeles and San Diego districts. There are
heavy frosts in winter, when at times even the thermometer falls to
eighteen degrees Fahrenheit, although this is the extreme low
temperature, six or seven degrees of frost being more common. There is
spring frost in April one year in every three or four, and the vineyards
are then smoked to prevent injury to the vines. Irrigation is not needed
to produce crops, only to produce larger crops, as it increases the
yield fifty per cent. Generally two irrigations a year are needed, the
first one in early summer, the other later, when the berries have begun
to ripen. Water from ditches is used and carried to the vines in furrows
only, no flooding being practiced.


_The Vineyard._--In planting, cuttings are used principally, but rooted
vines are preferred by some. The distances most common are ten by ten
feet each way, one vineyard being set ten feet by sixteen feet. The
vines bear the third year. The ground is plowed and cross-plowed, the
first plowing being from the vines, and the second to the vines.
Harrowing and cultivating both ways are secondary operations, continued
to the middle of May, but seldom later. Hoeing the vines finishes the
work of the soil in the middle or end of May.

In pruning, the crowns are never raised over six inches above the
ground, from seven to eight spurs are left on large vines, and each spur
is pruned to two or three eyes each. Formerly more eyes, say from four
to five, were left on each cane, but it was found that this was too
many, hence the change to two or three eyes. Summer pruning is practiced
by some, but not by all; there is yet a controversy in regard to its
usefulness. When practiced, the vines are cut six or eight inches from
the tops, and this is done not later than June. Sulphuring is in use
everywhere; the vines are sulphured two times, once before and once
after the bloom. Sulphured vines do not suffer from mildew. Colure, or
the dropping of the young berries, is not common, the Muscat of
Alexandria even setting well. The leaf-hopper (_Erythroneura comes_) is
more common in some years than in others. They eat the leaves and cause
the grapes to sunburn. Grasshoppers have never caused any damage. Grape
moths are more or less common, but never troublesome. Black-knot is
often seen on neglected vines, but is rare in old vineyards well cared
for.


_The Crop._--The grapes ripen in September, generally from the first to
the tenth. The drying and curing occupies three weeks. The bunches are
placed on trays made of pine two feet by three. Several growers have
artificial dryers, which are needed for curing the second crop. The
sweatboxes are large enough to contain seventy pounds of raisins, and
are eight inches deep. In the Briggs raisin vineyard, the following
brands are packed: three crown Layer Muscatels; two crown Layer
Muscatels; one and two crown Loose Muscatels; Dehesas and Seedless
Muscatels. The raisins are seldom sold in sweatboxes, and no fixed price
is known for such raisins. Most growers pack their own raisins. The
oldest raisin vineyard is that started by the late G. G. Briggs, and now
owned by his widow. The most renowned vineyard was that owned by R. B.
Blowers of Woodland, which has of late years been mostly replaced by
other crops. Raisin land can be had for from one hundred to one hundred
and fifty dollars per acre. This is vacant land of the very best
quality. An average profit of fifty dollars per acre is realized,
although some have made more money out of their vines. A yield of two or
three tons of grapes per acre is common. As regards prices of labor,
etc., the following were those most common last season: Man and team,
who boards himself and animals, three dollars and twenty-five cents per
day, can plow one and a half acres of vineyard well. Pruning, one man,
one dollar per day, can prune three hundred vines, or three-fourths of
an acre. Laborers generally board themselves. The raisins of this
district were the first ones in the State or on this continent to
attract attention, and they were the first which successfully competed
with Spain. The crop of 1889 reached one hundred and twenty thousand
boxes.


NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.


_General Remarks._--The Muscatel and Sultana raisin grapes grow almost
everywhere in the State, and it is therefore natural enough that the
planting of raisin-vines should have increased considerably of late
years, even in localities situated outside of those raisin districts
mentioned, which have already made a success of the raisin industry.
Below will be found a few notices from various such places which aspire
to raisin fame, some of which have yet to make their reputation in this
line. These notices are partly taken from the San Francisco _Chronicle_,
which paper went to the trouble and expense of collecting such
statistics at the beginning of the year. It must be remembered, however,
that these statements are more or less approximate. As will be seen, all
these localities here mentioned lie in the interior or the Sacramento
valley proper, enjoying an inland climate. The climate in this valley is
somewhat like that of the San Joaquin valley, of which it is an
extension. Only the heat in summer is less, the rain in winter is more
profuse, the showers in the spring of the year are later and those of
the fall are earlier.


_Placer County._--At Rocklin J. P. Whitney has two hundred and fifty
acres of raisin grapes, and is the largest raisin-maker in the county.
There are not over three hundred and fifty acres of Muscats devoted to
raisin-making in the county, and the total output this year was about
four hundred tons, most of which was shipped directly East. The first
carload of Muscat raisins sent East was shipped from the Whitney
vineyard about ten years ago. A large area of Muscat and other vineyards
will be planted this season, but none for raisin-making.


_Yuba County._--The raisin industry has received but little attention in
Yuba county, although it has long been known that raisins of superior
quality can be produced here. The area in raisin-vines is about three
hundred acres, which will probably be increased by several hundred acres
this season. Less than a hundred acres are in bearing. The raisin
vineyards planted last season are chiefly at Colmena, midway between
Marysville and Wheatland. The Muscatel grape is planted to some extent,
but the favorite grape is the Thompson Seedless, a new variety of great
promise.


_Sutter County._--The raisin industry of Sutter county dates back to the
year 1876, and the venture was first made by the late Dr. S. R. Chandler
three miles south of this city. The area now in raisin vineyard is about
six hundred acres, three-fourths of which are in bearing. The crops
marketed and prices received are about as follows: Three thousand
twenty-pound boxes at $1.65 per box; eight hundred sacks of one hundred
pounds each, at five cents a pound; five hundred and twenty-five sacks
of dried grapes of one hundred pounds each, at three cents a pound. The
home consumption is extensive, but is not estimated. The county is well
adapted to raisin growing and curing, and received the second prize at
the late Oroville State Citrus Exposition. Muscatel and Thompson
Seedless are the favorite grapes. The soil of this county is very rich
and warm, and no irrigation has been practiced.


_Colusa County._--In the immediate vicinity of Colusa there are about
one hundred and fifty acres in bearing, and fully one hundred acres more
will be set out the coming season. The crop of raisins in 1888 was very
insignificant; but in 1889 the Colusa canneries packed forty tons in
boxes. The prices ranged from $1.75 to $2.25 per box, according to
quality. These figures refer only to the territory lying within a radius
of eight miles of Colusa. Some of the finest raisin grapes in the county
are grown near College City, and the entire output was at least eighty
tons of raisins. Many of the people around Orland are reported as going
into the business on a large scale. The ranchers in and near the
foothills are also producing raisins of excellent quality. A single
vineyard of fifteen hundred acres is being planted in one place in the
foothills.


_Butte County._--While Butte produces a fair quality of raisins, her
vineyards are yet young and are just coming into bearing. The older
vines are those of General Bidwell, at Chico, covering about one hundred
acres, and those of Oroville and Mesilla valley, embracing about the
same area. A large number of young vines have been set out during the
past two years, and these number 52,200 near Oroville, 77,480 at
Palermo, 67,200 at Thermalito, 20,570 at Wyandotte, 25,000 at Central
House, 50,500 at Gridley, and something over 50,000 near Chico. These
have nearly all been planted within the past two years, but a limited
number are three years old. In the foothills are a number of small
vineyards, but it is impossible to ascertain the acreage and product,
though the total of each is not large. Practically the bearing vines of
Butte number between 300 and 400 acres. The one and two year old
vineyards embrace about 350 acres, so that a conservative estimate for
the total raisin vineyards of the county, young and old, would be 700
acres. The raisins are all boxed and sold directly by the vineyardists,
the local demand taking nearly the whole crop. The area to be planted
this year will not exceed 250 acres.


_Tehama County._--The area planted to grapes in Tehama county is over
ten thousand acres. The greater part of the fruit grown is used for
wine, and probably one-third for raisins. All the raisins produced here
are packed in boxes, and a large portion is used in home consumption,
while the remainder is shipped. Probably about ten thousand boxes in
bulk and packed will cover the yield.


_Shasta County._--The raisin industry of Shasta county is only in its
infancy. There are 147 acres planted to raisin grapes within a radius of
fifteen miles from Redding. The largest acreage of raisin grapes is in
Happy valley. There are patches of grapes all through the foothills.
Probably not over one thousand boxes of raisins were shipped. The
planting of raisin grapes continues every year. Raisins are made by many
small growers, and sold here at an average of six cents per pound.


FRESNO AND SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY.


_General Remarks._--The San Joaquin valley is well adapted to raisins
along its whole length almost, but especially in its central and
southern parts. The farther we go south in the valley, the drier is the
climate, and the less is the rainfall in the autumn of the year, both
conditions favoring the curing of the grapes. The present raisin center
is around Fresno City, where over twenty-five thousand acres are planted
to raisin grapes, principally Muscatels; but from this locality the
industry has been constantly spreading, until at present the other
counties in the valley, viz., Merced, Tulare and Kern, can show a good
acreage of young vines. Next after Fresno, Tulare county produces the
largest quantity of raisin grapes, and produces raisins of the very
highest quality. The principal raisin vineyards in that county are
situated in the Mussel Slough district, on the rich bottom lands formed
by the former delta of Kings river; of late, the planting of raisin
grapes has extended to other parts of the county as well. In Kern county
few old raisin vineyards exist, the oldest one being situated on the
Livermore ranch, being a part of the Haggin and Carr tract. Several
hundred new acres have been planted there this spring, especially in the
Rosedale, Lerdo and Virginia Colonies, as well as on the plains near
Delano. I need here hardly say that the raisins of Fresno, Tulare, Kern
and Merced counties should be all classed together, as the climate in
these various localities is one and the same, with only a slight and
gradual change as to rainfall as we go south in the valley. If there
will, in the course of time, be found some difference as regards quality
in the raisins of these various localities in the San Joaquin valley,
this difference will not be due to any great difference in the climate,
but to the variety of soil on which the grapes are grown. The raisins
are only grown on the level lands, situated from three to four hundred
feet above the sea.


_Extent and Location._--The Fresno district contains about thirty
thousand acres, out of which about twelve thousand are in good or full
bearing. Merced county has about two thousand acres, nearly all very
young vines. Kern county has probably about one thousand acres, also
very young vines, and some thirty acres of old vines. Tulare county has
about seven thousand acres of Muscats, a large part of which is in full
or good bearing. Many vineyards, large and small, are being planted in
these counties this year, but enough attention is not paid to proper
soil and to locality, and here, as elsewhere in the State, many of these
vineyards will not turn out as the owners expect they will. In Fresno
county, the old vineyards are planted principally around Fresno City,
while in late years other raisin districts or sub-districts are growing
into prominence around Malaga, Sanger, Selma, Fowler and Madera. The
varieties used are principally the Gordo Blanco Muscatel, much mixed
with the Muscat of Alexandria. There are some few acres of Sultanas and
White Corinths, and of late many Malagas have been planted.


_Soils and Climate._--There are several different varieties of soils in
the district,--the red or chocolate-colored sandy loam principally east
of the railroad, the white, ashy soil west of the railroad, and the very
sandy soil, generally occurring in elevated ridges. We have also the
deep, gray-colored bottom land in the river bottoms or along the rivers
and creeks. The best grades of the chocolate and reddish loams, and of
the river bottom soil, is considered the best for raisins. The very
sandy soil and the alkali soil should not be used for raisin purposes.
The climate is warm and dry during the summer, while the winters are not
very rainy. From seven to ten inches of rain are an average in Fresno;
south to Kern the rainfall decreases, five and a half inches being an
average around Delano. Towards the northern end of the valley, the
rainfall increases, and in Merced county varies between ten and twenty
inches, fifteen inches being a high average. In no portion of the
raisin-producing portion of the valley can raisin grapes be grown
without irrigation, the natural rainfall being entirely insufficient.
The lowest temperature is about eighteen degrees Fahrenheit in Fresno,
generally in January, while the highest is one hundred and eighteen
degrees Fahrenheit in the shade in July and August. The lowest
temperature is reached once in from three to five years, and the highest
quoted is similarly scarce. The high average in summer time is one
hundred and ten in the shade, and for three months of the year the
thermometer every day can be counted on to vary between one hundred and
one hundred and ten in the shade. In the winter, twenty degrees
Fahrenheit is often reached, and the end of December and January may be
counted on as being cold and frosty. These figures all refer to the
level plain land, where the most of the vineyards are planted, and not
to the foothills or the thermal belt, nor to the high Sierra Nevada,
where snow and ice are common, and where glaciers cover many of the
highest mountain peaks. The most rainfall occurs from December to
February, and the rain continues more or less scattering to April and
May. There is only very seldom a shower in the summer, one perhaps in
three years. In the mountains, the fall rains commence about the middle
of August, on the plains again in October and November, sometimes even
later. Dew is rare in summer time, but common from the beginning of
October. Fog is rare, sometimes an unwelcome visitor in November, but
never known at any other time of the year. Spring frosts are almost
unknown, and occur only once in from five to eight years.


_Irrigation._--Irrigation is practiced wherever raisins are grown. The
water is taken from the rivers,--from Kings river in the Fresno
district, and from the Merced, Kaweah and Kern rivers, etc., in the
other districts. Before irrigation was begun in the Fresno districts,
there were from fifty to sixty feet of dry soil before the natural water
level was reached; but this has been so changed through a few years of
constant irrigation, that now in places the land is subirrigated or
moist to the surface, while in places even the soil requires to be
drained, and no other irrigation is now needed except to allow the water
to flow in the main or secondary canals, from which it seeps and keeps
the soil filled with water, the moisture rising from below. The
irrigation when practiced is done by flooding or by irrigating in
furrows. New land must be irrigated until it becomes subirrigated; but,
when once this is done, no separate irrigation becomes necessary. Many
vineyards planted on subirrigated land which was once dry land have
never since been irrigated.


_The Vineyard._--The general distance of the vines is eight by eight or
ten by ten feet, varying in different vineyards. Of late, there have
been some efforts made to improve upon these distances, and to have
them planted closer one way than the other, say five by ten or six by
twelve feet. The vines begin to bear the second and third years, and if
planted on proper soil should pay the fourth year and give an income the
fifth year. Some vines have been known to pay the third year, there
being much difference in this respect. Both cuttings and rooted vines
are used, rooted vines having been preferred during the last few years.
The ground is plowed in various ways in the winter time, according to
the ideas of the owner. Cross-plowing is sometimes practiced. The
general rule is to first plow one way, and then to cross-cultivate
repeatedly until the soil is level and the weeds are destroyed. In wet
places, the cultivation is kept up until July, but in proper places the
working of the soil is finished in the early part of June.


_Pruning and Other Operations._--The heads of the vines are kept
low,--from six to sixteen inches above the ground. The canes are cut to
two or three eyes, and the number of canes left vary from five to
fifteen or more. The pruning is done between December and February.
Summer pruning is practiced by some, but not by all growers, there being
considerable difference of opinion as to the value of this operation.
Sulphuring is practiced by all growers, some sulphuring only once, but
the best vineyards are sulphured three or more times. Oidium or mildew
never appears in sulphured vineyards. Some few growers sulphur with
great success against the colure or dropping of the grapes. Leaf-hoppers
are common, but do no great harm. Grasshoppers and grape caterpillars
were troublesome one or two seasons, but have not reappeared of late.
Black-knot is common in many places.


_The Crop._--The grapes begin to ripen in the middle of August, or from
the middle of August to the first of September, and at the latter date
the first boxes of cured and packed raisins are generally heralded
through the press. The first grapes dry in from seven to ten days, but
the later grapes require three weeks or more. The drying continues
through September, and for the second crop through October and even in
November, or until the rains set in. The grapes are dried on trays two
by three or three by three feet. The sweatboxes are generally two by
three feet and from six to eight inches high. A large number of brands
are packed, such as Imperial Clusters, Dehesas, Layers, Loose and
Seedless. The common price for raisins in sweatboxes is from three and a
half to six cents, five and five and a half cents being the average for
good layers. Good land for raisin purposes can be had for one hundred
dollars per acre, but nearer the town of Fresno is held higher. Bearing
raisin vineyards have changed hands at as high as $1,000 per acre. From
one hundred to two hundred and fifty boxes of raisins are realized per
acre, and the profits vary from seventy-five to two hundred and fifty
dollars per acre, according to location, soil, management, etc. From
thirty to fifty dollars per acre is spent yearly in many vineyards. Few
dipped raisins are produced. Some dipped Sultanas have brought seven
cents in the San Francisco market. Last season about four hundred and
seventy-five thousand boxes were produced in the Fresno district, and
some twenty thousand boxes more in the other parts of the San Joaquin
valley.


SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY AND RIVERSIDE.


_Location and Acreage._--San Bernardino county, California, is entirely
an inland county, sheltered by low and high hills from the ocean. Fogs
and dew are rare, in places unknown, and the county offers unusual
advantages for raisin-growing. The vineyards are widely distributed
through the county in different localities or raisin centers, all of
which are greatly similar as to climatic conditions, except as regards
altitude. The San Bernardino vineyards are the highest elevated above
the sea of any in California. Below will be found a list of the raisin
centers in the county, with the number of acres and their altitude above
the sea. It must be understood that each locality has a large extension
as regards altitude, and varies in many instances several hundred feet;
this fact being indeed a characteristic of the San Bernardino county
vineyards. The raisin centers in San Bernardino county are:

  Riverside, 1,500 acres. Altitude above sea, 900 to 1,000 feet.
  Redlands,    800   “        “      “    “ 1,200  “ 1,600 feet.
  Highlands,   400   “        “      “    “          1,500 feet.
  Ontario,     500   “        “      “    “   983  “ 2,350 feet.
  Cucamonga,  ----   “        “      “    “   900  “ 1,500 feet.
  Etiwanda,    700   “        “      “    “          1,200 feet.

There are several other localities where raisin vineyards are found in
smaller quantities, and it is safe to estimate the number of acres in
the county at over five thousand. Nearly all these vineyards are
situated on mesa lands, by which is meant the lands situated between the
river bottoms and the foothills. As a consequence, the surface water is
never near the top, but generally far down, and even continued
irrigation would not be liable to raise it much higher, as the water
will as rapidly drain off through the substrata, which generally
consists of sandy soil and gravel. The land is in fact well drained, and
differs in this respect from the plains of the San Joaquin valley. In
Riverside, the surface water is from thirty to fifty feet down, and only
in one or two vineyards situated deep down in the _arroyo_ is the
surface water as shallow as ten feet. These latter vineyards are never
irrigated. In Redlands the surface water is at an average of thirty feet
on the mesa lands. In Ontario the surface water is even deeper, and
found at from seventy to eight hundred feet, and the shallowest water in
the district is, according to Mr. W. E. Collins, twenty-five feet below
the surface. It is the general belief in the San Bernardino district
that deep water is necessary for, or at least beneficial to, raisin
grapes, and that shallow surface water is conducive to all kinds of
diseases. In this I cannot agree, as contrary to my own experiences and
to the experiences of the Spanish growers.


_Climate._--As regards temperature, there is some difference in the
various districts. A true comparison between them and other districts is
almost impossible, as the signal service thermometers are placed at
unequal heights above the ground, and in localities with very different
characteristics. It can, however, be said that the winter climate of the
district is much milder during the winter than that of the plains of the
San Joaquin valley, and very similar to the Orange county and the San
Diego districts. In Riverside and Redlands, the thermometer seldom
reaches one hundred and nine degrees Fahrenheit in the shade during the
summer, and in winter seldom goes below twenty-four degrees Fahrenheit,
while twenty-eight or twenty-seven degrees Fahrenheit is no unusual
occurrence once every year, but is considered the extreme of the season.
It may thus be seen that raisin vineyards and orange orchards may be and
actually are grown side by side in every part of San Bernardino county,
and this is a distinct characteristic of the district, which, however,
it shares with Orange and San Diego counties. The warmest months are
August and September, and October is generally fine for drying. So is
November, and only twice (in 1885 and 1889) has there been any serious
difficulty in drying the grapes. In two other years the crop has
suffered slightly, but during the majority of seasons in the months of
November there has not been any rain on the mesa lands, and it is this
absence of fall rains which makes it possible for the raisin-grower to
dry his crop without any other appliances than raisin-trays. Dew and
fogs are very rare, and occur only very seldom during the summer months.
When they do occur at this time, they are of but short duration, and
last perhaps only from five to seven o’clock in the morning. In the fall
of the year, in October and November, the desert wind blows warm and
dry, and hastens the drying of the raisins. It may blow three or four
times during the season, but has also been known to be entirely absent.
The rain in the winter season is light, in Riverside twelve inches being
an exceptionally wet season. From six to eight inches are the usual
rainfall, while again the actual average for Riverside is six and
one-fourth inches. In Ontario the rainfall in 1887 was 8.21 inches, and
in 1888 9.23 inches.


_Irrigation._--In Riverside grapes cannot be grown without irrigation on
the mesa lands, with the exception of one or two localities in the
arroyo. In the Ontario district, raisin grapes may be grown without
irrigation in the center of the valley, but on the mesas, higher on the
sides, they must be irrigated, and even in localities where they could
be grown without artificial irrigation the same is always practiced
whenever it can be obtained. Less water is, however, needed than in the
San Joaquin valley, but more than would suffice in El Cajon. Through the
nature of the gravelly subsoil, the raisin land cannot fill up with
water. Seepage is only possible to a limited degree; summer irrigation
is always required. The vines are irrigated three times a year, in
April, June and August. The system of furrows is used, and a ten-inch
flow is considered enough to irrigate one acre of grapes during one day
and night each time. In Ontario the raisin grapes are irrigated every
five weeks, not, however, while they are in bloom, as it is considered
best to wait until the berries are well set. In Redlands, one irrigation
after the winter rain ceases is considered enough, even on soil with
thirty feet to water.


_Soils._--The soil in San Bernardino county varies considerably. In
Riverside and Redlands the best soil is a reddish loam, with some sand
and gravel. But in Riverside we also find sandy soil of lighter color
and strength, which, however, is less suited to grapes. In Ontario the
soil varies from a heavy clayey _adobe_ to a lighter but very rich sandy
loam of a grayish color. The very sandy soil in some river bottoms,
especially around Lugonia, has, through experience, been found to be
entirely unsuited to the raisin grapes.


_The Vineyards._--The variety used for raisins is nearly entirely the
Muscat of Alexandria, although several vineyardists call these grapes
incorrectly the Gordo Blanco. I saw nowhere this variety, but I suppose
some must have been imported there. In planting, cuttings have been
preferred, probably because they are the cheapest, and because the value
of rooted vines has not been properly understood. The vines are set,
almost everywhere, eight by eight, only in a few vineyards nine by nine
feet. There is, however, a growing belief that eight by ten feet or
eight by twelve feet is better than the old accepted eight by eight
feet. But I believe that this tendency to give the vines greater room
will, in course of time, be followed by the opposite tendency to plant
them closer, at least one way, and give more room the other way. The
Muscat of Alexandria begins to bear in three years, and in four years
will pay fifty dollars per acre. The practice of plowing is, in
Riverside, to first plow towards the vines in the fall, and then, when
the vegetation has begun in the spring, the soil is turned back towards
the center of the space between the rows, or from the vines. Then the
soil is cultivated with chisel-tooth cultivators, both crosswise and
lengthwise, also similarly after every irrigation. But this practice is
not entirely the same everywhere, and the different vineyardists have
here as elsewhere different ideas, even in regard to the most common
farm or vineyard practices. Pruning was formerly done much closer than
now, but it was found that by close pruning the vines bore less. To-day
from fifteen to twenty spurs are left on the strongest vines, and on
every spur about two eyes. From twenty to twenty-five spurs were found
to be too much; with such quantity of spurs the vines produce smaller
and inferior grapes. Some vines which were pruned with twenty-five spurs
last year have this year been given nine or ten spurs only, so as to
enable them again to recover and grow strong, when the quantity of spurs
will again be increased to fifteen. Summer pruning is used by some, but
not by others. It does not, according to observation, injure the vine,
but produces always a second crop, which is difficult to cure.
Sulphuring the vines is practiced by some, but not by all, growers. A
great many cannot see the use and value of sulphur. No one sulphurs for
colure or the dropping of the grape, which is quite a common occurrence.
The vines, however, never suffered from the leaf-hopper nor the grape
caterpillars, but sunscald is not uncommon, nor is black-knot.


_The Crop._--The Muscat grapes begin to ripen in Riverside later than in
the San Joaquin valley, and picking commences between the 10th and the
30th of September. Highlands is said to be two weeks later than
Riverside. The first crop is ready to turn in two weeks, and is ready
for the sweatbox in three weeks’ time. For drying, trays are used, and
about twenty pounds are placed on each tray. These trays are all made of
pine or fir. Redwood has been found unsuitable, as imparting both a
color and a taste to the raisins if accidentally wet by early showers
in the fall. Size of trays, two by three feet, with a cleat nailed at
the short ends, but none at the long ends of the trays. Sweatboxes
receive the raisins when they leave the trays. Formerly the sweatboxes
were much larger and deeper than now, eight or even twelve inches in
depth not being unknown. Of late sweatboxes are made two by three feet,
or of the exact size of the trays, and not over six inches in depth. A
greater depth makes the boxes too heavy to handle, and also causes the
bunches to break. The packing of the raisins in Riverside and in the
Southern California raisin districts generally is done by the method
known as “top up.” That is, the first raisins are placed in the bottom
of the box and successive layers are placed on top, until finally the
top layer is put on the last. The lever press for the compression of the
layers is a Riverside invention. A modification of this press is now in
use in nearly all districts where the “top-up” method of packing is
practiced. The brands packed are as follows: Three Crown London Layers,
Two Crown London Layers, Three Crown Loose Muscatels, Two Crown Loose
Muscatels, and Muscatels in sixty-pound sacks; also Seedless Muscatels
in sacks of sixty and thirty pounds respectively. Cotton sacks are
commonly used for the two latter brands. The brands are apt to vary from
year to year, according to the fancy or ideas of the packers, new ones
of which are in the field every year. Only those who both produce and
pack have anything like established brands. The prices paid for raisins
in sweatboxes have varied in different years. In 1887 and 1888, the
price was from four and one-half to five cents per pound. In 1889, the
price rose to five and five and three-fourths cents, and in one or two
instances six cents were paid.


_The Profits and Other Items._--The profit varies, of course, greatly,
but an average profit may be considered to be from about $125 to $150
per acre. The yield of an acre is variable, but from eight to ten tons
of fresh grapes is said not to have been uncommon. In some cases the
yield has been much higher and the profit larger. I have from
trustworthy source the statement that one vineyardist who owns only a
few acres, I believe only five, and who has given all his time and
attention to these vines, has realized as much as $430 per acre. This I
quote only as an instance of what might be done with care and expense in
an exceptionally favored locality. Some few growers have realized $250
profit on each of a few acres, which also is to be considered
exceptional. I believe my former statement of $150 per acre as being
reliable and attainable by all San Bernardino county raisin-growers who
have good land, and who give their vines sufficient care. As another
instance of a high yield, I copy below an account of the vintage of C.
Newton Ross of Etiwanda, San Bernardino county, California. The article
appeared in the _Press and Horticulturist_ of Riverside, September 27th,
and I have every reason to consider it trustworthy. The writer adds that
the yield is extraordinary. “Mr. Ross has seventeen acres of 8,000 vines
five years old from which he picked 8,648 trays of grapes that average
twenty-five pounds to the tray, or a total of 108 tons of grapes, which
will make thirty-six tons of raisins,--equal to 3,600 boxes,--over 200
boxes to the acre. This is the first picking only, and it is estimated
that the second crop will be half as large as the first, which will give
a total yield of 318 boxes to the acre. Mr. Ross has sold his first crop
at five and one-half cents per pound in the sweatbox, which will give
him an income of $242 an acre on the first crop, and half as much more
on the second crop if he succeeds in saving it in good shape, or a total
income of $363 per acre on his crop. Mr. Ross estimates that $50 an acre
will cover the entire cost of taking care of the vineyard and putting
the crop in the sweatbox, and this would leave him a net income of $313
an acre for his vineyard, which is ten per cent on $3,130 per acre.”
But, I may add, it is not likely that such a profit can be realized year
after year.

As regards care of the vineyard and expenses of running the same, they
vary, of course, and are estimated at from twenty dollars upwards. But
the best vineyardists spend from thirty to forty dollars per acre in the
care of an acre, but in this do not include interest, trays bought,
etc., nothing in fact but “care.”

Vines were first planted in Riverside by Judge John Wesley North in
1873. Vacant land that is suitable for raisins may be had with water for
$250 per acre. Some land with choice locations is held at higher prices.
The highest yield of raisins in San Bernardino has been 290,000 boxes in
1888. Of this Riverside produced 150,000 boxes, Etiwanda 30,000 boxes,
and Ontario 15,000 boxes. The raisin shipments from Riverside during the
fall of 1889, up to December 12th, amounted, according to the _Daily
Press_, to 216,000 boxes. There was a balance on hand of 7,000 boxes,
making the total production 223,000 boxes. It is estimated that the
value of this crop was $3,500,000 at wholesale. Later advices give to
the county 265,000 boxes as last season’s crop. The San Bernardino
raisins are superior both as regards quality and size, and raisin
growing and curing is a profitable business, eminently suited to the
settler with small means, who cannot invest large capital, nor can
afford to wait long for a return. No dipped or sulphured raisins have
ever been produced in the district, although dipped raisins would prove
profitable. Especially does this refer to the second crop, which ripens
enough to make good raisins, but which cannot be cured when the early
rains set in.


ORANGE COUNTY AND SANTA ANA.


_General Remarks._--On account of the vine disease which has been
injuring the Orange county raisin and wine vineyards, this district has
a special interest to every one engaged in grape-growing. While the
country has received a hard blow through the injury and destruction of
so many of its vineyards, still it is likely that it will recover and
rise as soon as the vine disease leaves.


_Location._--The Orange county raisin district lies close to the sea. Of
all raisin districts, it is nearest the ocean, the average distance of
the raisin vineyards from the latter being eight to twelve miles, some
few perhaps a little more. As will be seen, the district resembles in
this respect some of the Mediterranean districts, such as Malaga and
Smyrna, where the vineyards come within actual reach of the sea fogs. On
one side of the Orange county district we have the ocean, on the
opposite side it is bordered by rather high foothills, beyond which are
the San Bernardino county vineyards, some forty to sixty miles away.

[Illustration: A Raisin-grower’s Residence at Fresno.]


_Climate._--The nearness to the ocean modifies the climate much. The
temperature is more even all the year round than anywhere else on the
coast where raisins are grown. The extreme of heat is 105 degrees; in
fact, July 27, 1889, it was 104 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, while
in the winter it seldom goes lower than 28 degrees Fahrenheit, and
indeed very, very rarely as low as that. In many places there is no
frost at all, except, perhaps, one in April, which, of course, cannot
but prove damaging to the vines. This absence of heavy frost, which is
beneficial to every other semi-tropical product, is not favorable to the
vine. The grape requires heavy frost to become dormant. The farther
south we go the less frost and the less grapes, at least of the Asiatic
kind. There are, as we know, native grapes even in tropical countries,
but they are adapted to their surroundings and cannot be considered
here. The proximity to the coast modifies the air considerably. With 100
degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, which is an exception here, I felt as
warm as I do in the San Joaquin valley with the mercury at 114;--the two
extremes in both places affect us just the same. The air here is
certainly much more moist, which again must have a marked effect upon
the vine, and in no small degree promote fungoid growths, or parasites
generally. In this respect, then, the coast vineyard must certainly be
at a disadvantage. The fog is not an unusual visitor in the district
between the coast and the foothills, which, in fact, covers the whole
area ever planted in raisin grapes. For days in succession every morning
is foggy, and the fog condenses on the leaves of the trees and falls
under them in real showers, making the adjoining and underlying road
wet. For a few days again the sun will rise bright, again to be followed
by foggy mornings. By from nine to eleven o’clock the fog is again gone
and the sun shines brightly. Every evening and morning there is a heavy
dew, and every branch, leaf or grass is then dripping wet. Several
mornings when the fog was in I found the thermometer at 62 degrees
Fahrenheit, while at noon it rose to over 100.


_Soils and Ripening._--The soil here is the very best, and I doubt if
the same fine quality of soil is found anywhere else in California over
the same extended territory. I ride for miles and miles, everywhere the
finest and richest loam of a gray color, sometimes a little drawing
towards slate blue, sometimes again towards yellowish. It is immensely
rich, and can hardly be improved. There is, however, especially near
Orange, a different kind of soil consisting of the sand loam, but
intermixed with very coarse gravel. This soil is warmer but consequently
not so rich. The grapes ripen on it two weeks earlier, but yield only
one-half as much as those on the richest loam along the creeks. The
vines planted here were alone the Muscat of Alexandria. Strangely enough
I find no traces of Sultanas or currant, which latter, it seems, should
be especially adapted to the coast climate.


_The Vineyards._--In planting a vineyard, rooted vines were seldom used.
Cuttings grew so readily and so well that they were much preferred. I
am told that five per cent loss was unusual. It must be remarked that
the moister is the air the better it is for any kind of cuttings. The
moisture sustains and nourishes the wood while it is making roots. As to
distances, I remarked nothing new. Eight by eight or eight by ten feet
seems the generally adopted way. The nature of the soil and climate make
higher cultivation a necessity. McPherson Bros., who packed the largest
quantity of raisins and owned the finest vineyards, told me that they
plowed and cross-plowed and cultivated from fourteen to sixteen times
every season; in fact they never ceased working the ground. The pruning
was begun in December, or as soon as the leaves began to turn and fall.
To begin with, only a few spurs were left on every vine, and on every
spur three eyes, including the bottom eyes, but experience taught that
that way was not the very best. Gradually more space was given the
vines, and now from fifteen to twenty spurs to a vine in full bearing is
considered proper. Summer pruning is only practiced in some of the
vineyards where the ground is quite wet. The most profitable vineyards
were irrigated. The nearer the coast the more moisture there is in the
soil. Thus three miles west of Santa Ana the ground is always moist
enough to grow grapes, but as we come nearer the foothills to the east,
the moisture is farther down. At Tustin, Orange, and especially at
McPherson, irrigation was practiced in all first-class vineyards. Some
were irrigated in the winter only, and this was considered the best;
others again were irrigated also once in summer,--a practice the best
vineyardmen considered unnecessary and even injurious. I found land near
the town of Santa Ana moist one inch below the surface, where no
irrigation had even been practiced. Sulphuring was used everywhere to
counteract the oidium. For this purpose powdered sulphur was dusted
through the vines as soon as the grapes were as large as small shot.
From three to four sulphurings were used every year with a week between
each. Sulphuring for the colure or dropping of grapes was not known; in
fact I am informed that this colure was seldom known. Besides mildew,
there are few enemies to the vine here. Grasshoppers, leaf-hoppers and
grape moths have never been known to molest the vines. When the late
vine-plague struck the country the vineyardists were entirely unused to
fight any enemy of the vines besides the oidium. Sunscald of the berries
was not known.


_The Crop and its Curing._--The grapes begin to ripen in the end of
August, say about the twenty-fifth, on the gravelly soil, but on the
cooler and richer bottom land very much later, or about the middle of
September. The harvest then begins; the grapes are picked on trays two
and a half by three feet and placed to dry in the sun; the drying takes
two or three weeks or more, and is accomplished with some difficulty.
Two years the grapes had to be carried out to the Mojave desert, to be
dried there. The trays are placed among the vines in such a way that the
trays from three rows are placed in one. To protect them from the fog
and dew, they are covered with canvas. This is done in two ways. One way
is to put small pegs on one side of the trays. The long canvas is
furnished at intervals with rings, which are slipped over the pegs and
thus held steady on one side. In the daytime the other end of the canvas
is simply thrown back over the pegs; in the night-time the canvas is
again turned over the trays, resting directly on the grapes. The other
and better way is to run three wires along the row of trays, one on each
side of the trays. The canvas is furnished with rings on each long side,
which are made to run on the wire. The center wire is run a little
higher up, and here and there simply supported by posts. It takes
comparatively little time every evening to run the canvas along the
wires and cover the trays. The expense is considerable, both in
furnishing and preparing the canvas, and in maintaining and operating
it. The peculiar climatic conditions of the district, however,
necessitate some such contrivance for the drying of the grapes. The
vines seldom bear a second crop of any importance. Sometimes in October
the district is visited by a warm and dry desert wind called the Santa
Ana wind. It comes from the cañon of the Santa Ana river, and
originates, no doubt, in the Mojave desert, and rising high up in the
air is again precipitated over the hills on the lowlands towards the
ocean. This Santa Ana wind is always welcome. It hastens the drying of
the grapes just as the _Terral_ or land winds from the plains of La
Mancha hasten the drying of the grapes of Malaga in Spain.


_Yield and Profits._--The yield is quite small on the gravelly soil, at
the most being three tons of green grapes to the acre, on richer land
from six to seven tons, and in rare instances ten tons to the acre. I
heard of one vineyard where the owner had sold from twenty acres of
Muscatels thirty-three tons of raisins and fifty-six tons of green
grapes, equal to about 155 tons from the lot. Another lot of three-year
Muscatels bore ten tons to the acre,--indeed a very unusual yield
anywhere for Muscatels. I hear reports of some wonderful yields and high
profits, but am informed by the most experienced and trustworthy that
$125 per acre is an average profit which can be relied upon year after
year. The first Muscat vines were planted near Orange, now the station
of McPherson, about 1873, by McPherson Bros. The acreage in grapevines
in the Orange county district was about 8,000 acres; but probably over
half of it is wine grapes. The highest output of raisins was 170,000
boxes of twenty-pounds each.


SAN DIEGO AND EL CAJON.


_Location and Acreage._--The El Cajon and Sweetwater valleys are the
raisin centers of San Diego county. The former contains about four
thousand acres of Muscat vines, the latter about five hundred acres.
Magnificent-looking Muscat grapes are also grown within three miles of
San Diego. Escondido is by many pronounced superior for raisin grapes to
any of the other places; but El Cajon is the present center of the
raisin industry, and is likely to remain so for years. The
raisin-growing section of the two valleys lies from about fifteen to
seventeen miles from the coast line, and at an altitude of from 450 to
500 feet. The arable land in El Cajon valley contains 50,000 acres, or
perhaps less, and consists of the rolling bottom of the valley, but
which can in no way be classed as bottom land. The land partakes more
of the characteristics of mesa or upland, and extends on all sides,
slightly undulating upon the sides of the hills. Lower hills and behind
them, again, higher hills surround the valley, and the high peaks beyond
the Cuyamaca Mountains reach 4,500 feet or more. None of these hills or
mountains in sight are covered with timber of any kind, and even the
valleys are without the usual sycamores. Only in the very narrow bottom
of the creek is there a vegetation of willows and shrubbery.


_Climate and Rainfall._--The rainfall of the valley varies considerably.
It has been known to be as little as six inches and as much as twenty,
the average probably being about twelve inches, distributed as generally
elsewhere in California,--during the winter months. In summer time it
seldom rains,--perhaps a shower in two or three years. September is the
warmest month, or at least the month with the greatest number of warm
days. The highest temperature reached in the shade in El Cajon is 105
degrees Fahrenheit, and in Sweetwater valley 108, and the coldest in the
winter twenty-four degrees Fahrenheit on the upper mesa land, while on
the lower land, close to the river, the temperature falls low enough to
kill orange trees, probably somewhere about eighteen degrees Fahrenheit.
September is freer from fog than any other month. During the other
summer months there is fog in the morning two days out of three. The
fog, however, is warm and pleasant to all but consumptives, but,
nevertheless, leaves behind a soaking dew on all vegetation, and is even
heavy enough to moisten the dust on the roads. The moisture on this mesa
land--by which is meant all the land between the hills, which are too
steep to be plowed, and the actual river bottom lands--is near the
surface. In the El Cajon and Sweetwater valleys, the water is found on
this mesa at from eight to twenty feet, or at an average of from twelve
to fifteen feet. On little hills or knobs in the valley the water is
found at about the same depth. It is strange that with the water so near
the surface no perennial vegetation of either shrubbery or trees should
be found on this land. The grapevines will grow on it without
irrigation; in fact none is used anywhere now, but no doubt it would
prove profitable to irrigate somewhat, so as to increase the crops of
grapes. Water can be had through the Cuyamaca flume, but has so far not
been used. The vines do not grow after August 1st, and may stop growing
sooner.


_Soils._--The soils of the district are of four kinds: First, reddish
clay mixed with gravel, the color changing between light chocolate and
deep reddish. This soil is considered by many the most desirable.
Second, a steel or slate gray adobe with much gravel of a coarse nature.
Third, black adobe with little gravel. Fourth, alluvial sandy soil,
apparently consisting of decomposed granite mixed with much vegetable
matter. This soil is coarse, of a dark steel-gray color, very easily
worked; it is considered the best for raisins, but it contains streaks
where they will not grow and prove profitable. The last-named soil goes
gradually over into common alluvial soil of a sandy nature. The two
last-named soils are found principally in the Sweetwater valley.


_The Vines and the Vineyard._--In planting, cuttings are generally used,
not because they are most preferred, but because good rooted vines
cannot be obtained. The distance to, and the difficulty of reaching,
this district was formerly such that roots would suffer in transit and
would rapidly dry, while cuttings could be had handy and fresh. The
vines, originally planted eight by eight feet, have been given more
distance of late, some vineyardists planting them eight by twelve feet,
while others prefer twelve by twelve or ten by twelve feet. The
varieties used are the Muscat of Alexandria only. This variety happened
to be the one that was imported first from Riverside, I believe, and it
was afterwards propagated by every one. The variety as grown in El Cajon
is the type of Muscat of Alexandria with oblong berries, large clusters
with loosely hanging berries and large strong stems. The shape of the
vines is erect, with a few center shoots, strong and upright. The vines
commence bearing the second year, and are said to pay expenses of caring
for in the third year, but I think it would be safer to say in the
fourth year.

As regards cultivation and plowing, many plow both ways and harrow and
cultivate crosswise several times until the 1st of June, when, on
account of the dryness of the soil, no more weeds start and no
cultivation of any kind is needed. The large majority of the vineyards
are splendidly kept, not a weed being seen anywhere for miles around.
Winter pruning commences as soon as the leaves fall. In former years
from five to nine spurs were left in pruning and two or three eyes on
each spur, but it has been found profitable and judicious to leave more
spurs, so as to take the sap in the spring, and now from twelve to
fifteen spurs with two or three eyes each are left every winter. Spring
or summer pruning has only been practiced the last two seasons, and
being found very profitable is now adopted by everybody. The vines are
not pinched, but headed well back as soon as the grapes are well set.
This method has in this district the following advantages: It gives
better shade to the bunches on account of the production of a strong
second growth; it causes the bunches to fill better, and, finally, it
leaves more room between the rows of the vines. I was told that any of
these three advantages would warrant the system of summer pruning to be
generally adopted. The valley has been unusually free from any insect
pest, such as leaf-hoppers (_Erythroneura comes_) caterpillars,
grasshoppers, etc., but suffers from mildew, not, however, to the extent
that the presence of almost daily fogs would lead us to suppose.
Sulphuring is now practiced to some extent, but not as much as it should
be. The sulphur is applied with bellows as soon as the berries are the
size of shot, but not before. Sulphuring for colure, or the dropping of
the grapes when very small, is not practiced, nor was it ever suspected
that it would help. Colure is quite common, much more so on sandy soil.
Sunscald is frequent but not bad. I saw quite a number of grapes scalded
on every vine, but not enough to warrant any special measures to be
taken as a protection. The grapes have during this and last year ripened
by the first days of September, but it is generally much later, or at
about the 10th of September, when the vintage usually commences. The
picking was, until last year, done by white labor, but the same was so
very difficult to obtain that Chinese were then employed. They gave
satisfaction to some, while to others not. Some of the principal growers
are this year (1889) going to employ Chinese help at $1.25 per day, at
which price they board themselves.


_The Crop._--The grapes are dried on redwood trays made of sawed redwood
shingles, three-eighths of an inch thick. The trays are made two by
three feet. The best growers are this year going to assort the grapes
when putting them on the trays. This was never done before, but will be
of great advantage. A tray will average eighteen pounds of fresh grapes,
which will take about one month to dry,--never less than three weeks.
There is but little second crop, generally none that can be saved.
September is the warmest month, or else the grapes could not be dried.
At a temperature of 103 degrees Fahrenheit, it was found that grapes
scalded or cooked while on the trays. This is, however, very rarely the
case. From ninety-five to one hundred degrees is considered the best
temperature at which the best raisins are made. The sweatboxes used
formerly were two by three feet and ten inches deep; but of late eight
inches and six inches in depth is considered the best, on account of the
facility with which they can be handled. As to packing, many advocate
twenty-pound boxes, that are only four and one-half inches deep,
contending that they will hold twenty pounds of loose raisins. Few
Dehesas are put up, the general brands being three crown London layers,
and three crown loose Muscats. Some are also put up in fancy paper
boxes. This year the valley has two packing companies, who buy raisins
in sweatboxes, and pay from four to five and a half cents per pound. The
yield per acre is from two to three tons of green grapes, I should say
this year nearer two than three tons. I saw, however, some that would
average five tons per acre, but this land was favorably situated in a
moister place than is generally found in Sweetwater valley, and the
vines were yet growing on August 21st. I heard of much greater yields,
so extraordinary indeed that they are not likely to return again. From
five to seven tons to the acre is a really rare yield, even on the best
land, where the water is within six or seven feet of the surface. This
shows me conclusively that judicious irrigation would materially
increase the crop, and greatly improve the uniform size of the berries.
The profit on an acre of bearing Muscat vines is from fifty to one
hundred and twenty-five dollars per acre. The latter is the most any one
realized, and thirty-five dollars is considered a good profit. The
expense of running a vineyard is hard to ascertain, but those best
informed told me that forty dollars per acre would be an average; this
of course includes everything. The small amount of weeds and the absence
of irrigation materially lessens the expenses of the El Cajon vineyards.

Good vineyard or raisin land can be had for seventy-five dollars per
acre. No vineyards in bearing have changed hands. Last year’s (1888)
pack of the whole of San Diego county was variously estimated at from
twenty to thirty thousand boxes, and this year at sixty thousand boxes
of twenty pounds each.

The unanimous verdict of the best growers in El Cajon is that want of
moisture is the greatest drawback to raisin culture there. And I agree
with them in this, but also think it might to some extent be remedied,
as water for irrigation is close at hand. At last I must say a few words
as to the quality of the El Cajon and Sweetwater valley raisins. They
are very sweet, highly flavored, the skin is thin, and the seeds are
small and few. But while some of the berries are of very large size,
there are comparatively few which would be considered large, and even
the best bunches have too many small berries. The grapes that had plenty
of water were simply magnificent, and a general irrigation system would
greatly improve the size of the grapes, as well as the quality of the
crop. The best selected raisins from this valley must be counted as
among the very best. The constant fog injures the bloom on the raisins
to some extent, and most raisins that I saw were in this respect
deficient; but their color generally was very good. The Sweetwater
valley raisins are in this respect finer than those of El Cajon; they
are also farther inland, and have less fog. The Escondido raisins are
said to be superior, but I saw none of them. While many vines have been
planted in this locality of late, only one or two small vineyards are in
bearing.


OTHER RAISIN DISTRICTS.

Of late raisin grapes have been planted in considerable quantities in
Salt river valley and in Gila river valley in Arizona, but the outcome
of the venture is yet unknown, at least to us. The growers of Arizona
claim for their localities the advantage of great earliness, as the
grapes ripen there in July, or a month earlier than in California.

In the Argentine Republic in South America it is said that the Spanish
immigrants have planted many raisin grapes during the last few years. In
Australia we are also informed that dipped raisins, and perhaps even
sun-dried ones, have been produced, but even there the result is unknown
to us. So far these raisins have cut no figure in the general market,
but it is not improbable that many localities in those vast countries
will be found where Muscat grapes can be profitably grown and cured.




CLIMATIC CONDITIONS, SOILS, LOCATION AND IRRIGATION.


CLIMATIC CONDITIONS FAVORABLE AND UNFAVORABLE TO THE RAISIN INDUSTRY.


_Limits of the Raisin Districts._--It is an interesting fact, and by no
means a coincidence, that the raisin districts of the world are found on
or between the same latitudes. Thus we find the California districts
between latitudes 32°, 75´ and 38°, 75´. The latitude of Smyrna is 38°,
28´, 7´´, that of Malaga in Spain 36°, 75´, Valencia 39°, 25´, Denia
38°, 50´, the Grecian Islands and Morea 37° and 38°, and finally Huasco
in Chile 28° south latitude. That the latter place is situated so much
farther south or so much nearer the equator cannot exactly be considered
exceptional, as it conforms with the general characteristics of the
Southern hemispheres as compared with those on the northern half of the
globe. In Europe the Muscat grape for raisin purposes is not a success
north of the fortieth degree of latitude. While the limits in California
and Chile are not yet fully ascertained, it may be presumed that, as far
as regards this country, these limits will not differ very much from
those of Spain and Asia Minor. Only years if not centuries of experience
will finally decide where and where not raisin grapes can be grown and
cured to perfection. While the vines and the grapes can be grown in many
places, the proper curing of the raisins is attended with more or less
difficulty in the various districts. With proper modes of curing the
grapes, and by protecting them from the inclemencies of the weather, the
limits of the successful raisin districts may be extended considerably
both north and south.


_Dry Seasons, Spring and Fall Rains._--The climate of the Mediterranean
basin, as well as of the raisin districts of the New World, present the
peculiarity of having only two distinct seasons, one dry and warm, and
one cold and wet. There are other parts of the world also characterized
by a dry and a wet season, for instance Mexico and Central America,
etc., but they differ in the important point, that whereas the climate
of the raisin districts is dry during the growing or summer season,
Mexico has then its greatest rainfall. While grape-growing may not be
impossible under such circumstances, the curing and drying of raisins is
impossible, except with the aid of costly and burdensome appliances, the
expense of which will very much increase the cost of producing the
raisins. The climate of the raisin centers is by no means uniform. As a
rule, the farther north we go the less is the distinction between the
dry and the wet season, the shorter is the former and the longer the
season of rain. Experience shows that the less this distinction between
the seasons is marked, and the shorter the rainless season, the less
favorable is the climate for the raisin industry. The longer the dry
season, and the less rain during the same, the more favorable is the
locality for raisin drying and curing, supposing, of course, other
necessary conditions are not absent. This absence of summer rains and
cold fog is the most important climatic condition, and the one that more
than any other decides upon the advantages of any certain locality for
the industry under our consideration. A perusal of the reports from the
different raisin districts will convince us of this. For California we
need not refer to any special reports, as the newspapers are full of
them every year from May to November, and it will suffice to state that
any large amount of rain after the beginning of June, and especially in
September, October and November, when the raisins are curing, is
considered very detrimental, and sure to cause much loss. Heavy and
continued rainfall during the drying season would not only injure the
raisins, but might even totally ruin the crop. Any district where year
after year such showers occur, would not be considered favorable for the
raisin industry, and would no doubt be given up to something else. To
show that these same conditions also exist in the Mediterranean raisin
districts, we will here quote a few extracts from the United States
consular reports from there. Consul W. E. Stevens, United States consul
at Smyrna, writes:[5] “It happens occasionally that rain falls during
the vintage time, causing heavy loss to growers through the inevitable
deterioration in quality. This was the case last season (1883), and
large quantities of raisins were in consequence shipped to France to be
made into spirits.” From Valencia another consul writes: “In the event
of wet and damp weather, the hurdles (or grape mats) are piled up in
sheds covered with mats or painted canvas. Of course in this case the
drying is retarded, the quality of the fruit deteriorates, and the
expense and labor of curing are considerably increased.” Two years ago
ten thousand tons were thus damaged in the Denia district. While the
Mediterranean districts are comparatively rainless during the summer
time, still they are far less so than California. The rainy and dry
seasons there are less distinct than with us.

  [5] Consular Reports, No. 41½, June, 1884, page 745.

Among the Grecian Islands, the production of currants is confined to
only a few localities, principally on account of the untimely rainfall
on the other islands. Dr. Davy (_Ionian Islands_, page 320) tells us:
“The attempts to extend the culture of the currant to some other islands
have been only partial, and attended with doubtful success. This, it is
to be understood, is not owing, as has been asserted, to any unfitness
of the soil on other islands, as it is analogous on them all, but rather
to some difference of climate, especially about the times of ripening,
gathering and drying of the fruit, consisting in greater liability to
rain, a heavy fall of which is ruinous to the crop, and which, during
the period of gathering in the currant islands, is considered a great
calamity.” But even in Zante and Cephalonia in Greece, the crop is
sometimes greatly injured on account of rain. Thus in 1857 a crop of
fifty thousand tons was expected, but disastrous rains in August injured
the raisin grapes to such an extent that seventeen thousand tons were
totally destroyed, and twelve thousand tons became unfit for anything
else than distilling. Malaga in Spain, which of all the districts most
resembles California, has undergone similar experiences, both damaging
and ruinous.

It is thus that the fall rains are everywhere feared the most, the more
so where they may be expected with regularity, and where the district is
so situated that the heat of the sun is not powerful enough to rapidly
dry the injured crop. Thus in Valencia the rains are feared more than at
Malaga. In the latter place the sun is powerful enough to dry the
raisins, and only repeated showers would injure the crop. Our experience
is very much the same, and the early fall rains in the northern part of
the State are to be feared much more than rains at the same time farther
south, where a few showers would soon be succeeded by warm weather, and
a hot sun powerful enough to dry the partially cured grapes. On account
of local conditions, certain parts of Central California are freer from
these fall rains than the more southern districts, but this disadvantage
is counteracted by the greater amount of warm weather and drying winds
just at a time when they are most needed. But while the southern part of
the State is in this respect not as favorably situated as some other
parts, the disadvantage is greatly counteracted by the warmer and drier
fall weather in October and November, and by drying winds which are
often able to desiccate the moistened raisins in a very few days.

Spring rains in May or even in the early part of June cannot be
considered greatly detrimental to the vines. On the contrary, if only
occurring at long intervals, one or two showers say during the season,
they are rather beneficial than otherwise. In California I have never
known them to injure the crop, except if accompanied by heavy hail. Much
alarm is regularly felt every time such a shower happens to come, but
after it is well over it will generally be found that the vines look
fresher and better, the ozone and ammonia which was brought down by the
rain having acted as powerful fertilizers for the grape-leaves, and
increased their vigor and growth. The only thing that might prove
injurious at this or any other time of the growing season would be
continued cloudy weather before or after such showers, which would cause
mildew. Such weather has to my knowledge never been experienced.
Occasionally spring rains also bring frost, and this of course is one of
the greatest enemies of the raisin-vines.


_Winter Rains._--In order that the raisin grapes may develop and mature
without the aid of irrigation, the winter rains should be sufficient to
keep the soil moist during the dry months. The absolute quantity of rain
thus necessary varies in different localities. In California, generally,
we would say that from twenty to twenty-four inches of rain would be
required every year to keep the soil sufficiently moist to grow Muscatel
grapes without irrigation. The nearer we go to the coast the less
rainfall is required to supply this moisture, and the farther we go
inland, the more elevated the land, the less rain is needed. Thus a
regular rainfall of twenty-four inches would possibly not suffice on the
low plains of the San Joaquin valley, while in El Cajon in San Diego
county one-half of this rainfall is enough to grow the vines and mature
small crops of very good and superior grapes.

It matters not from where the moisture comes,--from rain, seepage, moist
air or irrigation,--as long as it is not present in excess nor too
scant. In El Cajon valley the moisture appears to be held in suspense in
impervious strata, or perhaps in strata which contain and preserve the
moisture as does a sponge. In parts of Chile, as well as in Malaga and
Smyrna, the winter rainfall is sufficient to grow crops of fair size and
good quality, but it is almost certain that judicious irrigation in any
of these places proves beneficial and remunerative. Of all the present
raisin districts, Smyrna enjoys the greatest rainfall, often as much as
thirty odd inches of rain. Of localities which grow raisins profitably
with the least possible amount of rain, and without irrigation, Huasco
and El Cajon take the lead. In Central California, as well as in San
Bernardino county, no raisin culture would be possible with the natural
rainfall. In foreign countries, Valencia and the Grecian Islands, as
well as Morea, are similarly situated in not having sufficient rainfall
to produce paying crops.

As a rule it may be said that, where the rainfall is sufficient to grow
the Muscats without irrigation and cause them to bear good crops, the
fall rains are also too frequent and too injurious to the drying grapes
to allow a profitable raisin cult. The proper amount of moisture
necessary to perfect the grapes cannot be ascertained by the aid of the
rain gauge. While, as we have said, from twenty to thirty inches may be
enough in Smyrna, from seven to ten inches suffice in El Cajon, and in
Chile even less is required. The proper amount of moisture can best be
told by the state of growth of the vines. The vines must have moisture
enough to be kept growing up to the very time of the maturity of the
grapes. The proper sign of this is the green and fresh color of the
young shoots or the tips, combined with a certain vigor of the tendrils.
When the tips cease to grow, and the tendrils begin to dry up, then the
moisture has begun to give out, and irrigation should have been resorted
to; the winter rains were not sufficient.


_Frosts in Spring and Winter._--One of the frequent effects of spring
showers is spring frosts. They are always injurious to the tender Muscat
vine, and if occurring more than once during the same spring may
entirely ruin the crop. In California such frosts occur sometimes in
April, and observations inform us that they are most to be feared
between the tenth and fifteenth of that month, while sometimes they come
even later. The young buds are then either opening or fully developed
into shoots, which the lightest frost will blacken and cause to dry up.
Where the vines are irrigated and strong, one such frost may not ruin
the crop, as new buds will start out in place of the old ones destroyed,
and new shoots and new blossoms will come out. I have seen as many as
three such crops of shoots develop from the winter buds, but each
succeeding crop of such shoots is weaker than the preceding one, and
bears less and later grapes. Happily, these frosts occur but very seldom
in the Central and Southern California raisin districts, and during
fifteen years of observation I have seen only three such frost years in
which the branches were partially injured. In neither of these seasons
was the crop materially injured as to quantity, the principal effect of
the frost being a retarding of the crop for a week or more. Smoking of
vineyards can only be successfully carried out in small valleys
sheltered from heavy winds, but on the open plains such smoking is
accompanied with difficulties, and its effect is uncertain. The growing
of a limited number of windbreaks has in the Fresno district no doubt
modified the climate, and made spring frosts rarer and less to be
feared.

While the spring frosts are injurious to the grapes, winter frosts are
on the other hand most beneficial, if not necessary to a continued
raisin cult. The raisin grape must have a season of recuperation, and
winter frost is the only climatic phenomenon which, without injury to
the vine, can procure it that rest which is so necessary for all
deciduous trees, by nature destined to enjoy alternate periods of growth
and sleep. The absence of frost causes the sap of the vine to circulate
more or less in the wood, and the vine never ceases to grow. This is one
of the reasons why our deciduous vines do not succeed well in the
tropics, where there are no cold seasons to cause the leaves to fall and
the sap to become dormant. In the tropics, therefore, our deciduous
vines keep on growing, set little or no fruit, and prove unprofitable.
This phenomenon is shared there with other trees, and peaches, pears and
apples act in the same manner. They all appear to need the rest afforded
them by the winter frosts. It is also a question of very great
importance, whether the continued and unnatural activity of the vine, at
a time when it should be dormant, does not invite diseases of various
kinds, which find the exhausted vines unfit to withstand their ravages.
It may be possible that _mal nero_, the vine plague and other similar
and as yet insufficiently understood diseases, are especially
destructive to vines growing in frost-free climates, while in colder
climates they make but little headway, the vines as it were being
protected by the heavy frosts, which either kill the enemies of the vine
or enable the latter to gather the necessary strength to battle with
them through the growing season. There can be little doubt that at
present the healthiest vineyards are those growing in countries where
winter frosts are severe, but on the other hand we know that grapevines
have been growing for ages in temperate climates, where the frosts, even
if not entirely unknown, are still of very rare occurrence.


_Summer Temperature_.--The temperature in summer time must be sufficient
to properly ripen the grapes, but must not be so great as to injure them
either while they hang on the vines, or while they are exposed to dry on
the trays. The average heat required to do the work of maturing is not
exactly known, but it is certain that a very high degree is not
absolutely needed to produce sweet grapes. As far as our experience
goes, it seems that cool weather, with the average temperature of ninety
degrees Fahrenheit, would be most beneficial in the fore part of the
season, while when the grapes begin to ripen a greater heat is
desirable. It is not the warmest countries nor the warmest seasons which
produce the earliest grapes. Thus while the season of 1888 was in
California unusually cool, with the thermometer seldom reaching one
hundred degrees in June and July, the raisin season was nevertheless a
very early one, and much earlier than seasons remarkable for their early
high temperature. In Malaga and Smyrna, the heat seldom reaches one
hundred degrees, and the grapes ripen several weeks earlier than in
Fresno, where the summer temperature averages ten degrees higher. In
Fresno, on the contrary, the season is earlier than in Southern
California, where probably the seabreezes retard the ripening of the
grapes. A temperature of over one hundred and five degrees proves
injurious to unprotected or exposed grapes in the central region of
California, but in San Diego county several degrees less is sufficient
to scald the grapes or give them a cooked flavor if they are already
exposed on the trays to dry. It is certain that with an average highest
temperature of ninety degrees, the grapes develop better and become
larger and sweeter than where the heat is excessive and reaches one
hundred and ten degrees or more.[6]

  [6] Whenever the temperature is referred to it means the degree of
  heat (Fahrenheit) in the shade, and not in the sun except when so
  expressly stated.

The time when the greatest temperature occurs is of practical
importance. Excessive heat can be tolerated by grapes protected by
leaves and branches or otherwise sheltered, but if it happens at a time
when the bunches are exposed to dry on the trays, the injury to the
berries will be great or even ruinous. Early localities are especially
apt to suffer in this way, and it is well to experiment before too much
confidence is placed in very early regions. To such places, however,
there remains the possibility of curing the raisins in partial shade, as
is done in Chile, thus producing raisins of an entirely different type
from the Malaga or California product.


_Winds, Injurious or Beneficial._--In the California raisin districts
hot, electrical winds are much feared in the months of June and July, or
before the grapes have begun to ripen. In the San Joaquin valley these
winds come from the northwest and sweep down over the vines, often
scorching the leaves and frequently drying the berries on the exposed
side. In the course of a few days the berries dry up entirely, and the
whole bunch is lost. These drying winds are not peculiar to any certain
part of California, but occur from time to time in every raisin district
on the coast, in the south as well as in the center, on the coast as
well as inland. The remedy is to grow the vines low and to keep the
berries well covered. The planting of windbreaks will also modify these
winds, and in places where they formerly were common they have now
entirely ceased or become so modified that they cause no injury to the
grapes, but prove even beneficial on account of the quicker and better
maturing of the fruit. In certain districts, especially in San
Bernardino and in Orange, some very drying winds are experienced late in
the season,--in September and October. For the raisin-growers these
winds are a blessing. They quickly dry the exposed grapes, which have
been retarded in drying, or perhaps even injured by a previous shower of
rain or by continued heavy dews. These winds are undoubtedly desert
winds, and similar to the Terral of Malaga, which, sweeping over the
inland plains of La Mancha, reach the coast vineyards and quickly mature
the grapes. In Malaga there is also a moist southern wind, the Levante,
which retards the ripening and the curing of the grapes, and which must
be considered as our southwesterly fall winds, which, saturated with
moisture, swell the overdried raisins as well as prevent the yet green
grapes from drying. They are precursors of the rainy season, and warn
the grower to prepare his dryer if he possess one. In Greece and Smyrna
such hot or moist winds are also known and feared, and cause at times
much damage in one way or another. We might here also mention the cold
“northers” which are common in the California raisin districts in
springtime, and which sometimes both cause the young shoots to break off
from the old wood and make it easy for the mildew to attack the flowers
or the young berries of the vines. Against these northwest winds we have
two remedies, summer pruning and sulphuring, which, if applied in time,
are both quite effective.


_Fogs and Moisture in the Air._--It is certain that the air in the
California raisin districts is much drier than that of the Spanish or
Mediterranean districts generally. The night air is, in these districts,
loaded with moisture, and dew is heavy and frequent, even in the middle
of the summer. The air in Malaga and Smyrna feels quite moist, and
without this moisture in the air the vines would grow less and require
irrigation. In these places the raisin grapes grow on the steep
hillsides without irrigation, but in California this could not be done
anywhere except in El Cajon or in other parts of the San Diego district,
where the air is considerably moister than elsewhere. This increased
moisture is partly caused by the increased rainfall in these districts,
and partly by their nearness to the sea and fogs. This moisture in the
air will, when other conditions are equal, greatly benefit the grapes,
causing them to grow larger, and the thickness of the skin is materially
diminished. Combined with this moisture in the air, fogs are injurious
or indifferent. There is always a great difference between warm fogs and
cold fogs, and now I speak principally of fogs from the ocean. Warm fogs
are not particularly injurious to the grapes, generally indifferent and
sometimes even considerable of a benefit to the proper development of
the grapes. In Malaga, San Diego and in Chile the Muscat grapes grow and
thrive actually within the reach of the spray of the waves, and fogs are
there not uncommon, but they are warm. It would seem that such a climate
would cause mildew or oidium, but I cannot find that these fungi are
particularly frequent in San Diego county, while in Malaga they are but
little more common than in the inland districts of our State. But as we
go north the cold fogs become more common, and the vines thrive less
under their influence. North of Los Angeles county the Muscat vines do
not enjoy the coast air, while even in Orange county the interior
vineyards are preferred to those closer to the coast. But anywhere, even
in the best situated districts, protection from the direct influence of
the sea fogs is appreciated, and the best localities are those in which
low hills afford this protection by modifying and increasing the
temperature of the fog or sea air.

In Central, and in the larger part of Southern, California, the inland
valleys are the most successful raisin-producing districts, while even
in San Diego county, where the Muscats seem to thrive at the very
seashore, the interior valleys alone afford the necessary heat and dry
air for curing the grapes and transforming them into raisins. According
to Consul G. H. Heap of Constantinople, the positions preferred for
vineyards in Turkey are the slopes of elevated and sheltered undulating
lands, or on the sunny hills that do not lie too near the coast, or are
naturally protected from the cold winds and fogs of the sea. The Island
of Cos or Zea is called the paradise of the Sultana grape, because
Nature has given the cultivable land there the best possible protection
from the direct influence of the fogs. In Malaga, according to Consul
Marston, eighty per cent of the vineyards are situated on the hills and
inland, ten per cent on the valley lands or plains, and ten per cent on
the coast. With the exception of some of the San Diego vineyards,
California cannot show any raisin vineyards as close to the coast as
those found in Malaga. The main El Cajon vineyards are from ten to
fifteen miles inland, while the former Santa Ana vineyards were situated
from eight to twelve miles from the coast. The San Bernardino raisin
vineyards are from twenty to thirty miles inland, while in the San
Joaquin valley the raisin districts are more than a hundred miles from
the coast, while the sea wind, before it reaches any of the vines, has
been modified by passing over from two to three hundred miles of dry
country.


_Ideal Conditions of Climate._--There remains only to draw some
conclusions from the above facts. We are often asked what are the ideal
conditions, as far as climate is concerned, for the proper development
of the raisin grape, and for the proper curing of the raisins. Could we
select such an ideal spot, where all the requirements for the raisin
industry could be found in their highest perfection, with as few of the
drawbacks as possible, our choice would be as follows: A moderately dry
air, a frostless spring, a rainy winter and a rainless autumn. The
temperature in the summer should vary between ninety and one hundred
degrees, the fall months should now and then be visited by drying winds,
while the winter frosts should be heavy and regular, but not below
twelve degrees. Some have suggested that absolute freedom from any rain
would be very desirable, as then no interference would be experienced
with the cultivation of the grapes, but I doubt if the soil in such
districts would not be rapidly exhausted through the want of weeds, the
plowing under of which enriches the ground and enables it better to
preserve the moisture provided for it by irrigation.


SOILS.


_General Remarks._--No one certain variety of soil can be said to be the
best for raisin purposes, and both in different countries, as well as in
the same district, various varieties of soils are valued equally. Every
raisin district has, however, its favorite soil, which is supposed to
have some peculiar advantages for the raisin grapes, but upon closer
investigation we generally find other varieties of soils which are not
inferior. Growers who have succeeded with raisin grapes on one variety
of soil are only too apt to consider this kind preferable to any other.
This is especially the case in California, where soils vary so much and
where in some districts it is difficult to find forty acres with a
uniform soil. Whether the soil is black, red or gray, it makes but very
little difference, as long as it is rich and susceptible of the highest
state of cultivation and has the faculty of retaining moisture. The
deeper and richer the soil the better the Muscatel grape will thrive and
produce, and as such soils are most generally found along the banks of
creeks and rivers, or in their bottoms and sinks, we might conclude that
in such localities the best soils for the Muscat grape may be found.
Other varieties of raisin grapes, such as the Malaga (California) and
the Sultana, do well in less rich soil; indeed, they bear profitably in
places where the Muscat would be a failure. It is therefore important
for every vineyardist to carefully select his soil and then plant on it
the proper variety of vine.


_Malaga._--The soils of Malaga are of various kinds. The best is a
reddish loam containing much gravel, both coarse and fine. This soil is
very stiff and hard, and when dry is as solid as a brick. The red color
is derived from oxide of iron or other iron compounds, which many of the
best vineyardists consider a most desirable element in any raisin soil.
The upland vineyards, or those on the slope of the hills, contain soils
of decomposed clay and slate mixed with more or less gravel and sand.
The Dehesa lands contain alluvial deposits of a black or gray color.


_Valencia and Denia._--In this district we find soils of many different
grades and colors. The sandy and gravelly soils are considered as
producing the finest flavored raisins, and those having the best keeping
qualities, while the rich, loamy soils of the valleys produce raisins of
inferior flavor and keeping qualities, but of larger size and more per
acre. For economical reasons, the latter soils are preferred, as they
alone can be irrigated and made to produce large crops. Some of the best
vineyards in this district contain a gray, ashy soil, quite similar to
the white ash of the Kings river lands, while others are growing on a
red clayey loam similar to the California red soil.


_Smyrna._--The raisin-grapes of Smyrna in Asia Minor are almost
exclusively grown on a white limestone soil, which consists of
decomposed white rocks mixed with a stiff ocher-colored loam. This soil
is so rocky that it must first be cleared, and the large rocks are
carried away and used for boundary walls. This is the soil in the coast
districts. In the interior the Sultana vines, as well as the Muscats,
are replaced by fig orchards and other trees which delight in sandy
soil,--too sandy to produce profitable raisin crops.


_Zante._--The soils of Zante, the home of the Currant grape, are of
various kinds. The heavy marl of the plains, which contains a large
percentage of gypsum or sulphate of lime, is considered the best; indeed
the gypsum is by many considered indispensable, or at least highly
beneficial, to the above variety of grape. Other soils are red clay,
gray marl and gravelly loam, all containing an abundance of lime. The
Currant grape grows well and produces well on all these different soils,
but does the best on the gypsum soil, which is therefore the most
valued. On other soils the bunches are less solid, and the quantity of
grapes produced is somewhat less, while their quality is inferior.

[Illustration: Scene in a Fresno Raisin Vineyard: Raisin Trays Exposed
for Drying.]


_Chile._--The Huasco grape grows in the valley of Huasco, on the coast
of Chile, in a soil that is very light and red, containing a great
quantity of sand. While very light in weight, this soil is said to be
very rich in plant food, and yields good crops.


_Fresno._--The Fresno soils are of several kinds, but the three
principal varieties are red or chocolate-colored loam, white or gray
ashy soil, and a light, very sandy, loam. To this may be added the
deeper gray bottom soils or alluvial deposits of the Kings river. Each
one of these varieties have different grades more or less suitable to
the Muscatel grape. The best grades of each are equally valuable, while
again the poorer grades are not to be recommended. The deep
chocolate-colored loam is by many preferred, and the largest and most
successful raisin vineyards are now located on this soil. But even in
the best districts the soil varies to such an extent, that while one
twenty-acre field will yield 250 boxes of raisins to the acre, the
adjoining field, with only a slight change in the soil, will yield only
seventy-five boxes to the acre. The best grades of the white ashy soil
are also very good, and almost identical with the gray bottom-land
deposits of Kings river. The light sandy soil should be avoided for
Muscat grapes, but may do for Malaga and Sultanas, especially if
judiciously fertilized.


_Other Soils in San Joaquin Valley._--In Merced the best soil is heavy
chocolate-colored loam, in places redder, in others darker, almost
blackish. It is generally mixed with some gravel. As a rule, all the red
soil in the San Joaquin valley is of the same characteristics, and well
suited to the Muscat grape, provided the ground is sufficiently level.
In Tulare county the proper soil for the Muscat is found to be the
bottom lands of Kings and Kaweah rivers, as well as the deposits of the
smaller creeks. This variety of gray alluvial loam is exceedingly
fertile, and there is none superior for the Muscat grape. But an
admixture of alkali often spoils soils which otherwise would be
considered the very best. A similar soil is found in Kern county,
especially near Kern Lake, and which must be rated among the best in the
State, its color being a deep bluish gray. The vineyards of Yolo and
Solano counties are located on a very similar soil, rich in humus, lime
and phosphates, but more yellowish or pale chocolate colored.


_Orange County._--A similar rich alluvial deposit is found in Orange
county in the fertile district known as Santa Ana valley. The soil
around Anaheim, Santa Ana, Orange and Tustin consists of a more or less
dark alluvial loam of unsurpassed fertility, and especially adapted to
the Muscat grape. It varies as to the percentage of sand and gravel. The
sandiest soil in this district, while less rich, brings the earliest
grapes, which come to perfect ripeness several weeks before those grown
on the heavier soils, but the latter produce the best raisins.


_Redlands and Riverside._--The Redlands soil of the mesa lands is
reddish, rather darker than the same quality of soil in Riverside and
Fresno. It is mixed with sand and gravel, and partakes strongly of the
nature of the red or chocolate-colored loams of the State. The Lugonia
bottom soil consists of a very sandy loam, on which the Muscat grape
has proved a failure. The best Riverside soil is red or
chocolate-colored sandy loam, so often spoken of. Towards Rincon we find
alluvial bottom soils producing grapes of superb quality and size. The
soil of the San Bernardino district resemble the red Fresno soils, while
the white ashy soil is not found there.


_El Cajon._--The El Cajon valley soils are of three or more kinds: Rich
red clay mixed with gravel, with the color changing from lighter
chocolate to deeper reddish. This is a very desirable soil,--a steel
gray or slate gray adobe with much gravel of a coarse nature; a black
adobe with some gravel; an alluvial sandy loam consisting of decomposed
granite mixed with much vegetable matter and humus. The El Cajon soils,
while sandy and gravelly, produce exceedingly sweet and highly flavored
grapes but comparatively small crops.


_Subsoils._--The subsoil in a raisin vineyard is of great importance.
Properly irrigated soils, if they are sufficiently rich, need not
necessarily be very deep, as the raisin grapes, especially the Muscat,
seldom extend deeper than eight feet below the surface. Even from four
to five feet of rich soil may be considered as enough in irrigated
vineyards, where the water is abundant. In poorer soils, or in districts
with less irrigation, the roots of the vines penetrate much deeper, and
the importance of the subsoil in such cases is apparent. Any rich
subsoil will serve our purpose. It is always best to thoroughly
investigate the subsoil before the vineyard is planted, and in doing
this the following points must be considered: The subsoil should be as
rich as possible, and there should, in no instance, be less than four
feet of rich top soil. _Very_ sandy soil or pure sand is not a proper
subsoil for raisin grapes. Such soil will cause the top soil to dry too
quickly after each irrigation, and will cause the top soil to leach out,
while it besides gives no nourishment to the vines. Hardpan is not
desirable, not even admissible, except in places that are or will become
subirrigated. Alkali or salty subsoils will soon spoil the quality of
even the best top soil. This especially is the case in irrigated
districts, where the salts of the subsoil are carried to the top by the
rising waters or by the continued irrigation. Hardpan which readily
dissolves when wet is not injurious.


_Hardpan Soils._--While I have alluded to them already, a few more
remarks on these soils are here in place. The hardpan consists of a
stratum of hard soil or hard rocky substance below the top soil. The
depth at which the hardpan is found varies. In places where it is
situated eight or ten feet below the top surface it does but very little
harm, and may even prove beneficial in localities where water for
irrigation is scarce, as it checks too rapid drainage. If the hardpan is
situated closer to the top soil, it may seriously interfere with the
vines, and if too close, or say within two or three feet from the top,
it makes such soils entirely unfit for raisin grapes. If situated
somewhat lower down, say from four to six feet, the hardpan does no
great harm in subirrigated districts, while, in places where irrigation
is not used, it leaves the top soil too shallow and too dry. But
allowance must always be made as to the nature of the hardpan. Some
varieties of hardpan are so hard that they can best be compared to
regular stratified rocks, impenetrable to the roots of the vines, and
impervious to water. Other hardpans again are softer, and allow the vine
roots to penetrate more or less readily, while some again are so soft
that they dissolve in water and make good soil for the vines. If the
hardpan is very shallow, it may pay to blast holes through it, in order
to allow the roots of the vines to penetrate to lower soils. But if the
hardpan is thick and hard, and if there is no immediate prospect of
subirrigation, it is better to use such land for some other purpose than
for raisin-vines, which will only pay properly if grown under the most
favorable circumstances, and on the best and deepest soils.

As to the nature of the hardpan, a few remarks may prove of interest.
The hardpan can best be compared to a stalactite formation similar to
those found in various caves. It has been formed very much in the same
way as they were. In caves the rainwater, that seeps down from the top
surface, dissolves various substances, especially carbonates (and
silicates even) which again are deposited on the underside of the cave
roof. This precipitation of hard material is caused both by evaporation
of the water, as well as by attraction and adhesion. Such redeposition
of dissolved minerals is seen for instance if solutions of salt in water
are passed through tasteless and clean sand. The water will come through
sweet and tasteless, the salt having adhered to the surface of the sand
grains. Similarly, if a hole is dug near the seashore in the sand, the
salt water will seep through, and form a well of more or less tasteless
drinking water. In the formation of hardpan, this is exactly what has
taken place. The rainwater has dissolved certain elements, such as
carbonates of lime, or carbonates of sodium and various other salts, and
in its way through the lower strata of the soil these dissolved elements
have again been taken up by the sand and cemented it together. Thus it
is explained why hardpan upon examination is so often found to resemble
sand or sandstone: the lower sandy strata of the soil have been
especially effective in causing the lime in the water to adhere to the
numerous surfaces of every individual grain of sand. In hog-wallow
districts the hardpan is found principally between the individual
hog-wallows, but rarely in or under them. The rainwater has here carried
the minerals in the soil to the deeper places between the hog-wallows,
in which it has accumulated to a greater extent than anywhere else, and
thus formed a heavier hardpan. In flooding the hog-wallows, the top of
every hog-wallow is seen to settle and fall in, there being no hardpan
below it, if the sides of the hog-wallow are steep. Where the hardpan
consists principally of lime compounds, its chemical composition is not
detrimental to the vines. But where the hardpan is cemented by alkalies
more or less soluble in water, these deleterious substances will
dissolve and rise to the surface to the great detriment or even to the
total destruction of the vineyard.


_Comparative Value of Soils._--The river bottom soils, or soils formed
by the deposit of creeks, are with few exceptions rich and deep, and
contain in abundance all the elements necessary to produce a superior
Muscat grape. Such soils are, however, often injured by subsoils
containing mineral deposits, which will injure the vines, or by
hardpans, which will cause the soil to dry out. Poor soils will not
prove profitable, and rather than plant vines on such soils it would be
better to plant no vines at all. The rich soils are not only the
heaviest producers, but the vines grown on them are stronger and
healthier and in every way better able to resist the attacks of insects
and fungi and the ravages of other inexplicable diseases. But regardless
of these advantages the various soils leave their effects on the grapes,
some of them producing sweet and very keeping raisins, while others
cause large berries and bunches, which bring the highest market price.
Thus the lighter and drier soils produce richer flavored and sweeter
raisins than the wet and rich soils, which again produce the largest and
handsomest grapes. On the latter soils the raisins when cured will be
found to be dark and covered with a heavy bloom, while the raisins from
the sandier or gravelly soils are lighter in color and with less
pronounced bloom. The keeping quality of the raisins from gravelly soils
is well known. In California the keeping quality of the raisins is
seldom inquired into, as our raisins keep remarkably well and are in
this respect superior to those grown in Spain. This may be from the
effect of our drier climate more than from any certain quality in our
soils.

As a rule it may be said that poor soil causes the raisins to mature
earlier than the rich, heavy loams, and on this account the latter are
to be greatly preferred, as the earliest raisins in any district are
never as good as the bulk of the crop, and are in demand rather as a
curiosity, and for the purpose of supplying an early market, than
through any superior qualities. In some districts there is such a great
difference in the time of ripening upon the various soils that the
grapes grown on the earliest soils are used only as table grapes fresh.
In planting a raisin vineyard, the future profits depend upon the choice
of land, and it is far better to pay a high price for the best land than
to take the inferior land as a gift. Few of those who now enter upon
raisin culture take the proper care in selecting the land, neither do
they sufficiently, if at all, realize the advantages of the rich soil,
nor the disadvantages of the poor land.


_Alkali Soils._--While nothing but first-class land is to be recommended
for raisin vineyards, and alkali lands are of all soils those least
suitable for our purpose, still a consideration of these lands will
interest many raisin-grape growers. The best lands for raisin purposes
in California are often contiguous to alkali lands, or to land
containing more or less traces of alkali. A vineyard on the best soil
contains often spots charged with alkali, and it may be inconvenient for
the grower to allow these spots to lie idle, and he would prefer to fill
them up with vines. The first work must then be to get rid of the alkali
or reduce it to such an extent that it will not prove injurious. The
general alkali lands are classed in three kinds, according to the
quality of the alkali.

1st. Alkali salts, such as carbonates and borates. These are greatly
detrimental to the vines, and no vines could be expected to do well in
such soils, as even the smallest percentage of this alkali is injurious
or even ruinous to the crop. In clayey soils these alkalies cause the
clay to harden in such a way that no good tilth can be obtained. The
land may be plowed ever so much, it will only turn up in chunks and
never become properly pulverized. These true alkali salts consist
principally of carbonate of sodium (sal-soda) or of carbonate of
potassium (saleratus). _Remedies_: Gypsum, land-plaster or leaching with
water.

2d. A second class of alkalies are the sulphates and chlorides, all
soluble in water. Such salts are: Magnesium chloride (bittern),
magnesium sulphate (Epsom salt), calcium chloride, etc. These salts,
when not present in too large quantities, are easily counteracted by
lime.

3d. A third class of alkalies is composed of neutral salts, such as
chloride of sodium (common salt), sulphate of sodium (Glauber salt),
sulphate of potassium, all soluble in water, but not convertible into
less injurious substances by lime or gypsum. These salts do not bake the
soil, but rather contribute towards keeping it loose and mellow.

The remedies which are practical and not too expensive may be divided
into several classes, which, if used in combination, may prove
effective, while each one of them used separately would fail.

1st. Leaching with water. All soluble salts may be leached with water.
The alkali land should be checked and so ditched that the water from
each check can be drained into a waste ditch. But, besides these waste
ditches, drain ditches should be made for the purpose of draining off
the water, say to a depth of four feet below the surface. The _modus
operandi_ consists in first flooding the soil, and while the check is
yet full the floodgates are opened and the water drawn off into the
waste ditch, when the water will carry off the salts which have been
dissolved in it. A second or third flooding should be allowed to settle
in the soil and be drained off below into the drain ditches. The
drawback to common leaching is that under certain circumstances the
water may deposit its alkali in lower strata, especially if they are
sandy, and there form hardpan or alkali accumulations. A much better
method is under-drainage by means of pipes or gravel drains constructed
all through the tract at certain regular distances. This under-drainage,
if properly constructed under conditions favorable for its perfect
working, is by far the best method of freeing alkali soils from their
superfluous salts. To what extent this system is practical depends upon
circumstances. To reclaim large districts by this method may not prove
economical as long as good land is plentiful and cheap, but where
smaller alkali tracts are surrounded by soil, and where it is of
importance to get a uniform plantation, under-drainage by pipes or
common drains is both the surest and most practical solution of the
alkali problem. Under-drainage is strongly recommended by Prof. E. W.
Hilgard, who has repeatedly pointed out its value, and who has called
the author’s special attention to this as yet little understood remedy.

2d. Deep and constant plowing. Deep and frequent plowing acts in various
ways. By being mixed with a larger quantity of soil, the alkali is
diluted sufficiently to not cause any serious injury to the crops, the
damage generally being done near the surface. Constant plowing also
prevents evaporation, which carries the alkali to the surface and
deposits it there. This method can only be successful when the alkali
salts are limited in quantity, and no one need expect to be able to rid
badly charged lands from their alkali by plowing it under.

3d. By plowing under green or dry crops. If grain can be made to grow on
the alkali land at all the turning under of it, either green or dry,
will in course of time greatly reduce the alkali. The turned-under
stubble or straw forms in decaying an acid, which in many instances will
combine with and counteract the effects of the alkali. Similarly, straw
stacks spread on alkali spots and plowed under will considerably reduce
the alkali. But manure containing ammonia and other salts should not be
used, as it will, on the contrary, only increase the alkali by adding
other or similar salts to those already in the soil.

4th. Cropping. If water, either in the form of sufficient rain or as
irrigation can be had, alkali lands can be reclaimed by cropping. It is
amply proved that beets and carrots, as well as other plants, such as
salt-bush (_Chenopodium_), take up large quantities of alkali salts, and
in the course of a few years render alkali soils available for grain.
Wheat also extracts alkalies, and repeated croppings with grain will in
the course of time prepare the soil for vines and trees. Bermuda grass
will completely remove the alkali from soils to the depth at which the
roots can penetrate, and must be recommended for the worst places.
Afterwards, cropping with annual crops may be advisable before vines are
finally planted on such reclaimed lands. The Australian salt-bushes, or
_Chenopodium_, extract alkalies, and are besides liked by stock. They
should be introduced to alkali lands and take the place of the
California native salt-bushes, which are not eaten by stock. While being
real desert plants, they yet require some moisture in the soil, but they
could probably be grown anywhere on the alkali lands in this State where
the rainfall is over three or four inches.

5th. By chemicals. The use of chemicals of various kinds in
counteracting the alkali is not resorted to by our farmers as it should
be. The principle upon which chemicals can be used is that obnoxious or
greatly injurious alkalies may be changed into less obnoxious and less
injurious salts, or even into fertilizers. The most available of these
chemical compounds are gypsum (sulphate of lime) and lime (carbonate of
lime). When the alkali consists mainly of carbonates, such as carbonate
of sodium (sal-soda) or potassium carbonate (saleratus), in other words
of the class which we have designated as class number one, the most
dangerous and worst class of alkalies to combat, gypsum may be used as
an antidote or rather as a means to convert these alkalies into alkalies
of the second class, or the sulphates. The principle upon which this is
done is to displace the sulphate in the gypsum and force it to combine
with the alkali (sodium carbonate) and form sulphate of sodium (Glauber
salt), an alkali belonging to the third class of alkalies, and which is
twenty times less injurious to vegetation than is class number one. The
change is made on the following principle, and might be thus
illustrated: To the alkali in the soil (carbonate of sodium), add
sulphate of lime. As soon as the mixture is made with sufficient water,
a change will take place, and the substances (carbonate of sodium and
sulphate of lime) will form new compounds. Thus we will get, out of
those two substances, two new compounds, _viz._, carbonate of lime and
sulphate of sodium. Of these, carbonate of lime is not injurious to
vegetable life, and sulphate of sodium (Glauber salt) is only injurious
when present in large quantities. The carbonate of lime is not soluble
in water, but the sulphate of sodium is, and can consequently be
eliminated by underdraining or by flooding, as we have previously
described.

To know when gypsum can be used is not necessarily a scientific matter.
Mix some of the alkali in a tumbler with water, and allow the mixture to
settle. In another tumbler mix some gypsum and water, and allow it to
settle. Then mix the two clear liquids, which, if gypsum is an antidote
and the proper thing to use, will be turbid or milky through the
chemical combinations which take place. If the water remains clear,
gypsum will not prove an antidote to the alkali under consideration. The
use of lime is based very much on the same principle. If the second
class of alkalies are present, and lime is added, the changes that take
place may be illustrated as follows: Epsom salt (magnesium sulphate)
combined with calcium carbonate, will form two new compounds, _viz._,
gypsum (calcium sulphate) and magnesium carbonate, both of which
substances are less injurious to crops. But, as I have already stated,
raisin-vines prefer soils which are naturally free from alkali, and
should never be planted on soils which cannot readily be reclaimed.
Chemical antidotes may do where the alkali occurs in a few spots mixed
in among tracts of good soil, but where the whole field must be
reclaimed some other crop than vines had better be first attempted.
There is too much good and suitable soil in California, and until all
this is occupied the alkali soils had better be given up to other crops
than vines.


_Fertilizing._--To this date but few grape-growers manure their soil.
California has not yet been engaged in the raisin business twenty years,
and her vineyards are comparatively virgin. The first raisin vineyards
were planted on the deepest and richest soil, the soil which would
naturally hold out the longest, but the croppings of a raisin vineyard
are enormous, and when from eight to ten tons of green grapes have been
taken from the soil year after year, it is but natural that the land
should become gradually exhausted. In Spain it is considered that even
the richest soils require manuring after ten years of constant cropping
with Muscats, and the same experience is likely to become ours in
California. So far, I know of not one vineyard which has yielded Muscat
grapes for ten continuous years and still keeps yielding as much as
formerly. Yearly the crop must become less, and finally will not be
large enough to pay. The manuring of the Muscatel vines is fully
understood in Spain, where all kinds of manures are used. When home
manures fail in supply, the Spaniards use imported fertilizers, such as
Mexican phosphates, etc. This fertilizer brings in Spain sixty-five
dollars per ton, and is brought there from our very doors,--the Gulf of
Lower California. It could be laid down here for, and is actually sold
here now at, forty dollars per ton, or twenty-five dollars less than in
Spain; still to my knowledge only very few raisin-growers in Fresno use
it for their vines. In one year one of these succeeded, with the aid of
this phosphate, in raising the crop of an acre of Sultana grapes from a
very poor yield to over eight tons. The grapes were grown on a piece of
sandy soil of the kind well known to Fresno vine-growers, and which is
generally considered as less suited to raisins, lacking in fact in more
than one of the necessary qualities of a good raisin soil.

It is certainly a wrong policy to crop the soil until the grape crops
begin to fail. The soil will then be so exhausted of several of its
ingredients, that it will take the most scientific treatment to bring it
back again to what it was formerly, and it is even questionable if this
could be done in a way that would prove profitable. Experience in Spain
teaches that vineyards which formerly used to yield from eight to ten
tons of green grapes to the acre now, after years of neglect, only yield
two tons to the acre, and even with expensive manuring can in no way be
brought back to their former fertility. On the other hand, we know that
vineyards which have been fertilized from the beginning have for fifty
years been kept up in apparently as good condition as at first; it is
accordingly this method that must be recommended. The manure or
fertilizer must be varied occasionally. In rotation, phosphates, bone
dust, guano, stable manure, sheep manure, lime and plaster of Paris or
gypsum may be used, but it is best to have every variety of soil in the
vineyard analyzed, and to apply from year to year that kind of
fertilizer which is particularly needed. The phosphates are those which
will first give out in our California soils. Phosphates must therefore
be considered as the best fertilizers we can use, but the quantity to be
used must always be determined by a practical chemist. Of these chemical
fertilizers, it is dangerous to use too much, as they might injure the
vines, and from fifty to a few hundred pounds to the acre may in some
instances suffice and produce better crops than would four or five times
as much. But, regardless of chemical fertilizers, the cautious
raisin-grower should endeavor to return to the soil as much as he
possibly can out of the wastes of his crop. The refuse of stems and
berries, which are wasted at the stemmer and in the packing-house,
should not be burned, as is generally the case, but returned to the
vineyard, and applied one year on one piece of ground, and another year
on some other piece. If, however, these wastes must be used as fuel in
the dryer, etc., the ashes should be carefully collected and spread over
the soil, and kept dry and shaded until thus used.

Another most valuable fertilizer generally wasted is the trimmings. In
our careless California farming, these trimmings of the vines are put in
piles on the roads, outside of the vineyards, and there burned. Thus the
ground loses the most powerful soluble salt, which would greatly
increase the yield of grapes and the profits to the farmer. Where the
vines are planted far enough apart, the trimmings may be burned between
the rows of the vines without injury to them, but, when the vines are
set close, there is no other way than to carefully collect the ashes and
spread them evenly over the soil. Some vineyardists use large troughs
made of galvanized iron and perforated with holes. These vats are drawn
through the vineyard by a team, and scatter the ashes evenly over the
soil. The vats may be so constructed that the cuttings are burned in
them directly as they are being pulled along, thus saving much labor as
well as ashes. Such contrivances will probably only prove profitable in
large vineyards, where there are long rows and few turnings for the
teams. Even the stable manure in our State is not used as it should be.
It is hardly possible to understand how vineyardists can be thoughtless
enough to haul loads upon loads of stable manure on their roads or in
holes and waste places, while their vines adjoining are suffering from
the want of sufficient nourishment. In the irrigated districts, this is
a very common sight, and the wet places on the road are often deep with
manure and strongly smelling of ammonia. If the manure had been placed
around the vines, the increase in crops would probably have been
sufficient to enable the owner to macadamize or otherwise permanently
fix the roads.


IRRIGATION.


_Introductory Notes._--The irrigation of the raisin grapes was, for
several years, considered as a practice entirely peculiar to California,
but as our knowledge extended it was found that, far from being anything
at all new, it had been practiced successfully for centuries in some of
the Mediterranean countries. We have already mentioned how irrigation is
customary both in the Valencia and Denia districts, as well as in
Greece. It is evident that irrigation there is only limited by the
supply of water, and that there is no question about its usefulness. As
regards the methods of irrigation in these foreign countries, we beg to
refer to the chapters treating of these countries. Here our efforts
shall be to consider irrigation in its relation to the following points,
which are of more general interest to the Californian growers: Necessity
of irrigating the raisin-vines; the health of irrigated vines; the
bearing quality of irrigated vines; the quality of the irrigated grape;
supposed unhealthiness of irrigated vineyards; irrigation by flooding;
irrigation by furrowing; subirrigation; seepage; drainage; irrigation
and its influence on the soil.


_The Necessity of Irrigating the Raisin-vines._--When the irrigation of
raisin grapes was first attempted in Fresno and Riverside, hardly any
one was acquainted with or knew that irrigation had ever been used for
such a purpose before, and irrigation was considered as a venture which
did not promise well for the future. Later on it was found that the
raisin grape really would grow and do well in some localities without
irrigation, and the latter practice was accordingly condemned. To-day,
however, the practical knowledge of irrigation is greater and more
generally distributed, and it is now fully understood that irrigation is
not only not injurious, but beneficial and necessary in localities where
the raisin-vine will not grow or bear sufficiently without it. The
questions then arose, When is irrigation necessary, and how much
irrigation is required? The first object in raisin-growing is the
profit; a secondary object is how to so treat the vines that they will
last as long as possible. To attain the first object, we must raise
plenty of grapes, and when a larger quantity of good raisin grapes can
be grown with irrigation than without it, irrigation is justifiable and
necessary. In Spain, especially in the Denia district, irrigation of the
raisin grapes is practiced wherever water can be had, and the same is
the case in Greece and Italy.

In California the tendency is now to irrigate wherever water can be had,
and wherever it is profitable to procure it. In Fresno, Tulare and Kern
counties, raisin grapes could not be grown without irrigation. These
same conditions are also found in San Bernardino county, while in Los
Angeles and Orange counties all the best vineyards are irrigated, and
only occasionally do we find the conditions such that irrigation is not
absolutely necessary. In Northern California, raisin-vines may be grown
without irrigation, but the latter is considered of such advantage that
expensive pumping works have been erected in places where no other means
were had for irrigating the vines. In San Diego county, especially in El
Cajon and Sweetwater valleys, irrigation is not absolutely necessary, in
fact it is not practiced there at all, although water could be had, but
as a consequence the crops there are not as large. In Smyrna, in Asia
Minor, the largest raisin center in the world, the raisin-vines receive
no irrigation, but the unusually heavy rainfall of this section makes
the want of irrigation less felt. Of course, outside of the raisin
districts proper, Muscatels or other raisin-vines may be grown, and are
grown to good advantage without irrigation, but the climate in those
places is generally unsuited to the drying of the grapes.

Should we inquire into the reasons why raisin grapes may in some
localities be grown and actually prove profitable without irrigation; we
find the same to depend not alone upon the rainfall of the locality, but
principally upon such other circumstances as dew, fog, the nature of the
subsoil, and the moisture of the air. In Smyrna the rainfall of the wet
season is from twenty-four to thirty-six inches annually, and greater
than in any other raisin district. In El Cajon the rainfall is only half
that much, and the moisture in this case must be sought partly in the
subsoil, which is especially retentive of moisture, as well as in the
dew, and the warm fogs from the ocean. The subsoil has the greatest
possible influence, as in other valleys near by, where the fog and the
dew are the same, but, where the subsoil is different, no raisin grapes
can be grown without irrigation. Malaga is in this respect very similar
to El Cajon and Sweetwater valleys, but it enjoys more rainfall than the
latter places, while probably the dew and fog is about the same. Still
in Malaga irrigation is used in a few isolated localities where it can
be obtained, the nature of that country being such, that no general
irrigation system is possible, and this is probably, more than anything
else, the reason why the vines are not more generally irrigated there.
In Chile, in the valley of the Huasco, the Muscat vines are grown both
with and without irrigation, the conditions there appearing to be very
similar to those of El Cajon valley in San Diego county. From the above
we might draw a general conclusion, that wherever the raisin-vines
cannot grow without irrigation, and wherever water can be had in
sufficient quantities, irrigation is practiced in order to increase the
crops and to make the business more profitable.


_Health and Longevity of Irrigated Vines._--As regards the health of the
vines, the old idea in this country that vines would suffer from
irrigation is decidedly erroneous. The vines of Denia in Spain have been
irrigated for eighty years or more, and are to-day the healthiest vines
in Spain. Similarly, the Fresno vines, where the water level, as in
Denia, is only from five to ten feet below the surface, show no signs of
decay, while many of the raisin-vines in other parts of the State,
especially where planted on the hillsides, show diseases which baffle
the cultivator. I do not, of course, mean to say that irrigated
raisin-vines are entirely free from diseases, but only that, so far, the
healthiest and strongest raisin-vines of the world are those which are
irrigated, and which have always been irrigated. Of course in this
respect the Muscat grapes, as well as the currant vines, differ
materially from certain wine grapes, which as a rule have originated on
drier soils, and which, if grown with irrigation, deteriorate and yield
inferior fruit. The raisin-vines require much moisture, and, if this is
not supplied in one way or another, they will suffer and prove
unprofitable. The same is observed in soils which rapidly lose their
moisture. In such soils the Muscat is not at home, and its health and
vigor is seriously impaired.


_The Bearing Quality of Irrigated Vines._--In regard to the bearing
quality of the raisin grapes under irrigation, we know with certainty
that the irrigated raisin-vines yield by far the most. In Valencia and
Denia, the vines yield from five to ten tons to the acre, and so do
those of Riverside and Fresno, while the El Cajon unirrigated vines
yield only from one to two tons per acre. If the latter place would
irrigate judiciously, its Muscat vines would no doubt bear as well as
those of any other locality. I am led to this belief from what I have
seen of irrigated grapes elsewhere in San Diego county, which were fully
as well loaded as the heaviest vines in San Bernardino county or Fresno.


_Quality of Irrigated Grapes._--That the quality of the irrigated raisin
grape is increased by judicious irrigation is readily seen in all
irrigated districts, where those vines which receive their proper share
of water produce the largest bunches and berries. But it is also evident
that too much water will cause a deficiency of sugar in the grapes, as
well as a lack of flavor, by which the irrigated grapes can always be
distinguished from those grown with natural moisture. Grapes too freely
irrigated are not alone wanting in sugar, but also in color. Such grapes
remain green to the end of the season, and never assume that amber color
so valued in grapes, and which always indicates beforehand what raisins
they will produce when properly dried. In our interior valleys, where
the sun and the wind sometimes produce sunscald of the berries, which
again causes them to fall off or dry up long before they are properly
ripe, this defect is much more frequent on vines which suffer from want
of water than on those which have had enough. When the soil is not
subirrigated, it is therefore advisable to irrigate the vines at the end
of June, just before the hottest part of the summer arrives. Similarly,
irrigation will help to swell out the berries if applied just before
they commence to ripen.

In conclusion we might with truth say that the raisin grapes may in many
localities be grown without irrigation, but that in California, in
Greece and in Spain, the largest and most prosperous districts are those
where the raisin-vines are liberally irrigated. The Muscat grape seems
especially to love water, and, in the real raisin districts, the
healthiest vineyards are those that are best irrigated. The berries and
bunches are also increased in size, but not in flavor and aroma, by
irrigation. In places where the raisin grapes will not bear without
irrigation, the latter, of course, is a necessity. There are always
naturally subirrigated parts, in every county or district, where
artificial irrigation is not required. But these parts are generally
confined to river bottoms or to natural sinks, which, so far, have
played no important part in the raisin industry. Considered from a
practical standpoint, irrigation of the raisin-vines is necessary in
California, and, should it from some reason or other be made impossible,
the raisin industry would not prove profitable or even possible, except
in a few very limited localities.

Much has been written in regard to the supposed unhealthiness of the
irrigated vineyards. The malaria prevalent in some vineyards is no doubt
caused by irrigation; but it has been amply proved in Fresno and
elsewhere that if the grower would know from the beginning how to so
prepare his land that there would be no stagnant pools, no waste water,
and no swampy grounds, the so much talked of malaria would be as rare in
the irrigated vineyards as anywhere else. It is not the irrigation that
causes malaria, but the waste of the water, the carelessness of the
irrigator and the faultiness of the badly constructed irrigation works.
After the vineyard has been irrigated a few years, the malaria leaves it
entirely. This is the experience in Fresno where the vineyards, after
years of irrigation, have become perfectly healthy.


_Various Methods of Irrigation._--There are several methods of
irrigation now practiced in the irrigated vineyard districts. We may
irrigate by flooding the land or by leading the water in furrows between
the vines. Both ways, but especially the former, may, if continued long
enough, cause subirrigation, the most desirable state of irrigation. The
choice of methods of irrigating does not always lie with ourselves, but
depends upon the quantity of water at our command, the lay of the land,
etc. Sometimes one method will in course of time give room to another,
and again, after the lapse of a few years, continued irrigation may not
be necessary or desirable.


_Irrigation by Flooding._--This method consists of flooding the land
either by means of checks and banks, which must have been constructed
before the vines were planted, or in simply flooding ground which is
naturally level. In either case the land must naturally not be too
rough, and the water must be abundant, else this method cannot be used.
It will always pay to engage the services of an engineer in preparing
such ground for vines. The extra cost will be more than paid for in the
first few years, when frequent irrigations of the vineyard are as
necessary as they are expensive. The ditch supplying the vineyard should
always run on the highest ground, and in no instance should it be run
through low ground when high ground can be had, as the low ground may in
the future have to be used for drainage, about which we will treat
further on. From the main canal, branch ditches should run out at right
angles if possible, or if the ground is very uneven they may follow the
highest parts. The ground between these ditches should be properly
leveled into checks. With checks the irrigator simply measures a piece
of ground of any size which is surrounded by a levee or bank. This bank
must be high enough to allow the water to cover all of the ground as
soon as the check is filled with water from the ditch.

To make the ground level enough, it is generally necessary to level it
with scrapers. The more level is the surface the better, cheaper and
quicker will be the irrigation, and no small amount of trouble will be
avoided if this work is properly done before the vines are planted. Too
little of this leveling is done in some places, and I have seen
thousands of acres planted in Muscat vines which were so improperly
leveled that the profits of the vineyard in after years would be
seriously interfered with. To understand how this can be possible, we
must remember what takes place when we irrigate and after we have
irrigated. The gate in the ditch is opened, the water flows out and runs
immediately down to the lowest part of the check. When this part is
reached, the check begins to fill up. If the ground is very uneven, it
may take days to fill the check, and the lower part will require to be
covered several feet with water before it will reach the higher parts,
which always need irrigation the most. To back it up so high requires
also a correspondingly high levee, which again is more apt to break and
cause trouble and expense the higher it is. After the water has reached
the highest possible point, the flow is shut off, and the water begins
to subside. The highest part of the land becomes dry the first, and
quickly, while it may take days or even weeks to dry up the lowest part
of the check. When at last the check is all dry it may be found that the
lowest vines have been injured or entirely drowned out. When summer
irrigation is used, it is absolutely necessary to have the ground level,
so that when it is flooded the water will not reach up to the grapes, as
they spoil when coming in contact with the water.

The time when flooding should be used must depend upon circumstances. As
a rule, flooding is especially adapted to winter irrigation, as, when
the vines are entirely dormant, they may be submerged for months without
suffering any harm. Young vineyards may also be flooded in summer time,
but, when the grapes begin to appear, flooding can only be done in the
winter or when the land is absolutely level, but even under the most
favorable circumstances many grapes are always lost. Some have so
prepared their vineyards that a check, when flooded, can be drained into
a lower check or into a ditch. This is a very good arrangement where the
land is not entirely level, as it will cause the low places to dry up as
quickly as possible. But a better way is to have the ground so level
that the water will sink evenly and leave no sinks nor any high and
prematurely dry places. There are, however, soils so composed that the
water cannot sink through them in any reasonably short time. Such heavy
soils must be surface drained after every flooding, or perhaps had best
be given up to some other method of irrigation. But such hard or
impervious soils are frequently improved by irrigation, and in course
of time lose their impervious nature and become subirrigated. If the
land is tolerably level by nature, and there are prospects of
subirrigation soon appearing, it may be unnecessary to level the land,
and flooding with temporary checks may be used with advantage for the
first few seasons. Furrowing will generally assist this mode of
irrigation.


_Irrigation by Furrowing._--This method of irrigation is practiced where
the land is not sufficiently level to be flooded, or when the water is
not sufficient to enable the irrigator in a short time to flood the
land. The practice of furrowing simply consists in plowing furrows
alongside of the vines, and then to lead the water in the furrows. This
system is by far the one that is most practiced in Southern California,
as it has some advantages over the flooding; it is, however, not so
effective and cannot supply the vineyard with as much water as flooding.
To use the furrowing system to advantage, the land must have been
previously leveled, but not necessarily graded to an absolute level. It
is enough to have the surface smooth and on an even grade, in order that
the water may run from a higher point to a lower one without spreading
or breaking out. Especially all knolls in the vineyard must be leveled
off, and care must be taken to fill all hollows or sinks in which the
water would otherwise collect.

After the vines are planted, or when irrigation is necessary, one or
more furrows are plowed on each side of the vine, and the water is
allowed to run in them for several hours, or even days, until the soil
is sufficiently soaked. In many places three furrows are made between
the rows of vines, and the water is allowed to run in at one end and out
through the other in a stream only sufficiently large to cause all the
water to sink. Where particular nicety is required, the waste water
which runs out at the farther end may be collected in a trough with
perforated holes, through which it is conducted to a ditch or lower
check. Similarly, a long trough may be used for conducting the water to
the land in the first instance, and allow it to run out through a number
of small holes, one of which is situated in front of every furrow. When
the ground is well prepared, level and with an even slope, this system
of irrigation is very perfect, and causes but little expense and trouble
in management. In Riverside the vines are irrigated thus every three or
five weeks, while in Redlands less irrigation is used on old vines. As a
rule, in Southern California the furrowing system is the accepted one as
being best adapted to the nature of the country. The water is conducted
both in open ditches and in pipes, and when under pressure saves much
labor and expense which would otherwise be required for the continued
construction and repair of ditches.

The furrowing system has, however, its disadvantages. It requires a
longer time to fill the soil sufficiently, and accordingly it takes many
more irrigations to accomplish as much as with flooding. As advantages
of this system, we might state that it requires no banks or levees to
back up the water, and a vineyard irrigated this way can be kept
entirely free from weeds by a few cultivations, while a checked vineyard
must besides be cleared with hand labor, as the banks and checks are apt
to be destroyed by cultivation.


_Subirrigation._--Subirrigation may be either artificial or natural. The
artificial subirrigation has, as far as I know, only been used in a few
vineyards in Yolo and Solano counties, the report, shortly after it had
been established, being very flattering as regards its success. But of
late years we have heard nothing about this kind of irrigation, and it
is likely that some practical difficulty was encountered which could not
be fully overcome. The artificial subirrigation consists in laying
larger and smaller cement pipes between the rows of the vines. These
pipes are perforated in various places, and, when filled with water
under pressure, the water runs through the perforated holes and keeps
the ground outside the pipes constantly moist, without causing the
surface of the soil to get wet and weedy, and herein consist the
principal advantages of the system, as well as in the fact that rolling
ground can be irrigated thus without being previously leveled and
without being cut up with open ditches. The difficulty of keeping the
holes open and of preventing the roots of the vines from entering the
pipes is, I understand, very great and probably impossible to overcome.
Both irrigation water and liquid manures could by this system be
supplied to the roots of the vines directly without any waste, and, in
cases of diseases or attacks by underground pests, medicines or
insecticides could be brought to the soil with the least possible cost.

The natural subirrigation is caused either by the whole soil filling up
with water from the natural and original water level to the very top or
to the roots of the vines, or from an impervious hardpan or clay, as
subsoil, up towards the surface. As an example of the former we might
cite the country around the irrigated plains of the San Joaquin valley,
especially around Fresno and in Mussel Slough. Before irrigation was
begun there in 1872, the surface water was from sixty to seventy feet
from the top east of the railroad, and from forty to fifty feet west of
the railroad, lower down in the valley. After five years of irrigation
it began to be noticed that the soil required less water. The water in
the wells began to rise, and the following year the water stood in many
places near or on the top of the surface. Now the whole irrigated
district around Fresno has filled up with water to such an extent that
drainage ditches have become necessary in some places in order to lower
the water in the wet season some four or five feet from the surface.
Many more drainage ditches will be required, as in wet winters the
surface water in places is not only very near the top, but actually
forms ponds or swamps where formerly the ground was entirely dry.

In the old irrigated districts, water can now be found at from six to
ten feet in the driest season, while formerly the wells had to be from
fifty to seventy feet deep. In the older vineyards, and even in many of
the younger ones, no more surface irrigation is used; all that is now
required is to allow the water to run in the main ditches, in which the
water sinks sufficiently to keep up the supply of the evaporation of the
ground outside. Large tracts of land which have never been surface
irrigated are now sufficiently moist to grow vines to the greatest
perfection, and many of the best vineyards have never been irrigated at
all; in fact, nothing but drainage ditches have ever been made on the
land. Whenever such subirrigation exists, the water level will be found
higher in the winter than in the summer, and drainage should accompany
subirrigation in nearly every instance. A subirrigation like the above
exists in Denia and other of the Spanish districts. Subirrigation may be
also caused by either impervious subsoils, such as hardpan and clay, or
by spongy subsoils, which keep the water like a sponge. Such is the case
to a limited extent in parts of San Bernardino county. At Redlands, for
instance, much less irrigation is now used than when the vines were
first planted, and this fact is attributed to a spongy subsoil
peculiarly retentive of water. A similar subirrigation exists in the
Mussel Slough country, where the water rapidly fills the land and keeps
it moist throughout the summer. The phenomenal moisture of the El Cajon
land is probably also produced by some kind of subirrigation, either on
impervious or through retentive strata; the waste water from the
surrounding hills no doubt supplies much of the water appearing in the
lower lands of the valley. Other valleys close by do not show this
moisture, the underlying strata probably making subirrigation impossible
with the present amount of rainfall.


_Seepage._--Seepage is the quality of the soil to attract moisture and
retain it. Seepage soils attract the water from a ditch run through the
land, the water spreading all through the soil towards all sides instead
of sinking only vertically down. There is a distinct difference between
such seepage soils and those that do not seep, although there is a
gradation in the degree of the seepage, some soils seeping more than
others. Thus the Fresno soil, or the soils on the Fresno plains,
especially the red and sandy soils, do not seep or percolate. Vines
planted on the sides of the ditches, or a foot or two from their banks,
will die and dry up if not specially irrigated by bringing water to
their very roots. Other soils, especially the river-bottom soils or the
alluvial soils, seep or percolate in a great or less degree. They act
like a sponge, attract water and give it away slowly, and the soil will
be found wet for long distances from the ditch. This seepage capacity of
the soil is partly caused by an abundance of humus or vegetable matter.
The seepage capacity of the soil greatly increases by admixtures of
green vegetable matters through the plowing under of green crops, such
as alfalfa, peas, beans, grain, etc. The value of seepage soils is seen
especially where some uneven ground is scraped off and the top soil
removed to low places. Such ground often becomes useless for years
afterwards, especially if the quantity of humus in the lower soils is
small. Frequent irrigations will not serve to keep such soils moist, as
the water sinks rapidly down, leaving the poor top soil dry. Vines
planted in such places never do well, and even heavy manuring will not
suffice to bring on a strong, healthy growth. Such humus-wanting soils
must be treated with green crops, as stated above, in order to become
fertile and moist. Thus seepage and subirrigation are often confounded.
The former is caused by the retentive and communicative quality of the
soil, while the latter is caused by the natural or artificial
distribution of the underground water.

Subirrigation and seepage combined make the most perfect irrigation for
a raisin vineyard, with advantages that can in no other way be attained:
absence of distribution ditches, which take up valuable land and which
cost money to keep clean from weeds; less growth of weeds on the surface
of the ground; greater mellowness of the top soil and less work in
plowing generally; a greater and more uniform supply of moisture, which,
instead of being near the top of the ground, is accumulated deeper down,
thus causing the roots to go down instead of spreading near the surface;
no expensive irrigation, which will require plowing every time after the
water is spread on the surface; a greater coolness of the ground and a
lower temperature generally, which shows itself in a more vigorous
growth of the vines, a greater supply of grapes and less danger from
sunburn. These and many more are the advantages of subirrigation and
seepage combined. To attain them in a raisin vineyard, no labor and
reasonable cost should be spared.

[Illustration: Raisin-grape Picking at Riverside.]


_Drainage._--Drainage is necessary in all vineyards where large
quantities of water are used for irrigation, and principally at the very
time that subirrigation begins. Thus in Fresno county the best raisin
vineyards are those in which the land is both subirrigated and drained.
When irrigation commences in any certain district, no one thinks of
drainage as a possibility, and great carelessness is shown in locating
ditches and other irrigation works. But in a few years, when the soil is
full of water which finds no outlet, drainage becomes both necessary and
desirable. A very successful and highly necessary drain has been
constructed through a part of the Fresno district, which so filled up
with water during the rainy winter of 1883-84 that much of the ground
could not be plowed until late in the spring. The drain remedied the
evil and drained the soil, and the vineyards grown there are now counted
among the best and most profitable. The water thus drained off lowered
the water level from six to seven feet. In very dry seasons this ditch
is filled with water, and serves then to keep the soil moist through
seepage or subirrigation.


_The Influence of Irrigation on the Soil._--It is by many considered
that irrigation helps to fertilize the soil. The spring and flood water
contain great quantities of mud and humus, which when spread over the
land will greatly increase its fertility. Even ordinary river water
contains salts and other ingredients, which will fertilize the soil to
no small degree. Another cause of the increased fertility of
subirrigated soils is that the water which constantly evaporates carries
with it salts, etc., from the lower strata up towards the surface, and
makes them accessible to the roots of the vines. But, on the other hand,
if the water or the soils contain alkalies or other destructive
substances, these also are deposited on the surface to the great
detriment of the vines, and often to such an extent that the vines will
die or become sickly. Too abundant flooding may also leach out of the
soil its soluble salts, and carry them deeper down in the ground. But if
this soil after a while fills up with water and becomes subirrigated,
the evaporation of water from the surface will gradually carry these
salts back to the surface, when they will increase the fertility of the
soil. Where drainage is very perfect, constant irrigation will gradually
rob the soil of many of its soluble salts, and carry them to places
where they will forever be out of the reach of the vines. To ascertain
these facts and conditions, every vineyardist should have the soil
analyzed about every five years, and too great care cannot be taken to
keep the soil of proper strength.

Another influence of irrigation on the soil may also be mentioned here.
Some of the soils in the irrigated districts which were formerly very
hard and difficult to work have in course of time changed and become
mellow. The water has undoubtedly caused a chemical and mechanical
decomposition of the components of the soil, which has caused it to
continually improve. Even certain kinds of hardpan have been known to
dissolve when irrigated, and to change into useful and mellow soil, in
which the vines can find nutriment. Such hardpans are those which are
generally found in very dark red soils; those in lighter soils are not
so readily dissolved.




THE RAISIN GRAPES.


_Introductory Notes._--The raisin grapes might be divided into two
classes,--proper and genuine, such as Muscats, Sultanas and Currants,
and irregular or inferior raisin grapes, such as Malagas and Feher
Szagos. Now-a-days almost any kind of grapes are dried and sometimes
called raisins, but the proper name for them should be dried grapes.
With these we need not here busy ourselves, as with a few exceptions
they are of little value, and cannot be compared with the regular raisin
grapes, either as regards quality, demand or price.


_Muscatel or Gordo Blanco._--This variety is the best type of the raisin
grape of Malaga. Its growth is low and spreading, with no upright
branches in the center. Its bunches are heavy, and, when perfect, close
and shouldered. Its berries are round and large, the greatest
circumference being at the center. A crease is often found at the apex
of the berry. The color is green, or, when fully ripe, amber green or
yellow. As compared with the Muscat of Alexandria, this variety is
distinguished, when perfect, by its low, depressed growth, without any
upright branches in the center of the vine; by a closer bunch; by
rounder berries, and by a thicker and firmer bloom. The berries set
better than those of the Muscat of Alexandria, although both varieties
suffer from the early stages of oidium or colure. The Gordo Blanco is
the choice raisin grape for the San Joaquin valley, and for the interior
generally. It is the raisin grape of Malaga in Spain, where it is
probable the variety originated. Importations of this variety have been
made to California at various times by A. Haraszthy in 1861, and by W.
S. Chapman in 1876.


_Muscat of Alexandria._--The growth of this variety is upright in the
center. Its clusters, even when perfect, are never close. Its berries
are oblong and tapering, the largest circumference being near the apex.
The color when fully ripe is amber green or yellowish green. The leaves
of both varieties of Muscats are five-pointed, light green, lighter
below, and do not differ materially from each other. Both Muscats are
remarkable for their second and third growths, and for the large second
crop on the laterals.

The Muscat of Alexandria, as compared with the Gordo Blanco, is
characterized by its oblong berries, and by its more upright branches in
the center of the vine. Its growth is more straggling than that of the
Gordo Blanco, and, planted side by side, the two varieties are
distinctly characteristic. The Muscat of Alexandria is the favorite
raisin grape in Southern California, where it seems eminently adapted. I
found no other Muscat in San Bernardino and San Diego counties. The most
magnificent bunches of this variety which I have ever seen were grown
there only a few miles from the ocean,--bunches that could not be
surpassed, and which certainly were equal in weight to any Gordo Blanco
that have ever come under my notice. A. B. Butler considers that the
Muscat of Alexandria does equally as well as the Gordo Blanco in Fresno,
but most growers are not ready to agree with him.

[Illustration: 2.--Planting Bar (Fresno). 3.--Fresno “Sheep’s-foot.”
4.--Muscat of Alexandria (N. S.). 5.--Muscatel Gordo Blanco.]

The raisin made from the Muscat of Alexandria looks smaller on account
of its oblong form, and is less suited for facing the boxes, but as to
other qualities, such as taste, sweetness and color, there is no marked
difference between these two varieties of Muscats. All varieties of
Muscats set better in moist air than where the air is very dry, and the
moister air tends to better develop the bunches. This explains why, in
isolated vineyards in the interior, the bunches are never so large as
where a large number of acres of vines have modified the often excessive
dryness of the atmosphere. As to the relative distribution of these two
varieties of Muscats in our State, it may be stated that the former is
not based upon any particular adaptability of the respective varieties
to the localities where they are grown. The Muscat of Alexandria is the
older variety of the two, probably both in Spain as well as in
California. To Valencia in Spain it was brought by the Moors from
Africa, or possibly from Alexandria in Egypt. The Gordo Blanco again
appears to be a native Spanish variety, especially adapted to the warmer
region of Malaga or Southern Spain. The Gordo Blanco is the principal
grape of Malaga; the Muscat of Alexandria is the one grown in Valencia
and Denia and also in Smyrna in Asia Minor.

In California the Gordo Blanco is found around Woodland in Yolo county,
throughout the San Joaquin valley, and in Fresno it is the favorite and
almost exclusive Muscat grape. The Muscat of Alexandria is grown in
Solano county and elsewhere in Northern California, while it is the
exclusive grape in Riverside, Redlands, Orange county and El Cajon, and
probably elsewhere in San Diego county or Southern California generally.
The Muscat of Alexandria was imported by Colonel Agoston Haraszthy in
1852 from Malaga, and by D. M. Delmas some thirty-eight years ago from
France.


_Huasco Muscat._--This variety (pronounced Uasco) resembles very much
the Muscat of Alexandria, of which it is probably a seedling, and was
introduced into Chile by the Spaniards soon after the conquest.
According to Professor E. W. Hilgard, this variety sets better than the
Alexandria, and on that account deserves to be cultivated. It is strange
that no attempts have been made in this country to grow it on a larger
scale. The Huasco is undoubtedly one of the most interesting grapes, and
the fact that it produces the most expensive raisins in the world should
be a sufficient inducement to our California growers to at least study
the variety closely. I should think that El Cajon valley would be the
proper locality for it in this State.


_Other Varieties of Muscats._--A variety of Muscatel resembling the
Gordo Blanco, but with more erect growth, is said to have been imported
by G. G. Briggs of Davisville, Solano county. I have seen it growing in
the vineyard of George A. Freeman of Fresno, but cannot distinguish its
berries from those of the Gordo Blanco. The growth of the vine is more
erect, and leaves the center of the vine rather uncovered and exposed. I
would decidedly prefer the Gordo Blanco. A seedling of the Gordo Blanco
originated by the author is now growing on the Floreal vineyard, owned
by J. T. Goodman, near Fresno. This variety promised a great deal the
first season. I have no doubt that, with some selection of berries and
bunches, many new and valuable raisin grapes could be originated in this
State, varieties which would be especially adapted to our soil and
climate. While our fruit-growers have produced a number of new fruits of
various kinds, we have yet to hear of the first superior grape
seedlings. According to the _Rural Press_ of May 5, 1877, C. T. Ward of
Haywards, Alameda county, raised some seedlings from Huasco seed, but
what has become of them I do not know. Haywards would not be likely to
be a proper place for raisin grapes, and even the best variety could not
possibly be a success there.

J. T. Goodman of Fresno has a Muscatel vine in his vineyard which ripens
ten days earlier than the Gordo Blanco, but whether it is a seedling is
not known. It may prove a most valuable variety if extensively grown. B.
G. Stabler of Yuba City tells me that Ch. E. Swezy, near Marysville,
has raised a seedling from an imported Dehesa raisin, which in size,
flavor and all other qualities excels any other table grape known, but
the flavor of the grape does not resemble that of the Muscatel. I have
seen raisins made from this grape, but they were not desirable; but as a
table grape this variety is said to be superior. If so, this grape
should be tried in different localities, and may prove a real
acquisition. There is no doubt that other seedling raisin grapes have
been raised in this State, and we hope in course of time to know all
about them.


_Seedless Sultana._--This grape is decidedly one of the most important
raisin grapes known. Its bunches are very large, sometimes weighing five
pounds each. The berries are round and seedless, the size of large peas,
of a green color, which, when the grape ripens, turns bright amber
yellow, with small brown spots. The leaves are large and very entire,
and more yellowish than those of the Muscat. The growth of the vine is
upright, with erect or climbing branches. This grapevine in order to
bear must be pruned long, and should properly be staked from four to
five feet high. The yield of the Sultana is very heavy, and as much as
sixteen tons of fresh grapes are frequently harvested from an acre,
provided the soil is the very best possible. The grapes begin to color
and sweeten several weeks before the Muscat, but they become fully ripe
later than this variety, and are on that account not as extensively
grown as they certainly deserve to be. For districts with long summers
and autumns the Sultana will prove a very profitable and desirable
grape. The native home of the Sultana is Asia Minor. There it is grown
principally around Smyrna and in several of the islands in the
Archipelago. In California only few Sultana vineyards are planted; still
there is undoubtedly a great field for this grape where the seasons are
long enough to allow of its perfect ripening. The raisins are light in
color and somewhat acid, but with no particular flavor, and in this
respect are inferior to the Muscats and the Currants. They are produced
either by dipping, as is done in Smyrna, or by sun-drying, as we do in
this State. If the dipping process is used, the grapes must be very
ripe, else they will turn reddish and dark and lose quality. In
California the Sultana grape does well, and only seldom produces seeds.
In Eastern Mediterranean countries, except in the few favored spots of
Smyrna, or in some of the Islands, this variety rapidly deteriorates and
becomes seed-bearing, which of course entirely ruins its usefulness. The
Seedless Sultana was first brought to California by Colonel Agoston
Haraszthy in 1861.


_Black Currant._--This variety is but little known in this State. The
growth is erect and climbing. The bunches are long, narrow and
cylindrical, with heavy shoulders. The berries are small, of the size of
peas, seedless and black, very sweet and with a peculiar aroma not found
in any other variety. The Black Currant should be pruned short, and the
young branches require staking in order to bear well. The home of the
Black Currant is the Grecian Islands as well as Morea, especially around
Patras. Zante, Cephalonia and Ithaca all produce Currants of the highest
quality.


_Other Varieties of Currants._--The White Currant grown in California is
not the true raisin grape which produces the Currant of commerce. The
bunch and berry resemble the Black Currant, but differ in not being
black, and in lacking the peculiar aroma and flavor alone possessed by
the Black and true Currant. There are in Greece several other varieties
of Currants, such as red and gray, but these are used for wine and not
for raisins. The White and Red Currants were introduced from Crimea in
1861 by Colonel Agoston Haraszthy.


_Thompson Seedless._--This variety has been growing in California for
many years, but has only lately come into notice. It was imported from
Rochester, New York, from the establishment of Elwanger & Barry, about
1872, and was by them described as a grape from Constantinople under the
name of Lady Decoverly. Thompson Seedless is the name given this grape
by the local growers around Yuba City, and not the original name. I am
inclined to believe that this grape is related to, but not identical
with, the oblong, seedless grape which is grown around Damascus in Asia
Minor, and there dried into a raisin of very good quality. This Damascus
grape is brownish when ripe. Thompson Seedless is an oval grape,
greenish yellow, as large as a Sultana, seedless, with thin skin, good
but not strong flavor, and without that acid which characterizes the
Sultana grape and raisin. The bunches are large, or very large, and the
vine is an enormous bearer. As yet it is principally grown around Yuba
City and Marysville in limited quantities, but the raisins are in good
demand. When sun-dried and cured, these raisins are bluish and dark like
Muscats, but narrower and more tapering, and only a quarter the size.
Their sweetness and taste commend them for cooking purposes, and the
bearing quality of the vine will no doubt make their growing profitable
in all places where the seasons are too short to thoroughly ripen the
Sultana. In Yuba this grape ripens early in August.


_Other Seedless Grapes._--In the Islands of Lipari and Pantelleria a
coarse but seedless grape is grown, out of which a variety of Sultana
raisin is made. We have no further notices and description of this
variety.


_Malaga._--This is not a real raisin grape, but of late years raisins
have been made from it and found both fair in quality and profitable to
the grower. The Malaga is a heavy bearer of one crop of very large but
loose bunches. There is no second crop. The berries are large, oval, not
tapering, the flesh is meaty and solid, very sweet, but with no decided
flavor. The skin is thick and green, when ripe amber yellow, with thick
bloom. Raisins made of this grape are very large, and the bunches are
also large and solid, and the berries are not easily torn off. When
sweated, the skin becomes thinner, and the quality improves generally.
The Malaga is a very hardy vine, not particular about soil, a strong
grower, bears well, and its grapes ripen at the time of the Muscats.
But, as there is no second crop, the vintage of the Malaga will be over
long before that of the Muscats, and out of the way of rain or fog. This
is what makes this grape so valuable. Four cents per pound has been paid
for these raisins in sweatboxes for the past two years, and at that
price this grape pays better than the Muscats. The Malaga raisins are
also very heavy and solid. I am satisfied that there will be a good
demand for this raisin, especially among consumers, who prefer a bunch
raisin, but who do not care to pay for the expensive packing which is
necessary to preserve the Muscat bunches. The Malaga raisin could be
sold in bulk, and still would not break up. The Malaga grape is grown in
many places in California, and is used principally as a table grape; it
has only been cured and dried into raisins in Fresno. According to A. B.
Butler, this grape is grown in Malaga for table purposes.


_Feher Szagos._--Feher Szagos raisins have been in the market for
several years, and have brought in sweatboxes from three to three and a
half cents per pound. This grape is a heavy bearer and grower, branches
erect but slender, leaves glossy, entire, bunches medium to small,
pointed and solid. The berries are greenish amber, medium, oval,
pointed, with thin skin, and few and small seeds. The flesh is not firm,
but dries well, and when dried the raisin is very good, with a peculiar
flavor of its own. They are only used for cooking, but are nevertheless
rather good raisins to eat, and their seeds are so soft that they are
not objectionable. The bearing quality of the Feher Szagos is very
heavy, as much as sixteen tons of green grapes having been raised to the
acre, and from ten to twelve tons is a common yield. It ripens with the
Muscat, and the vine bears only one crop. At three cents per pound, the
Feher Szagos is a profitable grape. The native home of this variety is
Hungary or Southern Austria, the name meaning, in Hungarian, White Jack.
In Fresno it is grown quite extensively, having originally been planted
as a wine grape. As such it is highly valued, producing an abundance of
highly flavored sherry.


_Other Raisin Grapes._--In Asia Minor, the Grecian Islands, Morea,
Italy, Spain and Morocco, there are grown a number of varieties of
grapes which are cured into raisins and sold as such. Many of these are
little, if any, better than our dried grapes, while others again are
superior, more resembling the regular raisins. Among the latter we have
the Spanish Black and Red, and the Smyrna and Turkish Black and Red.
Some of them belong to the Muscat family, probably resembling Black and
Red Muscats, but of these varieties we have no particular information,
and our growers will probably not lose much by avoiding a more intimate
acquaintance with them.




DISEASES AND INSECT PESTS.

  The following short account of the diseases and insect pests is not
  intended to be exhaustive, and is only intended to refer to the raisin
  districts of our State. I have not included accounts of the phylloxera
  nor of other insects or fungi which do not exist in these districts,
  but which may be troublesome in other parts of the State. Strictly
  scientific descriptions have purposely been left out, but I have
  endeavored to make the popular account as correct and as condensed as
  possible. Of insects and fungi I have only enumerated those which are
  of importance through the damage they occasion from time to time.
  Those which prey on the vines, but which cause no great damage, and
  which the grower need not prepare himself to fight, have here been
  left out.


POWDERY MILDEW OR UNCINULA.


_General Notes._--This disease of the grapevine is caused by the growth
of parasitic fungus known in Europe as _Oidium Tuckeri_, and in this
country as _Uncinula spiralis_ or powdery mildew. I am satisfied the two
names signify the same fungus, only the European form has never been
found as highly developed as the American one, which has on that account
received a name of its own. If the two are identical, then the European
Oidium, which for many years caused the destruction of the transatlantic
vineyards, was imported to that country from this. The _Uncinula
spiralis_ is undoubtedly native on our indigenous vines.


_Characteristics._--The mildew appears in two different stages, one in
the spring when the vines are in blossom, the other again later in the
summer when the fruit is more advanced. The first stage of the mildew
resembles a fine cobweb spun between the flowers of the bunch. If
allowed unrestricted sway, the flowers will drop off, the fruit will
never set, or set only imperfectly, and the crop will be a great loss or
even a total failure. Generally the inexperienced vineyardist does not
perceive the mildew until too late. A slight touch to the vine will then
bring down all the young fruit or blossoms like a shower, and the stem
of the bunch will be seen to be entirely bare, or with only a few
scattered berries. This form of the Uncinula mildew has not been as
scientifically investigated as would be desirable, and nothing is known
as regards its development. It is possibly a primary generation and
early stage of the later Uncinula. I believe this form of the mildew is
identical with the disease which is called Colure by the French, and
which is characterized by the dropping of the young, undeveloped grapes.
The first appearance of this mildew is always accompanied by white,
salty excrescences on the edges of the grape leaves. Whether they are
directly or indirectly connected with the fungus is not known.

The later form, the powdery mildew, and the form which has given this
mildew its name, appears later in the season, when the grapes are half
grown or more. It then takes the shape of fine powder-like patches or
blotches on the upper side of the leaves, stems or berries. These spots
are of a dull gray or whitish gray color, and smell strongly of mold or
mushrooms. If these mildew spots when young are rubbed smooth,
especially on the green stems or berries, we see below them, in the
epidermis of the vine, the _mycelium_ or stem of the fungus spreading in
all directions from a central point, like the roots of a tree or plant.
This part of the mildew corresponds with the stem and root of a plant,
while the upper, powdery part is the one which produces the spores or
the seed, conidia and peritheca, all of which are reproductive organs.
The grapes thus attacked gradually dry up or crack open. The leaves are
eaten through and dry up, and the whole plant becomes badly diseased,
and may even die.

[Illustration: Powdery Mildew (Oidium Form), Greatly Magnified.]


_History and Distribution._--The powdery mildew or Oidium was observed
for the first time in the year 1845 in hothouses in England. It
immediately began to spread, and in a few years infested all the vine
districts of the Old World. Before any remedy had been discovered, many
vine districts were so injured that they have not since been able to
recover. Thus in 1850 and 1851 France suffered greatly from this mildew,
and the Island of Madeira, which for three hundred years had produced
the finest wines, had its grapevines so injured that they up to this
time have not again produced as good a quality of grapes as before the
advent of the disease. The Grecian Islands as well as Morea were also
visited by the powdery mildew, and though the latter is now kept in
control, the general opinion is that the quality of the currants is not
as high as it was before the mildew appeared. Now there is probably no
place in the Old World where grapes are not attacked by this mildew,
although some places are injured much more than others. Adjoining
vineyards are often differently attacked, some being even entirely free,
while others are visited yearly. Young vines are less attacked than old
ones, and in favorable places the mildew seldom infests vines before
they are two or three years old. Elevated places and localities exposed
to winds and cold are generally attacked by the first stages of this
oidium, while its second or last stage prefers low, damp places exposed
to dew or fog.

The American form of the powdery mildew or _Uncinula spiralis_ differs
in some respects from the European Oidium, not as to its effects, but as
to its microscopical characteristics. The Oidium occurs in Europe only
with certain generative organs called gonidia, while the American
_Uncinula_ also develops so-called _peritheca_. It is more than probable
that both fungi belong to the same species, but until these perithecal
organs have been found on the European Oidium, the proper name for our
mildew must be _Uncinula_, and not Oidium. It is also probable that the
_Uncinula_ fungus is a native of this continent, and that it from here
has spread to Europe, where the natural conditions are such that only
the gonidial form of the fungus has been able to develop. In general
appearance and in their effects the _Uncinula_ and Oidium are identical.

The Oidium appears sooner on poor soil and on exhausted vines, and vines
in which the flow of the sap for some reason or other has been checked
are more subject to the mildew than those which are yet in full growing
vigor. Elevated vines on trellises which are much exposed, and vines
which are so covered up that the air has little access, are the first
ones to be attacked, and those which will suffer the most. The powdery
mildew affects all varieties of grapes, but some kinds more than others.
The Muscats are among those which suffer considerably, and if not
sulphured would in severe cases neither set nor bear suitable grapes.
The Malaga is less affected, and so is the Sultana. In new districts the
Uncinula does not appear until the vines are older. Thus in the Fresno
district the earliest vines did not suffer from mildew until they became
five years old, but now the mildew would destroy the grapes every year,
in case they were not treated with sulphur.


_Remedies._--The most common and perhaps the best remedy is powdered
sulphur. The latter is applied either with the dust can or “dredger,” or
with bellows. The dust can is used when the vines or vine shoots are yet
small, and the bellows when the vines are larger. The first sulphuring
should be done when the young shoots are six inches long, immediately
before the bloom, and the second time when the berries are well set.
Sulphuring as a regular vineyard operation will be more fully discussed
further on.


DOWNY MILDEW OR PERONOSPORA.


_General Notes._--The downy mildew is a fungus known botanically as
_Peronospora viticola_. Its native country is the United States, but its
greatest damage is done in Europe. It appears as white, downy spots on
the underside of the grape leaves, which are gradually destroyed, and
later on attacks the berries, which shrivel and spoil. In California the
downy mildew occurs frequently on wild native grapevines, but only very
rarely on the cultivated Asiatic vines. Dr. H. W. Harkness, the eminent
mycologist, found it only once on cultivated vines in the Sacramento
river bottom. These vines were growing close to native vines, from which
the fungus had spread. There is no fear that this fungus will ever
spread and cause damage in our State as long as the vineyards are given
plenty of air. In France the _Peronospora_ has caused much damage, but
is now being combated with bluestone and lime solutions, according to
the following formula: Slake thirty pounds of lime in seven and a half
gallons of water, also mix sixteen pounds of bluestone (copper sulphate)
in twenty-five gallons of water. Mix the two together, and either
sprinkle the foliage with it, or dilute it further with say five
hundred gallons of water and spray the vine leaves on both the upper and
lower sides. According to Dr. Harkness the efficiency of this spray
cannot always be relied on. So far no other fungi have appeared in the
raisin districts of this State, nor have we reason to fear that any will
attack the vines.

[Illustration: Downy Mildew (_Peronospora_), Greatly Magnified. _a._ The
Fungus Growing out of a Stoma of the Vine Leaf. _b._ Transversal Section
of Vine Leaf, showing Fungi and their Tuberous Mycelium.]


THE VINE PLAGUE.


_Characteristics._--The first, or at least the most characteristic signs
of this disease appear especially after a summer rain, or after the
first fall rain. The leaves then become spotted with yellow. The
following season these yellow spots appear as if fused together, and
many leaves become entirely yellow, except the veins, which stand out
bright green. Some leaves are invaded by the yellow from the edges,
while the veins as before remain green. These yellow spots soon turn
brown, the leaves dry up and curl slightly backwards and finally fall
off, leaving the canes bare. During the very first appearance of the
vine plague, many leaves turn brown and dry up in certain spots in the
vineyard without the previous appearance of any yellow spots. The drying
of the leaves proceeds either from the center of the spots, or from the
margin of the leaves, destroying both the leaves and their veins. Later
on in the fall a new crop of leaves appear, but these leaves are small
or very small, bright green and sickly, and do not continue to develop
after they have reached a certain size, different in different vines. In
red varieties of grapes, the yellow spots in the leaves gradually turn
red or claret colored, often resembling the most beautiful autumn
leaves. In districts where the disease is common, these leaves are
generally known as calico leaves on account of their peculiar markings.

The canes do not attain their regular growth, and fail to mature in the
fall, or mature only in spots, the balance of the wood remaining dull
green. The inner parts of the canes are, as a rule, more mature than the
tips. Very often only one or two joints nearest the stem mature, and in
bad cases no part of the canes mature, but at the advent of the rain
turn black and die. Late in the fall the tips of the green canes turn
black, dry up and snap off like glass when touched. The pith turns in
the older canes dark brown, dries up prematurely and dies, while in very
young canes the pith remains watery like a semi-transparent jelly.

Many vines have no mature wood when the leaves have fallen in the
autumn, while others again have some. While the spotted leaves may
appear all over the vineyard, the diseased canes appear on vines in
spots, these spots in the vineyard growing larger year after year. A
dead vine may be seen in the midst of healthy ones, while a healthy
vine, on the other hand, may remain in the midst of dead ones. It takes
generally several years to kill the vines, and some varieties are
hardier than others. Some Muscats may succumb in one year, while some
will last for three years or more. The roots remain alive and healthy
longer than any other part, and, when the top of the vine has already
died, it is common to see the root send up a healthy sucker, which,
however, in its turn, will become diseased and die. It is likely that
the vines in some districts will suffer more than in others, and in
places the vines may not become seriously injured by the disease.

The berries on badly diseased vines do not develop, but shrivel up or
remain sour, and in some cases dry up entirely. In others, again, they
acquire a mawkish taste, lose flavor and sweetness, and make only
inferior or bad raisins. These many different characteristics of the
plague depend evidently on the stage of infection. They do not follow
each other in any certain succession, nor do they all appear on the same
vine. Some vines show one face of the disease, other vines show another,
and the observer must have been previously acquainted with the disease
before he can readily recognize it.


_Nature and Cause._--The cause of the vine plague is not known. No
deadly fungus has so far been found on the vine, nor has any other
deadly parasite been found on the diseased vines. In California the vine
plague has been studied by N. B. Pierce, of the Agricultural Department
at Washington. He suggested once that the disease was of bacterial
nature, but has not proved his theory, his investigations not yet being
finished. Mr. E. Dowlen has also been investigating this disease, and at
one time thought it caused by a fungus, which, however, was proved later
by Dr. H. W. Harkness to belong to the non-injurious kind. No insects of
any kind prey on the vines in sufficient numbers to cause the serious
symptoms of the vine plague.[7] Whatever may be the true cause of the
vine plague, certain it is that it resembles in its advent and spreading
such diseases in men as cholera, yellow fever or the Oriental plague.
The vine plague appears to be especially promoted by warm, moist air and
rain, but it is not confined to damp places, nor has it as yet been
ascertained in what relation it stands to locality and climate.

  [7] The most interesting and correct account of the vine plague yet
  published is found in an essay on “The Mysterious Vine Disease,” by
  Newton B. Pierce, read before the State Horticultural Convention, at
  Los Angeles, March, 1890, and published in CALIFORNIA--A JOURNAL OF
  RURAL INDUSTRY, May 10, 1890; Vol. 3, No. 18.

In California it first made its general appearance in Anaheim in Orange
county, in the month of August, 1884, when vineyards of old Mission
vines suddenly stopped growing, and the grapes failed to color and
ripen, while many of the vines died the same year. The plague attacks in
preference vines growing on poor, sandy or alkaline soil, or in
vineyards underlaid with hardpan. The weak vines succumb the first of
any. This is the reason why so many vineyardists doubt the existence of
any particular disease, contributing the poor condition of the vineyard
to anything else than the true cause.

N. B. Pierce, who has now spent a year in studying the vine plague, has
found many similarities between it and the _mal nero_ of Italy; but the
descriptions of the foreign investigators are both contradictory and
insufficient, and, without a personal investigation of the Italian or
French vines, the identity of our vine plague with any foreign disease
cannot be established. It is to be hoped that the United States Congress
will make such investigations possible. At present we do not even know
whether the vine plague is original in this country or whether it was
imported from foreign countries. The general opinion in the first
attacked district is that the disease was imported there with grapevines
brought from Europe. So far I have not been able to ascertain when and
by whom such vines were imported, but I am satisfied that in the course
of time it will be found that foreign grapevines were imported to the
vineyards where shortly afterwards this disease first appeared.


_Damages._--The damages caused by the vine plague may be summed up as
follows: The leaves turn spotted and yellow, finally dry up and fall
off. The canes fail to mature, or mature only in spots. Later in the
fall, they die from the tips, which turn black and become brittle. The
berries either dry up or shrivel up, and fail to mature, or at any rate
become mawkish or bitter. The yield becomes less and less every year,
although, the first year that the vines are touched by the disease, the
yield is often unusually large. In severe cases the vine dies in from
one to three years, but a few may linger longer.


_Remedies._--The vine plague has existed in this State for six or eight
years, but as yet few, if any, efforts have been made to extinguish it,
and only during the last year have any experiments been carried on. The
solutions of bluestone and lime which many expected would prove
beneficial to the vines attacked by the plague have, in my opinion, done
little or no good. Spraying the vines when in full foliage with the
I X L compound greatly benefits the vines, and proves a powerful
stimulant and the best remedy yet employed.


LEAF-HOPPER (_Erythroneura comes_).


_Characteristics._--This pernicious little pest is a bug which
multiplies in enormous quantities and sucks the sap out of the vine
leaves. Many use the name of thrips to denote this insect, but this is
incorrect, as the thrips is an entirely different, much smaller, insect,
which so far has never been injurious to the vines of this coast. In
size the leaf-hopper is, at maturity, about one-tenth of an inch. In
color it is yellowish white, with a few red spots. When the insect
approaches maturity, it jumps, but the undeveloped insect or larva only
crawls, principally on the underside of the vine leaves, where their
cast-off skins can be seen in all stages and sizes. The eggs are laid in
the veins of the leaves. The glossy globules which are always seen on
leaves where the leaf-hopper is found are not the eggs, as has been
supposed by many, but is only the vomit which, when irritated, the
hopper throws out either as a defense, or because it desires to rid
itself of an unnecessary burden. The leaf-hopper hatches at least two
times, or possibly three times, during the summer. Many of the insects
remain over during winter time. They feed on almost anything, such as
_alfilerilla_ (_Erodium_), etc., but are especially fond of the
grapevines, and even in the early spring flock onto the young vine
shoots, leaving the less desirable weeds. In some localities this insect
is known variously as the white fly, the vine-hopper, or incorrectly as
the thrips.


_Damages._--The hopper punctures the leaves and causes them to dry up
and fall, thus exposing the grapes to the hot sun. The excrement of the
hoppers also covers the grapes largely, and spoils their appearance and
keeping quality, at least as table grapes. It is principally the table
grapes and wine grapes which are injured by this insect; the former are
made unfit for shipment, and the latter do not color well when deprived
of their leaves. If the grapevines are kept growing, the grapes are less
injured, and some growers even contend that the hopper is advantageous,
as it causes the leaves to fall and the grapes to mature.


_Distribution._--It is not known whether the leaf-hopper is a native of
California, and I hardly believe it is. It does not exist in Southern
California, but in Northern California and in the San Joaquin valley it
is common. In the grape districts of Southern California there is found
another variety of leaf-hopper almost twice the size and of a brilliant
green color, which only once appeared in such quantity as to do any
damage at all. Generally it is quite rare. The _Erythroneura comes_,
however, occurs in countless numbers, and often rises in clouds when the
vines are approached. In some years it is less common than in others,
and after having been plentiful for several years gradually diminishes
in quantity, but never disappears entirely.


_Remedies._--Pasturing the vineyards with sheep as soon as the grapes
are picked is very beneficial. The sheep destroy both hoppers and
leaves, and the following season always finds the hoppers greatly
diminished in numbers. The sheep do no injury to low-pruned vines, and
in Fresno many vineyardists pasture their vines regularly every year in
October and November, or as soon as the grapes are picked and the
vineyards are made accessible.

The gauze bell consists of a bell-shaped cover made of wire netting,
large enough to cover the vine. The inside of the bell is sprayed with
petroleum, and then turned over the vine. A shake is then given the
vine, when many leaf-hoppers will fly up and stick in the petroleum. It
will only pay to use this remedy on table grapes; for raisin grapes it
is too expensive.


RED SPIDER.


_Characteristics._--Red or yellow mites are quite frequently injurious
to grapevines. These mites are small, almost microscopical, and appear
in enormous quantities on both sides of the leaves, especially, however,
on their under side. They cover the leaves, and even the ground of the
vineyard, with a thick cobweb, in which they live and hatch. Dry air and
heat promote the wellbeing of the mites, and hasten the injury they do
to the vine leaves, which soon dry up and check the growth of the vines.
On the contrary, dew and moisture destroy the red mites in a short time,
and in places near the coast they are seldom very injurious.


_Remedies._--Sprays of various kinds, such as whale-oil soap, resin
sprays, etc., have been used. Frequent spraying with pure water will
destroy the mites, but they will multiply again if the climate is
favorable. The best success is had with a spray of a compound known as
the I X L compound, which is used in the proportion of five pounds of
the compound to thirty gallons of water. One good spray will destroy
both the mites and their eggs.


CATERPILLARS.


_Characteristics._--The caterpillars which trouble the raisin grapes are
confined to three or four kinds. The most common and also the most
destructive are the very large larvæ of the sphinx moth. The common
grapevine sphinx (_Philampelus achæmon_) is a large larva, incorrectly
called a worm, which is, when full grown, over three inches long. The
color varies from bluish green to brown, with several lighter stripes on
each side. The head is truncate, and the tail is furnished with a curved
horn. The _pupa_ hibernates in the soil below the vines, and is about
half the size of the full-grown caterpillar. The full-grown moth is
about two inches long by two and one-half inches between the
outstretched wings. The eggs are laid by the moths on the leaves of the
vines. Two broods of caterpillars appear yearly under favorable
conditions, or else only one brood, which generally appears in the end
of July. The caterpillars grow with great rapidity, and attain their
full size in a few weeks. The _pupæ_ hibernate in the soil and hatch the
following summer.

Another large grapevine caterpillar is the _Deilephila striata_, which
is about the same size as the _Achæmon_. The moth has more pointed
wings, with narrow stripes, and the larva is brighter colored, often
yellowish green, with several colored stripes on the sides. The eggs are
not laid on the vines, but on the weeds on the vacant lands outside the
vineyard, especially on species of _Epilobium_, but also on other weeds,
and they hatch and feed on them. The caterpillars feed in ordinary years
only on the weeds on which they are bred, but in other years which are
especially favorable to their enormous increase they migrate to the
vineyards and feed on the vines at the most alarming rate. The
caterpillars of both the above large moths vary in color from green to
brown or violet brown, but as a rule the _Deilephila_ is more brightly
colored than the _Achæmon_. The former is more active and often travels
in enormous numbers, when it is called the army-worm. The _Achæmon_ is
more blunt at both extremities, the head being almost truncate.

[Illustration: Vineyard Scene, Rosedale Colony, Kern County, July,
1890.--Three Months After Planting.]

Army-worms are smaller caterpillars, about one inch or more in length,
which breed on the outside weeds, and which, when feed becomes scarce,
migrate to the vineyards and feed on the vines. These caterpillars are
the larvæ of smaller moths of various genera such as _Prodenia_ and
others.

Cutworms are other caterpillars of moths of the genus _Agrotis_, which
feed on the branches of the vines, especially in the night-time, and in
the daytime bury themselves in the soil beneath the vine. They are
generally a gray or leathery color, while the army-worms are more violet
and darker.


_Damages._--The damages from these various caterpillars are sometimes
very large. Some years they occur in enormous quantities, and hundreds
of tons of them may then be picked from a vineyard of a hundred acres of
vines. The leaves are eaten by them, and the grapes are either scalded
by the sun or do not attain their sweetness and coloring. Sometimes
these various caterpillars are very common and destructive for one or
two years in succession, after which they disappear and do not return to
trouble the vines again for many years.


_Remedies._--The great caterpillars, after they have once infested the
vineyard, can be destroyed by picking. A gang of men or boys should be
furnished with buckets, which are besmeared on the inside with coal-oil.
The caterpillars are picked and dropped in the buckets, from which they
cannot crawl out, and when the buckets are half filled they may be
emptied into trenches and covered up with soil.

Many use small scissors, with which the caterpillars are cut in twain
while sitting on the vines. This will do for wine grapes, which are
grown higher above the ground, but will hardly be proper on the low
Muscat vines, as the contents of the caterpillars are apt to soil the
grapes.

I have used Buhach sprays with great success. Ten pounds of Buhach, with
a hundred gallons of water, brought the caterpillars down from the vines
in forty-five minutes after spraying. As some, however, recovered, it is
best to kill as many as possible of those which fall to the ground by
punching them with a stick. The cost of Buhach is, however, great, and
the difficulty of encountering favorable weather is such that this
remedy is not apt to be extensively used.

When the vineyards are threatened by the invasion of the army-worms, or
by the striped _Deilephila_ caterpillar, the best remedy consists in
trenching. A narrow trench, say one foot or more wide and two feet deep,
with perpendicular sides, should immediately be dug around the vineyard.
If water is at hand, fill the trench with water, on which some coal-oil
may be poured,--enough to cause a film on the surface. If no water can
be had, a log or scantling may be continually dragged up and down the
furrow or trench, so as to crush the caterpillars before they can crawl
out. In many places, however, the trench alone will do the work, as the
caterpillars will generally not be able to get up the other side of the
trench. What few crawl up can easily be kept down by hand-picking.

If certain attractive flowers, such as honey-suckles or petunias, are
planted on a small bed in the vineyard, say near the house, the moths
will come to them to feed from all the surrounding neighborhood. Only
one small bed should be planted on every vineyard. A boy with a
butterfly net, posted at each flower bed at sundown, can catch hundreds
of moths every evening, and considerably reduce their number and prevent
them from breeding.


BLACK-KNOT.


_Characteristics._--The woody or spongy excrescences which appear on the
vines, and which are known as black-knots, are really only a wart-like
growth, the origin of which is entirely unknown. It is supposed that an
insufficient outlet for the sap in the spring caused by too close
pruning is the chief cause. Certainly closely pruned vines are more
subject to the black-knot than long pruned vines, but on the other hand
neglected vines which have had no cultivation, and which accordingly
could hardly have had too rapid a flow of sap, suffer more than any
others. The woody warts appear quite frequently on the ends of the spurs
of the old wood, or on places of last year’s growth which have been
wounded or injured in some way, but never on the green wood. They vary
in size from that of a pea to that of lumps weighing several pounds.
When present in small quantities, the warts cause no injury, but when
they become larger the vines may even die. These black-knots always die
with the year, and never survive to the next season. At the end of the
season, they burst open and then often display black spores of fungi,
which, however, are only parasitical growths on the already decayed
wood, and not the cause of the disease. As I said, it is generally
supposed that the flow of sap is during spring time so great that it
ruptures the cells of the vine and causes the warts to form. Under the
microscope, however, there are no such ruptured cells visible. It is
more natural to suppose, that through the accumulation of sap an
irritating poison is originated, which causes the warty growth to form
in a manner similar to the formation of galls. On sandy soil the
black-knot is the most common, probably on account of the earliness and
the natural warmth of this kind of soil.


_Remedies._--So far no decidedly successful remedy has been found. Some
growers advise leaving plenty of spurs on the vine, so as to give a
sufficient outlet to the sap, but it remains to be seen if this will
mitigate the evil. If the black-knot should be very destructive, a
cutting out of the same in summer time while they are forming would be
beneficial. This could best be done in June and July. Mixtures of
coal-oil and lime, etc., have been used during the winter after the
vines were already pruned, but, as the black-knot is then already dead,
no advantages can result from this remedy.


GRASSHOPPERS.


_General Notes._--While grasshoppers cannot be considered as a common
pest in the vineyard, still they are at times greatly destructive.
There has been during the last sixteen years two such invasions of
grasshoppers in the California raisin districts. The grasshoppers are of
many species, some seventeen kinds having been recognized one season.
They all breed in the waste or unplowed ground outside the vineyard, and
when full-grown invade the vines. This fact can be taken advantage of to
destroy them.


_Remedies._--The waste lands for a half mile at least all around the
vineyard should be plowed and harrowed in the early spring. This will
destroy the eggs of the grasshoppers, and the fallow land will serve as
a barrier over which the grasshoppers do not readily pass.

If the vineyards are so situated that the weeds or natural vegetation on
the land surrounding the vines can be burned for half a mile or more,
this will also prove a certain barrier for the hoppers.

A mixture of fifteen pounds of white arsenic with eighty pounds of bran
and twenty pounds of middlings, moistened with enough water to make a
paste, will be eaten by the grasshoppers. The paste is spread on bits of
shakes or shingles and distributed all around the vineyard, and later on
in the vineyard. It may also be smeared on fences or trees. The
grasshoppers will eat it readily, and can thus be successfully
destroyed. If this method is used in time, the advancing army of the
pest can be kept back or destroyed at the very entrance of the vineyard.
As another remedy, a spray is recommended consisting of one ounce of
Paris green, one hundred gallons of water, and two pounds of paste. This
is sprayed on the trees or vines, and is said to kill the grasshoppers
effectively without injuring the fruit.




THE RAISIN VINEYARD.


PLANTING.


_Distances for Muscat Vines._--An examination of the various vineyards
in any or in all the different raisin districts will not help us much in
deciding upon how far apart the vines should be set, as most vineyards
have been planted by men of no previous experience in the raisin
business, and when that experience was at last acquired the vineyards
were already established and could not easily be changed. In planting,
we are too apt to do as other people do without first inquiring from
them if their experience has not taught them anything else, and if they
would not do otherwise if they had to commence over again. For years the
standard distances between raisin-vines have been eight by eight feet.
Of late years this distance was considered too small, as our soil was
supposed to be so rich, that all that was required, in order to get
large crops, was to give the vines plenty of room. Many vineyards have
been set nine by nine, nine by ten, ten by ten, or even ten by twelve
and twelve by sixteen feet. The effect has, however, been different from
that which was expected. Instead of producing larger crops, those vines
which were given more room produced only more wood and more leaves. They
followed that law of nature, which causes any animal or vegetable to
grow luxuriantly when overfed, and which, on the contrary, causes seed
and fruit to form when the vegetable system is restricted to certain
proportions, which, of course, we can only determine by actual
experience. By giving the vines less space, some inconvenience will be
experienced in working the soil, and in drying the crop between the
rows. On that account some vineyards have been planted with the vines
closer one way than the other, thus giving plenty of room in which to
work the soil, while on the other hand sufficiently confining the vines
in order to cause them to bear well. I therefore now recommend that the
vines be set four and a half by eleven, five by ten and a half, or five
by eleven feet. The first would probably be my choice. I claim for this
system many advantages, and beg intending growers to carefully consider
the following points:

It gives us more vines to the acre, which means more grapes to the acre,
as long as the land is of the best quality, and no raisin grapes should
ever be planted on inferior soil, or at least the soil should be
sufficiently rich to supply plant food to the greater number of vines.

It makes the working of the soil cheaper, and fully one-third more of
the work can be done by two-horse plows. The single-horse work can be
confined to plowing a furrow on each side of the vines, and to running a
cultivator crosswise. As the number of rows in this system is less, it
also follows that less single-team work is needed.

The vines protect themselves from the hot sun and hot winds which cause
sunscald. The short distances should be in the direction of the hot
wind, if any there be, or in the direction of east and west if there are
no hot winds in the district. The spaces between the rows will thus
catch the morning sun, which is of importance when we dry on trays
between the vines.

Less roads will be needed in the vineyard, as the larger distance is
sufficient to enable any teams to pass between every row of vines, and
distribute trays, boxes, etc., without interfering with the vines. The
saving thereby of labor in carrying the boxes and trays is quite an item
in vineyards where the vines are planted say eight by eight feet or
closer.

[Illustration: Land Scrapers.]

The trimmings of the vines can be burned in the vineyard between the
rows, and will thus help to fertilize the soil. Besides, the expense of
hauling the trimmings away will be saved.


_The Marking Out of a Vineyard._--As any practical horticulturist knows
how to stake out an orchard or vineyard, a minute description is not
here needed. I will only indicate the most important points. Cut a large
number of small pegs, one inch or so square and a foot or so long. Next
get two lines of twisted wire, each say 150 feet long. Mark off on one
wire every five feet by inserting a small, bright copper wire in the
twist, and wind it around the iron wire three or four times, enough to
show the place. On the other wire mark off similarly every ten or eleven
feet, always supposing these are the distances decided upon. Now stretch
one of the wires along one end of the future vineyard and call this line
the base line No. 1. Set a peg close to every copper ringlet, on the
side of the wire away from the vineyard. When done, stretch the other
wire, No. 2, at a right angle with the former, and set pegs similarly.
Remove wire No. 1 from base line No. 1 and stretch it at the end of wire
No. 2, parallel to the base line. Call this base line No. 2. Set pegs as
before every eight feet. It is now evident that, by stretching
successively the wire No. 2 between the pegs set on the two base lines,
and by setting cuttings or rooted vines close to the copper ringlets on
the wire line, perfectly straight and even rows can be had in every
direction.

Too much stress cannot be laid on this work. Remember that the vineyard
is to last for a lifetime or more, and that any careless work will ever
be an eyesore and a drawback. Unsightly vineyards, carelessly staked
out, are never worth as much as those carefully planted, where every row
is straight, and where plowing, cultivating and other farming and
vineyard work can be performed without meeting any obstacles in the way
of crooked rows, or of vines standing out of line. Only too frequently
vineyard rows are plowed out, and the cuttings are “slapped” in anyway
in order to get the work quickly done. In after years, when the
proprietor’s taste and experience has improved, he finds that his
reputation as a careless or ignorant grower cannot be changed; for the
vineyard is there to last, and to tell the tale of early ignorance or
neglect.

[Illustration: 1-_a_, _b_, _c_, _d_.--Vineyard Tools used in the Currant
Vineyards of Zante.]


_Relative Value of Cuttings and Rooted Vines._--Cuttings and rooted
vines have their advocates, but the majority of vineyardists are now in
favor of planting rooted vines, and I would myself choose the latter
every time. As, however, rooted vines and cuttings are both likely to be
used as long as vines are planted, a few words in regard to their
respective merits may be of general interest. In planting cuttings, we
are never sure that they will all grow. Cuttings if cared for generally
do well, but sometimes, even with good care, they fail, and the loss and
annoyance is then always great, and even in very careful planting seldom
over ninety per cent live, while often twenty-five per cent die. The
reason is often careless planting, when the season is favorable, but in
unfavorable seasons the failure must be attributed to other causes.
Those cuttings which grow, generally grow well and often make as good
vines as those raised from previously rooted ones.

The replanting of the cuttings that failed to live is both expensive and
troublesome. Every vineyardist knows how difficult it is to succeed in
making cuttings, or even vines, grow on places in the vineyard where
other ones have failed to grow before. Some attribute this difficulty to
some poison in the soil, but I believe the cause will be found in the
greater difficulty to attend to a few young vines in among the older
ones. The older vines will naturally use up the moisture in the soil,
and the cuttings, with their young and tender roots, will have but
little chance in the general struggle for life. But even if we suppose
that the replanted vines will do equally well, it will be found that the
replanting of the cuttings is actually more expensive than the first
planting. The reason why this is so lies in the greater work in getting
the soil in first-class condition after the first planting failed. In
the first planting, the soil has been put in order with the help of
horses and plows, while, when we replant, the very spots where the vines
are to be located cannot be reached by other means than by a pick or
shovel, as, no matter how well the old vineyard is plowed, there will
always be a hard spot around every vine, or around the place where the
vine should be, and where it failed to grow. If only a few cuttings have
taken root, it is better to plow up the whole vineyard and reset, and in
so doing endeavor to do better work. I know of vineyards where the
owners have not succeeded in replanting during ten years, every year
spending money and labor with little success. There will always be a few
cuttings that fail to live.

The causes of the uncertainty of cuttings are our inability to foresee
the outcome of the season’s climatic conditions. More or less rain has a
direct influence on our success. Thus in very rainy seasons the cuttings
should be small or rather short, so as to be as much as possible in the
upper, dryer and warmer soil. In dry seasons, again, the cuttings should
be long, so as to be in the moist ground, but as we can never foresee
what the season will be, we had better have a recourse to rooted vines,
which, if in good condition, will be comparatively independent of
weather and wind.


_The Making of Cuttings._--The making of cuttings is not a difficult
process, but nevertheless it should be carefully done in order to insure
final success. After the vines have been trimmed and the trimmings have
been placed in small piles along the rows of the vineyard, the cuttings
should be made as quickly as possible on the spot, the laborers moving
from pile to pile as they finish up. The shears should be sharp and kept
sharp, both to insure good cuttings and to hasten the work. A poor shear
is worse than a poor farmhand, and it pays to keep the best kind of
every tool that is used in vineyard work. The size of the cutting must
be decided upon according to the conditions of the soil. If the land is
very wet and is likely to remain so, an eight-inch, or even a six-inch,
cutting, will do, and will grow better than a long one. Long cuttings
will reach down into the wet soil and decay at the lower end before
they take root. In dry and warm soils the cuttings may be from twelve to
eighteen inches long, or even longer if it is desirable to bend them in
a circular way in the holes in which they are to be planted, or if the
soil is very warm and dry, when it is of importance that the cutting
should reach the deeper moisture. A twelve or fourteen inch cutting is
probably an average size cutting, and one that will answer most
conditions, in case they are not previously known.

A nurseryman, or any one who can give his cuttings as much attention as
they require, can use even the very tips of the vines and make them
grow. But for general planting, especially direct in the field, seldom
more than one or two cuttings can be made from a branch. The cutting
should be cut immediately below an eye or joint. Such cuttings grow
better, are easier to plant and are less apt to dry out. The more eyes a
cutting contains the better is the cutting, as the roots mostly form at
the joints. Many make the cuttings with a heel of old wood, but I do not
believe such cuttings are in any way preferable to those made of only
one season’s wood. The old wood does not grow any better than young
wood, generally not so well, and, besides, such cuttings with heels are
more difficult to plant and handle. When the cuttings are made, they
should at first be placed in small piles, with the top ends all the same
way, and as soon as possible afterwards tied up in bundles, with at
least two strings to every bundle. For tying, any string will do, but
split basket-willow twigs are probably the strongest and least apt to
root. Still any stout twine will answer the purpose. From one hundred to
two hundred cuttings may conveniently be put in each bundle, according
to the size of the cuttings.


_The Care of Cuttings._--After the cuttings are made and bundled, they
should be labeled with wooden labels and immediately taken to some place
where they can be heeled in. The lead-pencil is the best for writing the
names. The best place in which to heel in the cuttings is on the north
side of some large building, under an open shed or under some large
trees. In fact, any place which is partially shaded and cool will do. If
the bundles are to be used soon or shipped, they might be placed on the
wet ground, and only covered with sacks or with straw, but, if they are
to remain any longer time, they must be placed in the ground and
carefully covered. A trench should be dug half the depth of the cutting,
but slightly wider. The bundles are placed in the trench upright, and
after the trench is full the soil from the new trench, parallel with the
first one, is thrown on and around the bundles so as to keep them moist.
It is best not to keep the cuttings too moist, and on no account should
they be wet, as they will then begin to root rapidly, and when they are
again removed these roots will break or dry up to the great injury of
the cutting. If unavoidably the planting is delayed longer than
expected, the bundles of cuttings may be taken out and placed in dry air
for a day or for a few hours, and then replaced in the soil. This may be
done several times without any injury accruing to the cuttings, the only
effect of the drying being to retard their rooting and sprouting, but it
should of course not be done after they have once begun to callus or
root. To place cuttings in water for any length of time is nearly always
injurious, and especially so if the water is bad or contains manure.
Manure water always kills cuttings readily. If the cuttings have
sprouted, or begun to make roots, or form callus, a careful vineyardist
will take his bundles to the field submerged in a barrel or bucket of
water, or at least wrapped in wet sacks or blankets. If again the
cuttings are dry and a fresh cut does not show a flow of sap, they may
be freshened by soaking in fresh water over night. Even very poor and
dry cuttings are easily revived this way, but a continuous immersion for
several days will injure the cuttings and cause them to rot. It is also
of importance that the water should be clear and cold, or at least not
warm. Instead of immersing the cuttings in water, they may be set down
in cool and moist soil for three or four days before being planted. The
soaking in water is the simplest, quickest and most effective for
slightly dried cuttings.


_Planting Cuttings._--Planting cuttings in the vineyard can be done in
several different ways. They may be planted with a spade, with a flat
planting bar, or with the “sheep’s-foot.” Each one of these tools will
answer the purpose if properly used, but their selection must depend
upon the quality of the soil, and upon the nature of the land generally.
In all planting of cuttings, the following points must be observed as of
importance in insuring success. The cuttings must be set in moist and
cool soil. The lower end of the cuttings must lodge in solid ground, and
there must be no air space at the bottom. Only one eye should be left
above the surface of the soil. The soil must be tamped well around the
cutting from the bottom to the top. All inferior cuttings should be
thrown away, and every cutting should be examined before it is planted.

For a description of the tools used in planting, I beg to refer to the
end of this chapter. I will now further consider the above points. Many
failures are made by not planting in moist soil. If irrigation is
needed, irrigate before planting, then plow and harrow, and then plant.
When moist cuttings are planted in dry and warm soil, the latter will
extract all the moisture from the cuttings, and the latter will fail to
grow. I have seen parties first plow deep furrows through the vineyard,
so as to air and dry the ground before planting the cuttings. This is
not necessary and even harmful. Moist and warm ground is essential to
the starting and growth of cuttings. The lower end of the cutting should
be lodged in solid ground, or the cutting will fail to grow. This point
is of the utmost importance, and should be carefully observed. If, when
the cutting is pushed down in the soil, a small air chamber form at the
lower end, the butt end of the cutting will mold, and the latter will be
poisoned and die. Nine-tenths of all the failures in planting are caused
by neglect in this respect. Care is especially needed when the
sheep’s-foot is used. Only one eye should be left above ground, which is
enough for all purposes. Any more eyes will exhaust the cutting before
it is rooted, and the additional length of the cutting will expose it to
the danger of being broken or otherwise injured. The soil must be tamped
hard all along the cutting so as to cause the latter to attract the
necessary moisture. Loosely set cuttings very often fail, especially in
dry seasons. All inferior cuttings, especially those frosted or
otherwise injured, should be thrown out before being brought to the
field. A cutting costs so little that it pays to use only the strongest
and best, when a much better stand will be the result. Frosted cuttings
can be detected by their darker color. Fresh and healthy cuttings should
have a green and fresh cambium or inner bark, and a fresh cut should
show fresh sap oozing out.

When the sheep’s-foot is used in planting, the butt end of the cutting
is inserted in the forked end of this tool, and this explains why it is
necessary to have as little wood as possible below the last eye of the
cutting. By pushing the sheep’s-foot down in the soil, the cutting is
pushed simultaneously down to the proper length; a twist is then given
the sheep’s-foot so as to get it loose from the cutting, and the former
is then pulled up. It may in some instances be necessary to push down
the cutting with the left hand, while the sheep’s-foot is being pulled
back, as care must be taken that in pulling back the sheep’s-foot the
cutting is not lifted. Even the smallest lift will cause the lower end
of the cutting to hang in an air chamber, and this will, as I have
stated, cause the cutting to mold and die. When planted, a few sharp
taps with the foot will sufficiently fix the cutting. When the flat bar
is used, a hole is first made by the bar, the cutting is then inserted,
and the hole filled up by again inserting the bar near the cutting, and
by pressing it forward towards the latter. Neither of these tools can be
used in dry or stony soils, but in moist and loamy soil, which has been
previously well prepared, they are most excellent, as doing the work
both quickly and well. The sheep’s-foot is unexcelled for speed in loose
soil, while the flat bar is of advantage where the soil is a little
harder. The flat spade is used when rocky and stony or even gravelly
soil interferes with the using of the former tools. Every farmer will
know how to use the spade, and no further explanation is required here.

Some plant the cuttings slantingly in the soil, in order to bring them
as near the surface as possible. This is well enough and proper in very
wet soils, where the lower strata are too cool, but in this warm country
the perpendicular planting is easier and better. By twisting and bending
the cutting in the dug hole a longer cutting can be used, but I have
seldom found any advantage of very long cuttings, and few soils are
suited to raisin grapes when such methods are needed to produce strong
and rapidly growing vines.


_Care of Young Cuttings._--In places where irrigation is needed and
used, many irrigate the cuttings immediately after they are planted, so
as to settle the soil. This, however, is only needed where the ground is
very dry or very sandy. It is much the better way to irrigate before
planting and to plant on the loose soil after it has been replowed and
properly prepared. Such soil keeps the moisture for a long time, and
even in dry climates will require no irrigation for months after the
planting. The principal care, after the cuttings have been planted, but
before they are fairly started, is to keep the ground loose and to
prevent it from baking on the surface. The best way to accomplish this
is to run a revolving randel harrow over the land regardless of the
cuttings. This kind of harrow consists of a row of vertical, slightly
concave steel discs, which revolve when the harrow is pulled over the
land. No regard need be paid to the rows of cuttings, provided they do
not stand too high above the surface, or have begun to swell. Not one
cutting in a hundred is injured, and those that are cut off are sure to
sprout from below. After every shower of rain, the land should be
harrowed or pulverized in this way. If the soil is baked and hard around
the cuttings, the latter will be slow to start, but a loosening of the
soil will have the desired effect almost immediately. The amount of
irrigation needed for young plantations can only be decided upon on the
ground. The cuttings should be kept growing, and young leaves should
always be seen at the tips of the branches. Long before these young
leaves cease growing, a copious supply of water should be added to keep
the soil from becoming too dry.


_Transporting Cuttings to Distant Parts._--When cuttings are to be
shipped any distance, they must be packed. The simplest method of
packing for short distances is to fill the bottom of a sack with wet
straw, and then slip the bundle of cuttings down in the sack, and a
single string will then suffice to secure the sack to the bundle. Packed
this way, cuttings can stand a voyage of a week or more if the weather
is not too hot. If a longer voyage, of say several weeks’ duration, is
necessary, the cuttings should be packed in dry-goods boxes, and, if the
time of transit is not too long, no other packing is needed. If,
however, a very long transit is in view, more precautions for the safe
arrival of the cuttings are required. After the bundles have been
pressed down in the box, moist and fresh moss is packed tightly down all
along the sides of the box. Such packing will keep the cuttings fresh
for over a month. For a longer time, coarse, pulverized charcoal filled
in between the cuttings is a splendid packing. The charcoal must be dry,
the moisture in the cuttings being enough to keep them alive for several
months. Packed first in tin boxes surrounded by charcoal, and then the
boxes soldered tightly, so as to allow no air to enter, is the safest
method for transporting cuttings long distances. If there is a
possibility to repack at certain stations on the road, wooden boxes may
be used instead of tin. The waxing of the ends of the cuttings will help
to keep them moist. All lumber boxes should be lined with waxed paper,
and all cracks carefully nailed up, as by the drying of the boards the
contents are very liable to run out. Large and heavy boxes should be
surrounded by iron bands.


_Rooting Cuttings._--There are two ways of planting cuttings in the
nursery in order to have them rooted for next season’s planting. One way
is to plant in nursery rows four feet apart; the other is to set in
beds. For such nursery, a plat of land with rich soil and with good
water facilities should be selected. Water should never fail in the
nursery, as cuttings always require more water than old plants set
farther apart. The rows should be staked out four feet from each other.
Six or eight inch cuttings should be used, according to the depth to
moisture; the more moisture, the shorter need be the cuttings. With a
big, flat hoe the soil along the line of the row is thrown up on one
side, the cuttings are set down upright close to the perpendicular
side, and the soil is again raked back with the same kind of hoe, and
then tamped hard around the cuttings. The latter need not be over two or
three inches apart, and from forty to fifty thousand may be set on one
acre of ground. In no instance should the cutting be left more than one
or two inches above the surface of the ground. The best instrument or
tool for opening the soil and for covering the cuttings is the large
flat-faced Italian hoe, used by Italian workmen both in Europe and in
this country.

If the bed system is adopted, much smaller cuttings may be used,
although it is not necessary to have them smaller than six inches. The
beds may be two feet wide and four feet apart, in this respect
resembling nursery rows, and treated just as such. The cuttings are set
in the beds two or three inches apart each way. We must remember that
such cuttings require much more water than cuttings planted in four-foot
rows, as the quantity soon exhausts the moisture in the soil. The beds
may also be square, each one surrounded by a little bank or levee of
soil in order to hold the water. In these beds, which should be slightly
below the general surface of the ground, the cuttings are set very
close,--two or three inches apart,--until the whole bed is filled up.
These beds are never cultivated in any other way than by pulling the
weeds out by hand. They must be frequently irrigated by flooding, except
when the soil is immensely wet or moist.

Vines may also be propagated from a single eye, or from cuttings
containing a single eye. Such cuttings may be set perpendicularly in
beds or in rows, or they may be placed horizontally in boxes with pure
sand, and entirely covered over. The single eyes soon sprout and make
nice little plants, with a well-developed system of roots.

All these cuttings planted in beds, if properly watered during the
summer, will make excellent vines to be set in vineyard form next
season. Being set so close, they require much moisture and irrigation,
the many new roots soon exhausting the moisture in the soil. It is
better, however, to have the cuttings set as closely as possible, so as
not to get too strong vines. An overgrown vine is more expensive to
plant and more difficult to handle than one of medium growth. Besides,
the latter has a greater number of fibrous roots, which, if in good
condition, will give a quick start and rapid growth to the new vine.


_Care of Rooted Vines._--The same precautions are to be observed with
rooted vines as with cuttings, only more care is required to shield the
roots from the sun and wind. Wet blankets or sacks should always be used
when the roots are taken to the field, and, if the vines show the least
sign of being dry, they should be soaked for several hours in pure
water, and in this respect treated just like cuttings.


_Planting Rooted Vines._--Planting rooted vines is not attended with
many difficulties. The most important points to observe are these. The
vines must be freshly dug. If not, or if the least dry, soak in water
over night. Cut away all dead or dry rootlets. Prune the top of the vine
down to two or three buds, and leave only one spur. Have the vines
covered while carried out in the field, and plant only in moist ground.
The young and tender roots are easily dried if set in warm and dry
soil, and they will afterwards decay and injure the vine. A carefully
planted vineyard, where rooted vines alone have been used, and where
every precaution has been taken to insure success, should have about
ninety-seven per cent of the vines growing. To make every one grow would
only be possible in a very small plantation. In the large raisin
centers, all this planting may be contracted for. The cost of planting
cuttings is generally calculated at one-half cent per cutting, and for
rooted vines at one cent per vine. Frequently parties contract to supply
cuttings and to plant the land for from eighteen to twenty dollars per
acre or less. It is generally better to pay the higher price and get the
work done properly.


_Proper Time for Planting._--The time for planting cuttings depends
greatly upon the season, the quality of the soil and the moisture. In
wet seasons the dry land should be planted first, and cuttings might be
started there as soon as the first frost allows us to make them with
advantage. The moister the soil the later should the planting be begun,
and on the contrary the drier the soil and the warmer, the sooner should
the cuttings as well as the rooted vines be planted in the fall.
December and January are the best months to plant, although with care
cuttings as well as rooted vines may be set as late as in April or even
in May. As a rule, early planting is better, as it gives the cuttings
chance to root well before the hot weather causes the shoots to start.
In very rainy seasons, or in wet places, cuttings should be planted
later than rooted vines. Moisture in undue degree will cause cuttings to
rot, while its influence on the roots of the vines is not as great.
Rooted vines stand both moisture and drought better than cuttings do. On
sandy, dry soil and in dry seasons I would wish my cuttings planted as
early in December as possible; while, on wet places, I would delay
planting until after the frost is over in February. The same rule
applies to rooted vines, but we must remember that roots begin to send
out rootlets almost as soon as they are dug, and that early planting
will preserve these for the early use of the vine, while, in late
planting, almost every one of these new roots will be destroyed in
planting and must be produced over again. We might also say that both
cuttings and rooted vines should be set as soon as the soil is in proper
condition in the fall. Do not wait for anything after the soil is dry
enough to permit planting. Early planted vines will have a good start.


_Cost of Cuttings and Rooted Vines._--The price of Muscat or
raisin-grape cuttings generally varies from two dollars and fifty cents
to five dollars per thousand, and have been sold as low as one dollar
per thousand cuttings. Rooted vines again vary from ten to twenty
dollars per thousand, according to the demand and supply. The cost of
planting is, of course, different in different localities. In Fresno the
ruling prices for vineyard planting with cuttings is one-half cent per
cutting. The men board and lodge themselves for this sum. For rooted
vines the price is from sixty cents to one dollar per hundred vines. The
ground must be in a perfect condition, but the success of the work is
never guaranteed, as so much depends upon after treatment. While the
actual cost of planting the grapes is insignificant, it will be found
that the many different expenses of a large vineyard of say 160 acres
will be quite considerable, and few of our larger raisin vineyards in
irrigated districts have cost less than fifty dollars per acre during
the first year. This includes labor, buildings, tools, etc., but not the
first cost of land. With experience and constant supervision, this cost
may be reduced somewhat, and under very favorable circumstances from
twenty to forty dollars even per acre may cover the cost of planting and
maintenance during the first season. But estimates in this direction are
not reliable, as one man will spend twice as much as another under
similar circumstances.


PLOWING AND CULTIVATION.


_Winter Plowing._--The plowing and cultivation of a vineyard comprise
different operations, both in the spring, winter and summer. Winter
plowing should begin as soon as the vines are pruned, and should be
finished before the buds begin to swell in the spring. The plowing
should begin with a large plow and two horses, and the soil should be
thrown from the vines towards the center of the land between them. As
such a large plow cannot go too near the vines without breaking branches
and injuring the buds, a smaller single-horse plow is used to follow
after the double team, and to finish up by plowing a furrow nearest to
the vines. The depth of this plowing should, if possible, be from six to
eight inches in the center of the row, and from four to six inches
nearest to the vines.

[Illustration: Vineyard Double Plow.]


_Plowing Devices._--To enable the single plow to run as closely to the
vines as possible without injury to the vines, several devices are used.
The block device consists of inserting a block of wood two inches wide
between the center of the clevis and the plow-beam. This throws the
singletree out to one side and enables the horse to walk at a distance
from the vine, while the plow follows as close to the latter as
possible. In combination with this block, the singletrees should be so
constructed as not to catch the branches of the vines. This is best
accomplished by attaching to the outside end of the singletree a flat,
doubled leather strap, to which is fixed a common, large snap, in which
latter the traces of the harness are fixed. Such a singletree will
glide by the branches without giving them a chance to catch anywhere.
Similar singletrees, or even doubletrees, should be used wherever
vineyard work is to be done, and they have the double advantage of being
cheap, practical and easily made by any farmhand handy with tools.


_Cultivation._--The cultivation should always follow the plowing
immediately, so as to prevent the soil from baking, and so as to tear up
the roots of the weeds which have been partially dislodged. The first
cultivation, which should always be in the same direction as the
plowing, should be followed by cross-cultivation. The latter brings the
soil back towards the vines, filling up the hollow formed by the
throwing of the soil from the vines.

[Illustration: Raisin Vineyard Diamond-tooth Cultivator.]


_Back-furrowing._--Later on, when the weeds have to some extent decayed,
a double-shovel plow is by some growers used for turning a part of the
soil back towards the vines. One round of this plow on each side of the
vines is all that is required, as the repeated cultivation that should
be carried on in a vineyard will generally suffice to bring the balance
of the soil back from the center of the land towards the vines.


_Cross-plowing._--Cross-plowing is not absolutely needed, and in many
places not even possible, as where the vines are planted closer one way
than the other. But wherever plowing can be done both ways, the land
will be benefited by being plowed one way one year and the other way the
next year, so that in course of time all the soil will be regularly
broken up. When there is plenty of time and enough labor, cross-plowing
the same season will greatly benefit the vines.


_Weed-cutters._--These are used to great advantage after the first
plowing, and any cultivator may be rigged with one of them, or they may
be made as separate tools. The cutter-bar is simply a flat bar, which is
bent in the shape of a very wide U, and is fastened to the beams of the
cultivator just behind the last shovels or blades. The horizontal part
of this cutter-knife should be on the same level as the center of the
cultivator blades, and stand as horizontal as possible, in order to be
subjected to the least amount of friction. The effect of such cultivator
cutters are that no growing weeds are left behind wherever they pass.


_Cutter-sled._--I have used with great advantage a combination of this
cutter-knife and a sled, upon which the driver could stand and ride, and
its use saved time, besides doing the required work well. Such a
cutter-sled is, however, only useful in already well plowed and
cultivated soil, and for summer work it is just the thing and can then
not be surpassed by any other weed-cutting tool which I have ever seen
used.

[Illustration: Raisin Vineyard Weed-cutter.]

Various other tools are used, and different ones at that in each
separate district. Each grower has his particular way to cultivate and
plow, and not two vineyardists do the work alike. Each one has his
favorite tools and instruments, which he often changes from year to year
or replaces by new inventions of local mechanics or inventors. A
description of these tools and the various methods of plowing,
cultivating and bringing the land in proper condition would make a book
of itself and would be merely a history of each individual vineyard in
the land. An enumeration of them will be found later on.

The cultivation of the vineyard should be continued as long as it can be
done without causing injury to the new growth of the vines. The exact
number of times the vines should be cultivated is impossible to decide
upon beforehand, as almost every vineyard requires a different method of
working. It is safe to say that during the summer no weeds should be
allowed to grow in the vineyard, and, as long as any of them are left,
the soil should, if possible, be cultivated. Every weed acts like a
chimney for the moisture in the soil, which it sucks out to the
detriment of the vine, while weeds which grow in among the branches of
the vines will also seriously interfere with the picking of the grapes.

[Illustration: Riverside: City, Orchards and Vineyards.]


_Hoeing._--Only little manual cultivation is needed. In the spring,
after the first plowing and before the buds have started or have grown
long enough to interfere with the work, the vines should be hoed. The
object of hoeing is to loosen the soil nearest the vines, and to destroy
all the weeds which cannot be turned under by the plow, and especially
those which grow close to the vines. The best tool for this purpose is
the common, heavy hoe with a long handle. A very useful hoe can be made
of old shovels which are so worn and broken that they cannot be longer
used for digging. The blade of the shovel is fixed to a new handle at a
right angle, similar to a hoe handle, while the blade itself is left as
it is. Such hoes are very useful in cutting heavy weeds, and work with
great facility. Forked hoes are used by many vineyardmen, especially for
stirring the hardened crust around the vine, but I believe the common,
heavy hoe a more useful instrument, and if used in time will make the
forked hoe unnecessary.


_Time for Cultivation._--Too early plowing or cultivation before the
weeds have started is not always desirable, as it prevents the weeds
from growing. Such weeds, if turned under, will yearly enrich the land,
and in course of time form a heavy and humus-rich top soil, which will
serve to keep the moisture in the soil below. I therefore advocate
plowing as late as possible. The exact time must be decided for every
particular season and for every separate locality, and no general rule
can be given. Wet lands should be plowed earlier than dry lands; it is
the latter which especially require the green weeds to be turned under,
and which will be the most benefited by the accumulation of humus. Our
vineyardists disregard this fact too much, and are generally too apt to
plow their dryest lands first.


GRAFTING THE MUSCAT ON OTHER STOCKS.


_Time for Grafting Raisin-vines._--The best time for grafting
grapevines, as well as for grafting anything else, is when the stock on
which we graft has its sap in circulation, and when the scions or
cuttings which we are to insert in the stock are yet dormant. This time
occurs from the middle of January, when the sap first rises in the old
vine, and continues to March or even April, February and March being
generally the months best suited to the work. Grafting may also be done
in the fall of the year after the grape crop has been gathered, while
some growers have best succeeded still earlier, and advocate the month
of August as being the most favorable time for this process. The sap at
that time ceases flowing, and there is no danger of its being clogged.
Grapevines can be grafted at almost any time of the year at which the
weather is not too warm, as this will cause the cuttings to bud out
before they have joined the stock. If grafting on resistant stocks is
desired, the stocks, if small, must first be dug, and the grafting can
then be performed in the workshop any time between December and March,
the early winter months being preferable.


_Points to be Observed in Grafting._--The main object in grafting is to
properly join the scions and the stock. The point of junction should be
the cambium layer, or what is commonly called the inner bark. If a
cutting of a vine is cut off smoothly and placed in the ground, the
callus soon begins to form at the lower end. This callus, which is seen
to exude from the green layer between the hard wood and the bark, is fed
by the sap in the cutting descending through the cambium layer and
forming new cells at its free end. If this callus joins a similar callus
of the cambium or green layer of the stock, the two calluses unite and
form together a new vine, in which the top consists of the new scion and
the root of the old vine. The junction of the two is the place where the
cambium surface of the scion met the cambium of the stock. In the
scions, the cambium lies very close to the exterior layer of the
cutting, the bark here being very thin, while in the old stock the
cambium is situated many times deeper in, the outer layer or the bark
being very thick. It is not necessary that the cambium layers of the two
should meet or join all along the cut surface, and a few points of
contact and junction is sufficient, although it is better to have as
large a junction surface as possible. If the two cambium layers do not
meet, the scion will not grow, or, as it is called, take. The scions
must be dormant when being grafted, and, if their buds have begun to
swell, they will probably not take, or at least success is less certain.
In order to keep them dormant they should be cut early in winter, and
then be buried in cool and only slightly moist earth, either in a cellar
or on the north side of a house, where the sun and heat will not strike
them and cause them to start their buds. If the callus should form, or
even root, the callus and roots may be cut away without great injury to
the cuttings. If the cuttings are dry, they should be soaked for a few
hours in tepid water, and afterwards buried in moist sand. This
treatment is often useful for imported cuttings which have been injured
in transit. They often recover vigor wonderfully fast, and should never
be given up for lost as long as there is any green-colored cambium left,
in which the sap may again be brought into circulation.


_Various Methods of Grafting._--The general way to graft is to graft on
old stocks. Vines of one variety are thus changed into the variety we
wish to grow, and from which the scions are taken. The first step is to
dig away the soil from the vines down to the first roots, which should
be done by a separate gang of men. Next the stocks are sawed off
horizontally at the first roots, or say from four to six inches below
the surface of the soil. This should also be done by separate hands so
as to insure rapidity and skill in the work. Some grafters saw off the
stocks somewhat slanting, so as to cause them to shed the sap which
always exudes from the stump. Next in order comes the splitting of the
wood of the stock and the insertion of the grafts. This requires care
and skill, and should not be done by careless hands.

The splitting of the stock is done in several different ways, and to
accomplish it we can either use a knife and a wooden mallet or a
hand-saw. If the former is used, the knife must be sharp and thick, so
as to stand the blows of the mallet. Some growers even use a sharp
chisel. If a saw is the tool used,--and I prefer it every time,--the
edges of the old wood should afterwards be pared off smoothly with a
sharp knife, so as to leave no rough marks of the teeth of the saw. The
stock is split straight across, as in the cleft graft, and one scion is
then inserted at each end of the cleft on opposite sides of the stock;
or the stock is split on one side only, care being taken that the cleft
does not extend across the stump, and in this cleft a scion is carefully
fitted as before; or a wedge-shaped piece may be sawed out or cut out of
the stock, and of the size that can be fitted by a scion. It makes but
little difference what method is used, as with ordinary care and skill
the scions will take quite readily. Even if they should entirely fail,
the same stocks may be grafted over next fall or next year, as they keep
their vitality almost unimpaired for years after they are cut. It is
only necessary to saw them off until fresh wood is reached.

[Illustration: Simple Lateral Cleft Graft, 1_a._ Splitting the Trunk,
1_b._ The Scion, 1_c._ The Beveled End of the Latter, 1_d._ Scion and
Stock Joined.

2. Simple Transversal Cleft Graft with Two Scions. 3. Cleft Grafting
with a Cutting Graft. Champin Graft, or Graft on a Rooted Vine. 4_a._
Graft and Stock Before being Joined. 4_b._ The Same After being Joined.
All after Aimé Champin’s “Vine Grafting.”]

The next work is to insert the scions. They should never be longer than
sufficient to have one eye above the surface of the soil, two or three
eyes to the scion being generally enough. The cuttings are first cut in
sufficient lengths in the field, or on the spot, and there pared to fit
the cleft in the stock. If prepared in the house, they are apt to dry
out and become ruined. By keeping them in water they may be kept fresh,
but this greatly injures their quality. The best way is to bring the
cuttings out to the vineyard wrapped up in wet sacks, and to cut and
pare them on the spot where they are to be grafted. With a sharp knife
the two opposite sides of the scions are pared off tapering, but not
necessarily to a fine point. The scion is then fitted in the cleft, a
small wooden wedge being useful for holding the latter open while the
scion is fitted. If the stock closes tightly upon the graft, no tying is
required, but, if the grip of the stock is not sufficient, tying is
needed. Cotton cloth, manilla rope or anything that will hold the two
together will answer the purpose. The stocks and scions will both dry
slightly, and the tying should therefore be secure and tight.

A piece of bark of the vine is next placed over the cleft, so as to
prevent any soil from falling in the cleft, and very careful grafters
use a paste made of a mixture of two parts of adobe or clay and one part
of cowdung, for covering both the cleft and the sides of the grafts
outside of the tying. A stout stake is driven in the ground close to the
graft, and the two tied together in order that the graft may not give or
be disturbed in the least. The hole is next filled with soil, which
should be packed tightly and heaped above the scion, thus forming a
small mound above the ground all around the graft. The soil should not
be disturbed until the new shoots are well above the ground and have
begun to harden their wood, at which time the security of the graft is
fully assured. One or more of the grafts may be left growing for the
first year, and later on all except one graft are cut off so as to give
the vine only one trunk.

In grafting on resistant stocks, the latter generally being smaller then
old stocks, a different graft may be used, such as the whip graft. This
graft should be above or at least near the top of the ground in order to
prevent the scion from taking root, the latter’s roots not being
resistant to the phylloxera. Such grafts should be carefully covered
with the clay mixture, and soil should be heaped up over their tops. To
prevent the scions from drying out, their tops may also be covered with
grafting wax.


_Stocks and Their Influence._--The old stock has a decided influence on
the scion and the new vine. Which stock is the best on which to graft
the Muscat has not yet been determined, but we may presume that any
strong and healthy growing variety will answer our purpose. During the
first year, and also during the second year, in many instances the new
vine assumes a character half way between that of an old-stock variety
and that of the variety of the scions. Thus I have seen Muscats grafted
on Sultanas and Zinfandels which were almost identical with these
varieties. If I had not positively known that they were the tops
produced from Muscat scions, I would never have believed them to be
anything else than suckers from the old stocks. The leaves, berries and
branches of these Muscats were the first year exactly like Sultanas. The
berries of those grafted on black grapes were, however, in this
instance, not black but white, but I have heard of other instances in
which they were partially colored. Some vines, again, showed
characteristics of both varieties, the leaves generally being similar to
the old stock, while the grapes showed the characteristics of the
Muscats. This bastardity, however, wears off in a year or two, and
finally the vine assumes the full characteristics of the scion variety.
When this takes place it is evident that the sap of the scion or the top
of the vine has either changed the root, or through its quantity
overpowered the effects of the root-sap.

Muscats grafted on Malagas, Feher Szagos, Sultanas and Zinfandels all do
well in time, and in many instances bear even better than Muscats on
their own roots. Our experience in grafting the Muscat is, however,
limited, and we do not know with any certainty which roots are the most
favorable or the most unfavorable on which to graft the Muscat grape. I
have seen grafted Muscats on wine stocks which did not do well as
regards bearing, while the growth of the vines was rather vigorous.
These varieties mentioned above are, however, suitable stocks for Muscat
grafts. I learn from Mr. R. C. Kells of Yuba City that the late Dr. S.
R. Chandler of the same locality cleared the third year seventy-five
dollars per acre from Muscats grafted on Mission vines. This must be
considered as very successful, especially as I have heard of other
instances where similar grafts did not bear sufficiently the third year
to pay for the labor of caring for the vineyard work that year.


VARIOUS SUMMER WORK.


_Sulphuring._--Sulphuring the vines is now considered a most necessary
operation, and without doing it well and in time no good crops can be
relied upon. It is true that good crops of grapes are sometimes had
without sulphuring, but this is only due to chance; the absence of
mildew, and immunity from disease of unsulphured vines are rare, even in
otherwise most perfectly kept vineyards.

The sulphuring consists in thoroughly dusting the growing vines, leaves,
branches, flower buds and berries with powdered sulphur. The first
sulphuring must be done when the grapevines leaf out in the spring, and,
when the young shoots are about six inches long, it is about time to
commence. Many growers sulphur only once, some go over their vines two
times, but our most successful growers,--those who get the best and
largest fruit crop of grapes and bunches,--sulphur in unfavorable
seasons three or four times. The second sulphuring is done just before
the blossoms open, and may even, provided the weather remains cool and
windy, be done in the open blossoms with great benefit to the setting
berries. Miss M. F. Austin of Fresno was the first to successfully
sulphur in the open blossom, the result being very large crops. But not
all have been as successful as she, and one of our most experienced
vineyardists and raisin-growers, T. C. White, prefers to sulphur just
before the blossom opens, as, in case of very warm weather when the
sulphur is thrown on the blossom, the latter is apt to blast. We are
therefore on the safe side if we sulphur just before the buds have
opened, and after the grapes have set. But on cold, windy days when one
of the cold electric northwest winds are sweeping down the valleys,
sulphuring must be done whether the blossom is open or not, as it is
just at this time the sulphur is required the most, in order to
counteract the formation of the first stage of the powdery mildew. The
vapor of the sulphur destroys the germs of the mildew, and thus prevents
the latter from causing the grapes to fall off. After the grapes have
fully set, no further sulphuring is required except in the case of heavy
rains or in continued cloudy weather, when there is always danger that
the mildew will reappear. If heavy rains should occur during the summer,
a renewed sulphuring is always necessary or at least advisable, but in
ordinary seasons no sulphuring is needed after the berries have set
well, as the germs of the mildew are then sufficiently injured to not
develop later in the season.

Sufficient sulphuring is always noticeable in the vineyard by its smell,
and, when this smell is strong and pronounced, no further sulphuring is
required. The sulphur is applied to the vines either by the “dredger”
(or dust-can) or by a pair of sulphur bellows. The dredger is used when
the vines are small, while the bellows are necessary to spread the
sulphur evenly when the vines have reached a certain size. Many growers
use, during the first sulphuring, small burlap bags filled with sulphur.
The meshes of the burlaps are large enough to allow the sulphur to go
through. The sulphur should be finely pulverized to be effective, and
the sublimated French sulphur is by many considered the best. The cost
of sulphuring varies according to the size of the vines, but is
generally about three dollars per acre. Young vines under three years of
age require little sulphuring, while older vines require a great deal.
About ten tons of sulphur will be enough for 160 acres.


_Tying Over._--The tying over of the branches is another vineyard
operation much used in the interior raisin districts, generally in the
end of June or the middle of July. It consists in so bending and tying
the long, straggling branches of the vine that they will shade the
grapes hanging in the center. The long branch is bent, not in a direct
line towards the center, as it would then expose too many of the lower
grape bunches, but in a spiral direction round the vine. If there is any
fear that the grapes will be exposed and sunburned, and the vines have
not been properly summer pruned, the tying over is the only process by
which great loss can be prevented and the grape crop saved. In tying
over, no twine is used. The end of the long branch is twisted and
fastened to other branches, and, when the grapes are ripe and the
picking season comes, a single light pull will suffice to untie all and
allow the grapes to be picked. Great care should be used in tying over,
lest the lower branches become exposed and sunburned. Careless or
inexperienced laborers will often accomplish a great deal of work and a
great deal of harm in an incredibly short time. I have seen vineyards
where more harm was done by tying over than by the sun and wind
combined.


_Covering the Vines._--Instead of tying over, many vineyardists now
cover the vines, and place the covers on the open center of the vine, in
order that they may protect the grapes from exposure to the sun. This is
done in June, several days before the hot spell is expected. The last
week in June is the best time almost everywhere in California, as the
vines are then open in the center, and any unusually hot weather would
easily cause the grapes to sunburn. The process of covering is very
simple. With a pair of shears the longest branches are clipped off and
immediately placed on the open center. This is generally enough to
prevent the exposed grapes in the center of the vine from being scalded.
More than half a dozen branches will seldom be required, and at picking
time these dry branches must first be thrown off, so as to give the
picker access to the grapes. The covering of the vines is a better
process than tying over, requiring less work and being more quickly
performed. It is especially useful for old vines, as the grapes of young
vines are principally exposed from the sides.


_Thinning the Crop._--The proper thinning of the crop should be done by
pruning. If the proper amount of wood is left, no thinning out of the
grapes is needed. If a few show-grapes or extra large raisins are needed
for exhibiting purposes, they can be produced by a judicious cutting of
the majority of the grapes from any single bunch. If the free half of
the bunch is cut off, the part that is left will produce very large
grapes. This operation is, however, never likely to enter as a regular
vineyard operation in our vineyards, as with us labor is too scarce. The
object of our raisin industry is to produce cheap medium-sized raisins
of good quality, to be used by the masses of the people, instead of a
smaller quantity of very large grapes, which could only be used by the
rich.


_Ringing the Vines._--This consists in removing a part of the bark all
around a cane. In France and Greece a special instrument is made to
perform this operation quickly and carefully. A ring of bark half an
inch wide is all that is required to have the desired effect. The vines
are ringed when the grapes are half grown, and only a few canes are
ringed on each vine. The effect of ringing is to greatly increase the
crop of grapes, also to produce the grapes earlier in the season. So far
this process has not been used in California to any extent. In the
Grecian Islands, where currants are raised, this ringing has been
practiced for years, with more or less beneficial effect. The sap in the
cane that is ringed is prevented from again returning to the root, and
goes to produce a larger quantity of grapes above the ring. But thereby
the cane is seriously injured, and often to such an extent that it must
be entirely removed the following season. Care must therefore be taken
to leave enough unringed branches to serve as fruit-bearing wood the
following year. If done with care and good judgment, the ringing does no
great injury to the vine. For a fuller account of the process, see
article on Currants.


_The Vineyard Labors of the Year._--The following synopsis of the
various labors in a raisin vineyard can only be of interest to the
beginner, or to any one who contemplates engaging in the raisin
business. The data given are only approximate, as they must differ in
different localities, or according to the changing of the seasons:


_December._--After the first frost, or when the vines are dormant,
planting new vines and cuttings may begin. Pruning the old wood. Burning
the prunings. Manuring the soil.


_January._--Plowing, cultivating and planting.


_February._--Cultivating and plowing.


_March._--Grafting the grapes and finishing plowing.


_April._--Hoeing the vines and cultivating. Sulphuring and suckering.


_May._--Sulphuring and summer pruning.


_June._--Hoeing. Covering or tying over the vines.


_July._--Irrigating where needed. Fixing trays and sweatboxes.


_August._--Distributing trays and sweatboxes in the vineyard. Picking
the first crop. Packing should begin as soon as possible.


_September._--Picking, drying, turning the trays, reversing, taking up.


_October._--Picking the last of the second crop. Packing continues.


_November._--Hauling in, stacking and cleaning off trays and sweatboxes.
Irrigating and manuring the land. New land should be prepared for
planting, which should begin as soon as the first frost has killed the
leaves of the vine.


PRUNING.


_Winter Pruning, or Pruning Hard Wood._--The pruning of vines comprises
two different processes. The first one has for its object the shaping of
the vines, the second one similarly the shortening of the branches
properly so as to enable them to bear better fruit. These two points
must always be kept in view, much more so of course during the first few
years, before the vines have reached their bearing age. But even in
after years the pruning must be so conducted, that the shape of the vine
is not changed so as to interfere with the work in the field, or with
the perfect development of the grapes. As regards the shape of the vine,
it has been decided that in our raisin districts the Muscat requires to
be pruned low, in order to properly protect the grapes from sun and
wind. The head should be as low as possible, or even rest on the ground,
and in no instance be more than a few inches above the same. Many of the
bunches will then rest on the ground or hang a few inches above it, and
experience shows us that such low bunches are the best and those which
produce the finest raisins. Tall Muscat vines never produce as sweet and
as large bunches or grapes as those headed low, and their grapes are apt
to sunburn or be otherwise checked in their growth. During the first
year, the young vine should be cut back to a single stem, it being
enough to leave two or three eyes above the ground. The second season
these canes should all be cut away except three, which are to form the
future head of the vine. Each one of these may be cut to two eyes, thus
leaving six eyes on the vine. In the majority of vines, the head should
by this time have been formed, as the following year will be the first
year in which the vines will bear.

When Muscat vines have grown two seasons, they should be pruned for
fruit. The third season will always give some fruit, while, in many
localities where the vines have been well cared for, the yield may be
quite large and pay handsomely. No direction as to pruning, which will
apply to every locality or to every vine, is possible. In different
localities the climatic and other conditions are so variable that the
methods of pruning may be modified. Where the vines grow strong and
vigorous more wood should be left. In cool and sheltered places the
vines should be given a greater spread to allow more sun and air to
enter. In warm localities, with a broiling sun, the principal object in
pruning should be to properly shelter the grapes. There is danger, or at
least there are great disadvantages in pruning either too long or too
short, and in leaving too many or too few spurs. In pruning too long, or
leaving too many eyes, the shape of the vine is changed or even
seriously injured. In leaving too many spurs, the vines may bear too
many and too small grapes. To find the medium between these extremes is
always the great object and study to which the grower should devote his
attention. In rich and moist soils which produce strong vines, more eyes
should be left, and in sandy, poor soil a few eyes may suffice to cause
the vine to bear much more that it can properly mature and perfect. The
year before the vines bear their first good crop, the spurs left should
not exceed three or four, and each spur should not have more than two
eyes, including the eye nearest the old wood, which eye is often
overlooked and not counted in. The next year a few more spurs may be
left, but at no time should each spur be allowed to carry more than two
eyes. If more eyes are left, the lower eyes will not develop, and the
only thing attained by such pruning is to increase the size of the head,
and to place the leaves and the grapes farther away from the center of
the vine.

At the age of six years, or when the vine is in full bearing, no more
spurs should be added, as the vine has then attained a mature age, and
the yield will increase independently of an increased number of spurs.
How many spurs should be left it is not possible to say. The experience
with most growers is generally that too few spurs are left, and that
from ten to fifteen spurs are not too many on large and healthy vines.
The tendency of the growers is now to leave more spurs than formerly,
and to always restrict the spurs to two eyes each. This experience has
been acquired simultaneously in Fresno, San Bernardino and San Diego
counties. Many growers affirm the fact that the difficulty is to get
spurs enough, and my own experience is that, after the vine has once
attained its age of full bearing, all the strongest branches are
required to furnish spurs, and that only the weak and sickly shoots
should be cut away entirely. The strong flow of sap in the spring
requires many outlets, so as not to unnecessarily push the cell walls
and cause disorders, and in case the soil is not strong enough to
sustain and perfect so many grapes, it is better to manure it heavily
and make it rich enough for all purposes. I believe an average of from
eight to ten spurs are required by strong and bearing vines. Only strong
canes should be left at any time. Weak and immature canes should be cut
off close to the trunk or to the head.

[Illustration: Muscatel Vine Eight Years Old, after Winter Pruning.]

This method of pruning differs materially from that this season adopted
by A. B. Butler. He leaves now only from five to eight spurs on the
vines, generally the lesser number. He maintains that his object is to
produce large and superior grapes, and not to have his vines overbear.
The outcome of such close pruning has not yet been demonstrated, but it
may be possible that this is the proper way. Mr. Butler has certainly
one point in his favor, and that is that it has not yet been
demonstrated that very close pruning causes the disease known as
black-knot, as quite frequently the unpruned vines show this disease
much more than those which are pruned close. Another point in favor of
this pruning is that it has been practiced in Malaga for years without
any ill effects. But, before such very close pruning can be generally
recommended, our experience in this direction should be more extensive,
and several years more will be necessary to come to any satisfactory
conclusion in this respect. We know, however, that too many (say from
twenty to twenty-five) spurs will exhaust the low-headed Muscatel vines,
and in order to bring such vines back to proper bearing it has been
found necessary to reduce the number of spurs at once to one-third and
then gradually increase their number as the vines grow stronger. Every
grower should study his own vines and adapt the number of spurs to the
quality of the crop. If the crop is inferior, reduce the number; if
again the crop is superior, we may try to gradually give a few more
spurs in order to reach the greatest yield of first-class grapes. In
pruning the spurs, the cut should be made a little above the eye or bud,
and not so close to it that it will be injured and dry out.

Suckers from the roots should be removed to a limited extent, that is,
now and then a sucker may be left in order to give material for forming
a new head, if this should be found necessary. But as a rule the many
suckers which rise from the roots should be removed in early spring with
a sharp-pointed stick, and even those which rise from below the regular
head should be broken off while young, or be pruned off in winter time.

Another system of pruning called the Chaintre system has been
introduced, or at least spoken of during the last few years. As,
however, it is not generally used, or even to my knowledge used at all,
for raisin grapes, I need only here allude to it. It consists of pruning
the vine to one single long stem, which is carried along the ground and,
at a distance of six or eight feet from the root, fastened to a stake.
This branch is pruned to shorter branches and spurs, each of the latter
to one or two eyes each to furnish wood and fruit. The advantages of the
Chaintre pruning are claimed to be principally two,--a greater yield of
grapes and a larger outlet for the abundant sap in the spring. It is
supposed that, if the vine is pruned too short, the sudden flow of sap
in the spring has a great tendency to poison some of the cells and
vessels of the wood, and cause the disease known as black-knot. The
Chaintre system endeavors, by furnishing the vine with more cells and
vessels, and thus a larger outlet for the sap, to overcome this
difficulty. The Chaintre system has, however, some great inconveniences.
It interferes considerably with the tillage of the soil. It increases
the cost of the vineyard through the extra stakes necessary to support
the vines,--inconveniences so great that I doubt whether the system will
ever be seriously adopted anywhere on this coast, even if it should
prove of any advantage.

The time for the pruning depends upon the season. The only safe rule is
that vineyards may be pruned as soon as the vines are dormant. If pruned
too soon, a new growth will start, which will be killed by the first
frost. In many seasons the pruning may be done in November and December;
in large vineyards it must be begun early, so as to finish before the
plowing commences. Early pruning will cause the vines to start early in
the spring, while late pruning will considerably delay the starting of
the buds. When the spring frosts are to be feared, the pruning may be
deferred for some months, or until the end of January, as it delays the
budding out of the vine in the spring, sometimes as much as fourteen
days. But, on the other hand, the first warm spring weather is so
favorable to the development of the grapevines and the setting of the
fruit, that every advantage should be taken of the same. The very best
crops are generally had on early pruned vines.


_Bleeding of the Vines._--The bleeding of the vines after pruning in the
spring is by many considered injurious. So far as I know, no direct
experiments to prove this have been made in this country, but European
experiments with wine grapevines point to no ill effects from the
bleeding of the vines. The bleeding retards the budding out, and this
fact has led some growers to the practice of pruning twice. In the first
pruning an extra eye is left on every spur, and these eyes are again
clipped off shortly before the eyes begin to swell in the spring. The
bleeding of the vines thus causes the eyes to be retarded until the
frost is over. I believe such practice is both unnecessary and too
costly, and is not required in any of our raisin districts, and where
such practice must be employed the raisin grape cannot be perfectly at
home. Of late years spring frosts have become very rare in our principal
raisin districts, and the practice of double pruning is no longer
thought of.


_Summer Pruning, or Pruning Green Wood._--Summer pruning is a much
disputed vineyard operation, which, however, at least in some
localities, is of great importance. This summer, or rather spring,
pruning consists of cutting back the young growing shoots from one-third
to one-half just after the berries have set well. The proper time of the
year is in May, but the exact time must necessarily be different in
different localities and seasons. In Fresno the cutting back should not
be done later than May, and never except when the vines show a vigorous
growth. The principal object the summer pruner has in view is to force
the secondary branches of the vine as much towards the center of the
vine as possible, so as to form there a perfect canopy of shade to serve
as a protection to the young and tender berries. If let alone, the
branches of the vine will throw out these secondary shoots near the top
of the branches, thus leaving the head of the vine unprotected from the
sun. The shortening in of the branches necessarily throws the new shoots
to the center of the vine. A not less important object to be sought by
the summer pruning is the strengthening of the young branch. In May,
when the vines are covered by the young and vigorous shoots, they are
yet exceedingly brittle, and only a slight pushing is required to break
the branch off just at its junction with the old wood. A heavy wind at
this time sometimes does an immense damage, and the vineyard will look
as though every vine had been dragged over. Half of the branches may be
broken and hang partially attached to one side of the vine. A single
wind may ruin two-thirds of the crop. This can only be prevented by the
summer pruning of the vines. By a heavy shortening in of the branches,
the latter expose so much less surface for the wind to act on, that no
branches are broken, and we have failed to see the heaviest wind cause
any noticeable damage in vineyards which had their vines properly
shortened in. The summer pruning in no way injures the vines. The sap is
checked in its flow only for a few days, and within a week the new side
shoots make their appearance. But the vineyardist must be careful not to
summer prune after the hot summer weather has set in, as the hot weather
will burn or scald the young grapes and ruin them entirely. For the San
Joaquin valley raisin districts, I cannot advise summer pruning after
the first days of June; in Southern California, somewhat later.
Grapevines on sandy, dry and poor soil should not be summer pruned, or
only very lightly so. They have not strength to start a new growth and
will remain stunted all through the season.

Many growers of Riverside, El Cajon and Fresno consider summer pruning
beneficial, if not necessary, and practice it every year regularly. It
is necessary to summer prune heavily or not at all. Cut back one-half of
the growth, or cut back leaving one or two leaves above the bunch of
grapes on every cane. If the young canes are only topped, the secondary
branches will come out near the ends of the canes and bear them down, in
time exposing the bunches to the sun as well as causing the second crop
to grow too far from the main trunk, the summer pruning thus acting the
opposite of which it was intended. In Greece the wine grapevines are
summer pruned, but the currants are never so treated.


_Root-pruning._--The pruning of the roots of grapevines, in order to
cause them to bear, is entirely unnecessary, and is never done by
experienced growers. Some growers have practiced the cutting of the
surface roots of the vines so as to cause the tap roots or the main
roots to go farther down, and they claim that by this method greater
crops are harvested. I am satisfied this is only a theory not supported
by facts. Surface roots are as necessary to plants as deep-soil roots,
and serve the plants in their way, bringing atmospheric air to the
circulation in the roots. If too many surface roots are formed, it is a
sure indication of too much water in the top soil, as too frequent
irrigation with a small stream of water will cause such roots to form.
The proper remedy is to irrigate less frequently, but more at a time.
The above does not refer to the pruning of the roots of grafted vines.
In cases where Muscats have been grafted on resistant stocks, it is of
importance that the graft should not make roots of its own, as these
would soon overpower the stock and in their turn succumb to the enemies
which it was the intention to avoid. When rooted vines are planted in
the vineyard, their roots should be well pruned, and all dead and
decaying, as well as dried-up, parts should be removed. If they are
allowed to remain on the vines, they will draw moisture from the sound
parts at a time when all the moisture is needed for the formation of new
roots.


_Suckering._--The object of this process is to relieve the raisin-vine
of superfluous wood before the latter has had time to draw on the
strength of the vine and deprive it of the elements necessary to support
the fruit-bearing branches. The proper time for suckering is early in
the spring, when the young wood is yet tender and easily broken. With a
hard and flat piece of wood, the lower suckers are dug out from below
the ground, while the upper suckers may be broken by hand. A sucker must
be understood to be any branch which does not produce fruit at a time
when the vine is old enough to bear. In strong and moist soil and on
strong vines even the lowest shoots produce grapes, and can therefore
hardly be called suckers. But as a rule even they should be removed,
unless we have a special object in view, such as renewing the trunk of
the vine, lowering its head, or in otherwise encouraging the lower
branches.

While few vineyardists take sufficient care and time to sucker their
vines, there can be no doubt that the operation is of the greatest
importance, in order that as large and good a crop as possible may be
secured. It is not only best to remove all the non-fruit-bearing
branches which spring out from the root and the trunk, but also a little
later on, after the shoots have reached a foot or more, to cut any
branch from the head of the vine which does not produce fruit. In many
instances, however, it is necessary to renew the head of the vine, and
for that purpose lower suckers may be allowed to grow. For a year or two
these are pruned regularly and made to bear, and the old sickly head is
then removed.


VARIOUS VINEYARD TOOLS.


_General Notes._--It is not my intention to here describe the various
tools used in the vineyard so minutely that they can be made after the
description, but simply to enumerate and call attention to them in order
that as little repetition as necessary may be made. Every local
blacksmith or mechanic invents, improves or patents vineyard tools of
every description, and almost every year sees new tools introduced and
older ones discarded. Still a few of these tools have become standard,
and modifications of them are not always improvements.


_The Sheep’s-foot._--This is a very useful tool in planting grape
cuttings. It consists of a round rod of three-eighths-inch iron and
about three and one-half feet long, furnished with a cross handle at the
upper end. The lower end is very slightly flattened out and split to a
depth of one and one-half inches, the cleft thus formed being a little
wider at the point of the bar, while the interior angle of the cleft
should be rounded in order that the cutting may not be cut. The
sheep’s-foot is used in very soft ground only, where it can be pushed
down readily. In planting, the lower joint of the cutting is grasped by
the cleft in the rod, and both are pushed down together to the required
depth. A twist is then given the handle, so as to get the rod loose from
the cutting. The rod is then pulled up, and a tamp with the foot sets
the ground solid round the cutting. Care should be taken that the
cutting is not pulled up with the rod, as it will prove fatal to the
cutting.


_The Planting Bar._--This bar is used also in loose ground free from
rocks. It consists of a flat bar of iron two and one-half inches wide,
from three-eighths to one-half inch thick and three and one-half feet
long, and is furnished at the upper end with a handle. In using this
bar, it is first pushed in the ground, and a hole is made for the
cutting. The cutting is then pushed down into the hole, the bar inserted
alongside of it and pressed forward, in order to fill the hole and set
the soil solid around the cutting.


_The Dibble._--This tool is simply a hard piece of oakwood, with a
curved handle and pointed. It is a most useful instrument when the vines
are being pruned. By means of it the soil is scraped off from around the
trunk of the vine, to enable the pruner to cut off the suckers as close
to the trunk as possible. Every pruner should be furnished with a
dibble.


_Planting Chains._--These are best made of twisted wire, such as is used
for clothes lines. Lines made of cotton or hemp are apt to stretch when
dry, and shrink when wet. Copper wires are inserted to mark the
distances at which the vines should be planted.


_Spades._--Spades are often used for planting. Long-handled spades are
more useful than those with short handles.


_Hoes._--Besides the common, heavy hoes, very useful hoes can be made of
old shovels which are too worn to be of account as such. New handles are
set on the shovel blades at a right or sharp angle, thus transforming
them into veritable hoes. With these tools much more work can be
accomplished than with the common, manufactured hoe, which never cuts
well. The large, flat-faced Italian hoe imported to this country from
Italy is a most admirable instrument when planting cuttings in nursery
rows. In fact it is then indispensable.


_Plows._--Of plows, heavy double plows for two horses are used for
plowing in the center between the rows, and smaller plows for plowing
closer to the vines. As these can be had everywhere, and as every grower
has his own preferences, no description of them is required.


_Cultivators._--These are indispensable in the vineyard, and various
models are in use. The common, diamond-shovel cultivator for both one
and two horses is indispensable in every vineyard. The larger one of
these may be greatly improved by affixing to the posterior shovels a
cutter-bar, which should stand horizontal and on a level with the center
of the posterior shovels.


_Randel Disc Cultivators._--These are useful in ground that has baked
before the lately planted cuttings have begun to bud. They seldom cut or
injure any of the cuttings, and the whole field may be gone over
regardless of rows or cuttings.


_The Ash Trough._--The ash trough consists of a long trough on wheels,
all made of galvanized iron, and furnished with numerous perforated
holes. It is drawn by two or more horses through the vineyard, and the
cuttings are burned in it as it goes along, and the ashes are scattered
over the soil. As yet this trough is only used in a few of the largest
vineyards, but when perfected will be useful everywhere, as by its aid
the ashes may be saved for the vines instead of being wasted as is now
so often the case.


_Sulphuring Cans or Bellows._--These are of various shapes and patterns.
The cans have been superseded by the simple little burlap bag, which
does the same or better work. The bellows are similar to common bellows,
but are furnished with a distributing nozzle and with an air opening
through which the sulphur can be poured.


_The Cutter-sled._--This is simply a sled four feet long by two and a
half feet wide or more, under which has been fixed a horizontal bar of
iron in the shape of a shallow U. It is used in the vineyard after the
plowing and cultivation is finished, and when it is of importance to
kill the few remaining weeds. The driver stands on the sled, which is
pulled by one or two horses. It cuts all the weeds below the soil, and
is a most effective and useful tool.


_Vineyard Trucks._--These useful trucks are California inventions, and
of the greatest importance to the grower. They are now made of various
sizes, but should never be over four feet wide, while three feet is even
better, and their length should not exceed six feet. They are made to
turn readily anywhere by having the front wheels or wheel movable,
independently of the balance of the truck. By the aid of these trucks
the grower can use horse labor in distributing his boxes and trays in
the vineyard, even where the vines are planted so close that ordinary
wagons cannot pass. The vineyard truck is now used in all Fresno
vineyards, and is considered almost indispensable. The first truck ever
made for this purpose was designed and invented by J. T. Goodman of
Fresno.


_Shears._--These should be of the very best make of soft steel, and
furnished with double springs. So far no good pruning shears are
manufactured in this country, the best make coming from Switzerland, and
retailed here at $3.00 per pair. It pays any grower to buy the best
shears, as inferior ones not only last but a short time, but also do
poor and slow work, and in the long run cost more than the best and most
expensive make. With a good pair a pruner can in a day cut fifty per
cent more than with a poor pair, and from ten to twenty-five per cent
more than with an ordinary pair. It therefore can be readily seen how
the extra price can be saved in the first day or two. Such fine shears
should be handled and cared for very much like a razor. They should
never be ground on a revolving stone, but only honed with oil on a fine
hone. When the season is over they should be oiled, looked over and laid
away. Large shears with wooden handles are not needed for Muscat vines.
The best size shear is the medium size, which can be used with one
hand.




DRYING AND CURING.


CALIFORNIA SUN-DRIED RAISINS.


_Note._--In describing the processes of drying, curing, packing,
assorting, etc., I have followed only methods which should be used by
every conscientious raisin grower and packer. These methods are now
actually in use, not by every packer and grower, but by the best of
them, by those who strive to produce a very superior article, which will
compare favorably with and compete successfully with the best products
of Malaga or other foreign raisin districts. Too much poor curing and
packing is done in every raisin district, to the great detriment of the
district, its growers and its packers. The cause of so much poor work is
undoubtedly due to the method of selling the raisins in bulk for a
previously fixed sum, whether the crop is good, bad or indifferent. For
many years no inducements were held out to the grower to produce a very
superior article, and as a consequence the packer got very little
first-class raisins to pack. When raisins are paid for according to
their quality alone, there will be plenty of first-class raisins, and
both packers and growers will be the gainers. The former will get more
first-class fruit to pack, the latter will find it to their advantage to
produce it. During the last season (1889 to 1890), a change was
inaugurated, and a grading of prices according to the quality of the
raisins has been insisted on. When this system is fully carried out, and
when the grower knows at the beginning of the season that he can get a
higher price for his superior raisins, California will produce as many
high-grade raisins as Malaga or any other raisin district. Already now
our average raisins are better than the average Malagas, and all that
our growers ask for are inducements to produce the best. With a view to
promote the attainment of these expectations, the following has been
written. Raisins may be produced by cheaper methods than those which I
advocate, but only great care, judgment and study will accomplish the
best results. In the raisin industry it pays to produce the best, and to
attain this very little extra care is required.


_Time of Ripening._--Varying with different localities and seasons, the
Muscat grape ripens in California between the 10th of August and the
30th of September. The earliest points where raisin grapes are now grown
are probably Palm Valley in San Bernardino county and the plains of Kern
county. In both these localities Muscats have been known to be ripe as
early as July, but neither locality has yet produced any great quantity
of raisins, and can hardly be considered as a raisin center. The
earliness of the San Joaquin valley generally is probably caused by its
small elevation above the sea, which is about three hundred feet for
Fresno, and increasing as we go farther south. San Bernardino county
again, somewhat later as to ripening, is, as far as its raisin centers
are concerned, more elevated, or from one thousand to two thousand feet
or more. The nearness to the sea has there also some influence to retard
the maturing of the grapes, and it is certain that in Southern
California the later ripening of the raisin grapes is principally due to
this cause. Thus the picking in Riverside commences between the 10th and
the 30th of September, and while the other raisin districts in the
southern part of California may vary some, still the ripening season
coincides very nearly with that of Riverside. In Highlands the grapes
are said to ripen two weeks later than at Riverside. In El Cajon the
grapes ripen between the 1st and 10th of September. In Fresno the
Muscatel raisin grapes ripen in the end of August, and generally by the
20th of August the picking has begun everywhere on the drier soils,
while on the wet soils it is generally retarded from one to two weeks.
As a rule the dryness of the soil influences considerably the ripening
of the grapes, and even the quality of the soil is not without some
influence, as on sandy, warm soil grapes ripen much earlier than on
heavy land. As an illustration of such early ripening, we may mention
that, on certain gravelly soils northwest or north of Santa Ana, the
Muscat grapes ripen two weeks earlier than on the heavier and finer
soils in the immediate vicinity. The growers take advantage of this
early ripening to sell their Muscat grapes fresh instead of drying them.

In Salt river and Gila valleys in Arizona the grapes are said to ripen
much earlier than in California, but so far the vineyards there are not
old enough to have been greatly benefited by this early ripening. On the
plains of Kern county the ripening is hastened by the nature of the
soil, and possibly also by the nearness to the desert and the desert
wind, by the greater distance from the sea, and by a less amount of
rainfall. In Malaga the grapes ripen several weeks earlier than in
Fresno; in fact, the whole Mediterranean region seems to be earlier than
California. As a general rule, we may state that the Muscat grapes ripen
later in Southern California than in the central portion of the State.
In regard to Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, the farther we go
towards the south the earlier do the grapes ripen. But in every district
there are localities which are earlier than others. The Muscat and
Muscatel ripen earlier than the Sultana, which latter grape begins to
ripen earlier than the Muscat, but attains perfection much later than
any other of our raisin grapes. Thompson Seedless ripens in Yolo about
August 10th, and is thus our earliest raisin grape.


_Signs of Maturity._--There are three different ways by which the
ripeness of a grape can be tested,--saccharometer, taste or color. The
saccharometer is a well-known instrument, consisting of a graded glass
tube that will sink to different depths in liquors containing different
percentages of sugar. There are different kinds of saccharometers, but
the most practical one for the general raisin-grower is one divided in
one hundred degrees, each degree showing one per cent of sugar to every
hundred of water. Thus, if the saccharometer sinks down to twenty-five,
we know that the water or must contains twenty-five per cent of
saccharine water and seventy-five per cent of water. To properly test
the grapes, a few bunches should be picked from several vines, the
juice should be squeezed out and passed through a towel or otherwise
strained. The must is then poured into the test tube, and the
saccharometer inserted. If it shows twenty-five degrees or more of
sugar, the grapes will make good raisins, but for very superior raisins
several degrees more of saccharine are needed. It is not unusual to find
the grapes reach thirty degrees in favored localities and in favorable
seasons. Only inexperienced vineyardists will require the aid of the
saccharometer to determine the state of ripening of the grapes; the more
experienced judge by taste and color.

The taste of course is the most commonly used method for ascertaining
the ripeness of the raisin grapes. Every grower experienced or not
should examine his grapes repeatedly. To give directions for tasting the
ripeness of the grapes is of course impossible; it must be learned, and
can only be learned by practice. It is enough to say here that the
grapes should taste very sweet, contain no acid, and if possible be
rather solid.

The color is also a valuable adjunct in determining the ripeness of the
raisin grapes. Fully ripe and perfect fruit should be amber yellow,
somewhat transparent and waxy. If this color is combined with great
sweetness, and in Muscatels with absence of acidity, we can be sure that
the grapes are ripe. Some grapes do, however, especially when too much
exposed to the sun, acquire the yellow amber tint without being sweet,
but they are readily distinguished from the ripe grapes by their being
of smaller size and harder, tasteless and acid. Such grapes never
develop into good, mature grapes, and do not make good raisins. I may
also remark that not all ripe grapes become amber colored. Those that
grow in the shade and on very damp ground remain always green, although
they acquire a certain sweetness, and will make good raisins. The Muscat
grapes will make salable raisins even if not fully ripe, but in order to
make superior and good raisins all grapes should be “dead” ripe,
especially so if the grapes are to be dipped in lye. If unripe or
partially ripe grapes of Muscats and Sultanas are dipped, they make very
poor and red raisins; it would have been better-if they had never been
dipped. This is especially the case with the Sultana, which begins to
ripen and is eatable long before the Muscat, but which only makes a good
dipped raisin after the Muscat has been ripe for some time. Three or
four days make a great difference sometimes in the amount of sugar in
the grapes, and consequently in the quality of the raisins, and the
experienced grower will keep his grapes on the vines as long as possible
to attain the greatest possible amount of sweetness. But on the other
hand it takes judgment to foresee how sweet the grapes will be, as in
unfavorable seasons they will not attain their full sweetness even if
allowed to hang long on the vines. To know the time after which the
grapes do not increase in sugar requires much experience and
acquaintance with the locality where they are grown. In this respect
different years vary very much.


_Picking._--Many vineyardists pick their raisins too green or before
they are fully ripe. Not all raisins ripen at the same time, and to make
the best possible raisins out of the grapes, it is necessary to pick
over the vineyard several times, each time picking only the ripest
grapes. In places where there are two crops of grapes, at least two
pickings are absolutely necessary, and in many places two pickings are
enough. The green grapes of the first crop are then left to be picked
with the second crop, at which time they will probably be perfectly ripe
and very choice. But if the vineyard is small and manageable, and the
owner wishes to realize the most that he possibly can, he should make at
least three different pickings, each time taking care only to pick those
grapes which are fully ripe and which would make a first-class quality
of raisins. As long as the smaller vineyardists sell their raisins in
bulk at a contracted price of so much a pound for any kind or quality of
raisins, we cannot expect any great improvement in the too common mode
of picking, where good, bad and indifferent grapes go on the trays
together. But I am certain that in a few years this will or must change.
Raisins in sweatboxes will bring the price they are actually worth, and
it will be to the interest of every grower to pick his grapes at the
time they will make the best possible raisins, even if extra labor is
required for the work. The pickers generally use small, pointed knives
for separating the bunches, and they are preferable to small shears, as
better enabling the picker to reach farther in between bunches and
branches, and to cut the former without injuring the branch.

In picking the bunches, great care should be taken, much more than is at
present in use. It is always best to begin picking in the poorest part
of the vineyard, as it will take some time for the pickers to learn;
they are almost certain to pick in the beginning too many green grapes.
The poorest part of the vineyard is also apt to have the ripest grapes.
The large, fine bunches should be handled with the utmost care, in order
that the bloom of the grapes may not be injured. The bunches generally
should be handled by the stems only, or, if this is impracticable, by
the stem as much as possible. In separating a large bunch from the vine,
the bunch should be cut as close to the stem as possible, and at the end
of the stem of the bunch there should remain a portion of that broader
part by which the bunch is attached to the main branch. There is nothing
prettier on a bunch of raisins than this broad end of the bunch; it
gives an idea of strength and oddity to the raisin cluster, showing the
buyer at a glance that it is a cluster which was once solidly attached
to the vine. Many raisin-packers place this broad end of the bunch so as
to protrude above or between the berries, as if inviting the purchaser
to take hold of it and thus lift the luscious bunch out of the box. With
the poorer and smaller bunches, no such care in cutting need be
exercised, and it would be to no benefit to so cut a small, poor bunch
that it would cause the purchaser to believe it was a large bunch.
Poorer bunches might therefore be cut with short stems. As to the
handling of the bunches, the intelligent grower will soon learn how to
instruct his men. If vine branches interfere with the lifting of the
bunch from the vine, some of them may be cut without any injury to the
vine, but too many branches cut this way will cause a new growth to
start, which often is derived from the best fruit buds for the ensuing
season, and which always is apt to be injured from frost.

A picker should average not less than fifty trays a day of cleaned and
assorted grapes. At this rate the picking of twenty pounds of grapes
costs about two and a half cents. Some persons employing white labor
claimed to have lowered the cost of picking to one and three-quarter
cents per tray of twenty pounds, but I failed to learn how these grapes
had been handled, cleaned and assorted. The picking of the grapes is
facilitated by previous care given the vines. Neglected and entangled
vines are much more difficult and expensive to pick than those which
have been properly cared for and correctly pruned the season before. The
same may be said as regards vines between the branches of which weeds
have been allowed to grow. In picking from such vines, the grapes are
always torn, the best bunches destroyed and many grapes wasted on the
ground.

[Illustration: Raisin Vineyard Truck.]


_Cleaning._--When the bunch is picked or cut from the stem, it should be
cleaned. If it is a first-class or even an ordinary layer bunch, every
sunburnt berry, every leaf, twig or other conspicuous foreign substance,
must be carefully removed with the picker’s right hand, while the left
hand holds the bunch by the stem. This cleaning must some time be done,
and at no time can it be performed with better results than when the
grapes are green. The stems are then soft and flexible, while later on
they are brittle, and in endeavoring to remove foreign substances many
berries will be detached, or sometimes even the whole bunch broken. This
cleaning of the bunch does not need to extend to third-rate or small
bunches, which are to be used for loose raisins. The latter can be
cleaned very rapidly with machinery, and it would only be a waste of
time to clean them by hand-picking. The use of a pair of bellows is also
very practical. With them much of the spider webs and smaller refuse can
be removed, which could not be gotten rid of in any other way. A few
hands should therefore go over all finer bunches and blow them clean,
especially if sand or dust have accumulated on the trays or bunches. If
the grapes are carefully assorted when picked, and the different grades
placed on separate trays as they should be, this cleaning is done
rapidly, as the largest part of the crop, which only will make loose
raisins, need not be cleaned.


_Drying on Trays._--As soon as the grapes begin to ripen, the trays
should be distributed along the rows in the vineyard. They may either
first be placed in piles at every row where the roads cross the
vineyard, or at once distributed along the vines. The former method is
to be preferred, as it protects the trays from dirt and dust, and in
distributing afterwards it gives the pickers a more varied labor, often
welcome as a change from the cramped position necessary in picking.
Muscat vines in proper bearing require one or two trays to the vine,
while for young vines one tray will suffice. The probable quantity
needed should be ascertained beforehand in order that the trays may be
properly distributed. The ripe grapes are always placed directly on the
trays, and not previously picked in boxes. In placing the bunches on the
trays, the proper way for each picker should be to have two trays, one
for each grade. On one tray he places all the large bunches that promise
to make first-class bunch raisins; on the other tray he places again all
inferior bunches and loose berries. The smaller bunches and loose
berries may be placed any way almost, as long as they are not heaped on
top of each other. The largest bunches should be placed with the stem
side down, as this side will, when cured, become the finest and will
eventually by the careful packer be placed upwards in the box. That part
of the raisin which in drying touches the tray will also present, when
cured, a flat surface with several concentric layers, which are
considered a prominent feature in the perfect raisin.

The general method of drying is, however, to place good, bad and
indifferent bunches together on the same tray, with no attempt at
assorting. While this method may do when superior raisins are not
required, and when no higher price is paid for better grades, it will be
found a very inferior practice when the grower desires to pack himself,
in order to reap all the benefit he can out of his crop. For all
superior raisins, I therefore strongly recommend the assorting of the
raisins on the trays as having the following advantages. It requires
less handling of the large bunches. The large bunches dry the slowest,
and by having them from the beginning separated from the small and the
loose the latter can be brought away to the sweatboxes, when ready,
without necessitating the reassorting and handling from the trays, which
at this time, when the stems are very brittle, is always expensive as
well as injurious to the fine bunches. The larger bunches, which are to
produce layer raisins, require less drying, as they are to be sweated or
equalized before being packed. The smaller and inferior bunches, on the
contrary, must be stemmed and assorted by machinery before they are
equalized, and immediately after they are taken from the trays. In order
to “stem” readily these raisins must be rather overdried, as if soft
they would tear from the stems instead of having the latter broken. We
can therefore perceive the advantage of having the two grades on
different trays. Without the necessity of assorting we can simply take
up our “layer” trays when they are ready and allow our “loose” to remain
as long out as necessary, without fear of having the layers overdried.
By this assorting when green, each grade can be treated separately in a
quick and effective way.

A tray two by three feet may be made to comfortably hold from eighteen
to twenty pounds of grapes. The first crop should be placed pretty close
on the trays, not allowing any part of the tray to be visible, as the
reflected heat will be too great and may injure the raisins. The second
crop should be packed less close, as the reflected heat from the
surface of the tray will help to dry the grapes. This of course only
refers to localities where the temperature during the first drying is
very high. The warmer it is the closer should the bunches be packed on
the trays, and on the contrary when later on in the season, or when the
drying weather is unfavorable, plenty of space should be given the
grapes. It is often said that grapes, to make good raisins, should not
only dry, but cure. There is much truth in this. Good raisins should dry
and cure at the same time, by which is meant that a chemical process is
taking place, which is something else than the mere evaporation of the
water in the grape. The heat necessary and favorable for drying the
grapes is different in different localities. At certain temperatures the
raisins will get cooked and spoil, assume a red color, lose their
sweetness, become sour and hard, and covered with large, sharply defined
corrugations,--signs of a very inferior or even entirely worthless
raisin. In Riverside the grapes are said to cook at from 98 to 100
degrees Fahrenheit in the shade. In Fresno the grapes dry and cure well
up to a temperature of 105 degrees, and in El Cajon they do not spoil
until 103 degrees are reached. I would think that from 90 to 103 degrees
in the shade would be the best temperature for drying perfectly ripe and
sweet Muscat grapes. When the grapes are very ripe, a much higher
temperature will not injure them, while unripe and sour grapes,
especially of the second crop, will burn or cook at a lower temperature
than would be the proper one for ripe grapes.

It is not always advisable to stop picking when the heat becomes too
great. A better method is to stack the trays in the field, so as to
protect the raisins from the sun. When the heat subsides, the trays are
again spread. The expense and trouble of stacking the trays is not as
great as may be supposed, and a few hours will generally suffice to
stack a large vineyard with the regular picking gang. Some packers have
suggested that to secure good raisins the trays should be stacked for
several weeks in the beginning of the period of drying. For the
production of our usual dark-colored raisins this is not necessary nor
even advisable, except when the heat is such that the raisins would cook
and spoil. With a little experience this cooking of the grapes can be
readily detected by the smell emitted by the grapes. As soon as they are
in the least injured by the heat, a cooked flavor begins to pervade the
whole vineyard. When this peculiar flavor is noticed, and when the
berries begin to show small red and soft blotches on the side facing the
afternoon sun, the stacking should be commenced as quickly as possible.
If the trays are kept in piles for several days, the injured grapes will
partially recover and at least to some extent regain their color.
Greatly injured grapes will dry much slower, sometimes remaining several
weeks behind those which were not injured by the sun. Slightly
discolored raisins may partially regain their color by sweating, but
they will not improve otherwise.

After the trays are filled with grapes, the best way is to put several
rows of trays together, or rather to place the trays from three rows of
vines along one of the spaces between the rows. This gives more
compactness to the crop, makes it easier to handle the trays, and
facilitates the stacking of the trays, their turning and reversing, or
any labor with the trays that may be required. By thus clearing some of
the spaces between the rows, admission for trucks and wagons is had
close to the trays.


_Turning._--After the grapes have been exposed to the sun for some days,
they must be turned. By this time it will be found that the grapes have
dried principally on the upper side, while the lower side is yet
comparatively green. The time when the turning of the grapes should be
done depends entirely on the weather. One-half of the drying process
should be over, and this requires a longer or shorter time. When the
time for turning is at hand, it will be found that the under side of the
grapes, or rather the side of each berry that was placed against the
trays, has flattened out and shows concentric circles, which are
considered of much beauty, and greatly valued in all good raisins. When
they are well formed and established, it is generally time to turn. If
the grapes are turned before these concentric circles are hardened, the
latter will open and become less distinct. Another objection to turning
too early is that the upper side of the grapes, if not properly dried
before turning, will dry but very slowly afterwards, and often so slowly
that the raisins may have to be turned a second time, which will prove
both expensive and to the disadvantage of the raisins. One turning is
always enough, and the only one proper. There are several ways to turn.
The Malaga grower, with his raisin floors, must turn his raisins by
hand. The great advantage of our trays is that we can turn much quicker.
The turning is done in our vineyards by placing one tray on the top of
another and then turning them quickly over, when in changing the tray
the bottom side of the bunches will be found to be up.

[Illustration: Raisin Tray Catcher.]

This turning, however, requires some little knack, so as not to drop any
raisins on the ground. The trays may be turned either the short or the
long way. If the long way, one tray is first placed on the top of the
other, and two men catch hold of the long opposite sides of the trays by
placing their hands on the outside quarters of the edge and then
pressing firmly. This keeps the raisins steady between the trays, and in
turning rapidly, if the bunches are at all entire, few or no raisins
will be dropped. In turning the short way, the men grasp with their
opposite hands at the middle of the short sides, while with their other
hands they catch the outside quarters of one of the long sides. By
turning quickly over the long side that is held by the hands of the
turners, the operation may be performed without dropping any berries. In
small vineyards, where the owner must perform the work alone, he may
turn the trays without any help whatever, though, naturally, his work
will be somewhat slower. He can operate by the aid of a small
contrivance called the catcher, a most simple but very effective little
tool. It resembles a miniature stool like those used by the milkers of
cows. The seat or top may be twelve inches long by six wide, made from
one-inch lumber. On one side are inserted four pegs, each about six
inches long. The two opposite ones are inserted very close together, but
spread strongly outward. After one tray has been placed on the top of
the other, the catcher is pushed over the long edge of the trays, which
of course will cause them to jam tightly together on that side. By now
grasping the trays on the opposite edge, they may be turned without the
aid of any one else, and without any loss of raisins. Some use steel
clips for the same purpose, but the common home-made wooden catch is
undoubtedly the most practical method, as it is the cheapest.

Turning should, as much as possible, be done in the morning or at least
in the forenoon while the air is yet cool and the stems of the raisins
damp. The pressure of the tray will not then cause the stems to break
off and the quality of the raisins to be lowered. If the bunch raisins
are on separate trays, which is best, they may be turned earlier in the
day than the second grade, which is not apt to be greatly damaged by the
breaking of the stems, as they are to be stemmed anyhow.


_Reversing._--This is an operation not properly understood by every
raisin-grower, but is still of the utmost importance, especially for the
first-class bunches of the first crop, which naturally dry more slowly
than the smaller bunches. But the method is also very useful for the
second crop, when late in the season the drying is slow and uncertain.
The reversing consists simply in reversing the trays on the ground in
such a way that the edges which first faced the north afterwards face
the south, or _vice versa_. The object of reversing is plain. It will
nearly always be found that the raisins at the top or on the side of the
tray nearest the north will dry much more slowly than those on the side
facing the south, especially so as soon as the weather begins to turn
colder. To prevent this and insure equal drying at the top and bottom,
the reversing is performed after the trays have first been turned. This
will enable the grower to get his raisins in several days sooner than he
otherwise would. Indeed, at the critical period of drying, when fall
rains may set in and injure the raisins, it is of the utmost importance
to hurry the crop as much as possible; the reversing is at this time
almost as important as turning. I have seen the second crop of many a
vineyard seriously injured by rain, and its drying delayed only through
neglect to reverse the trays. The effect of reversing is oftentimes very
striking, and one grower who reverses his trays in time may get his crop
in safely, while his neighbor who neglects reversing may lose a great
part of his. A few days’ delay at this time of the year is often fatal
to the whole second crop, and no pains should be spared in order to
hasten the drying by every possible means available.


_Slanting the Trays._--The practice of raising one end of the tray
higher than the other is of very questionable value. In the fore part of
the drying season, the heat from the sun is such that the raisins
receive all the heat they require without being raised at an angle
against the sun. Towards the end of the season, I have found that, when
the trays have been raised, those grapes which lie on the lower edge of
the tray, and accordingly nearest to the ground, dry the quickest, while
those at the upper edge dry considerably slower. The cause is that the
air a foot above the ground is much cooler than close to the ground; the
large space under the raised tray also serves as a cooling room to cool
the tray. In some direct experiments made, it was found that, as regards
the tail end of the first crop, the raised trays came in several days
later than the trays which had remained flat on the ground. In
advocating that the trays should not be tilted, I must not be understood
to mean that it is not beneficial to keep the tray in a tilted position
when there is a close background to sufficiently heat the air equally at
the upper and lower end of the trays. This can only be secured by either
placing the trays against the side of a hill or on specially prepared
drying floors, which are described further on. In this connection I may
suggest that when the heat of the sun is not great, and when the raisins
dry slowly, the placing of an empty tray behind the drying tray, in
order to reflect the sun on the raisins, will considerably hasten their
drying. This is a valuable aid in drying, especially when the second
crop is late.


_Elevating the Trays._--The practice of elevating the trays containing
the tail end of the second crop is a good one. The best way is to place
the trays on the top of the vines, when it will be found that the free
circulation of air underneath will help to dry the raisins and prevent
rot and mold. This method is only adopted after fall rains, but is then
of great help in drying the crop.


_Stacking Against Rain and Dew._--The stacking of the trays is also a
valuable help in keeping out dew and cold. Late in the season, when it
takes several hours of sunlight to dry the night dews, the stacked trays
will be dry when the first rays of the sun are out. When heavy rains are
expected, the grapes, whether partially dried or not, should always be
stacked. It will keep the stems from rotting off from the berries, and
will generally save the crop from being seriously injured. Some growers
have an idea that only the partially dried grapes should be stacked, but
the green ones are equally benefited.

There are several ways of stacking. The flat-stacking is used
principally when the raisins are very dry, and when it is of importance
that no air should enter the trays. In flat-stacking, one tray is simply
placed on the top of the other, and the circulation of air thus brought
to a minimum. In rainy weather, however, the roof-stacking is to be
preferred. Instead of placing one tray on the top of another, the trays
are placed in two piles joining each other in such a way that the inner
end of every tray overlaps the edge of the tray in the adjoining pile.
This lifting up of one edge of the tray gives to the whole pile a
roof-like appearance, and the angle in which the trays join together
becomes steeper the higher the pile grows, until, at the height of
three or four feet, the trays slant so much that the raisins cannot rest
on them, but are in danger of sliding off, when, of course, the pile
should not be made any higher. It takes several times longer to stack
the trays in roof fashion than to simply pile them up flat. The
advantage of roof-stacking is that it admits more air, and sheds the
rain better. In damp weather the piles should not be covered on the
sides for any length of time, as the raisins will then mold more
rapidly. If, instead of joining two piles of trays, three piles are made
to join, the center stack will be flat, while much air is admitted to
the raisins. In this stacking the first two trays are placed flat on the
ground at almost the distance of one tray. Another tray is made to rest
on the inner edge of the lower trays and cover the intermediate space,
and so on. This method gives twice as much air space between the trays
as regular flat-stacking, and is to be recommended when the weather is
damp. A combination of this last method and roof-stacking is used by
some, every grower almost having his favorite way to stack. It must be
remembered that in very rainy weather no kind of stacking will be of any
value, while, when the showers are few and far between, stacking may
save the crop.

Stacking is especially valuable in conjunction with dryers, when
protection during a few days only is all that is needed. One man can
stack about five hundred trays an hour, and the regular picking gang can
stack a whole vineyard in a few hours. Should the rain be very heavy and
no dryer handy, it is of no use to try to save the crop after the mold
has begun to make its appearance, and when the berries have begun to
rot. It is then far better to dump the whole crop in the field rather
than to spend time, money and anxiety on raisins which must in any case
become a total loss.


_Taking Up._--When, at last, the raisins are sufficiently dried, they
must be taken up as quickly as possible. This process again consists of
three different labors,--the stacking, assorting and boxing. It is of
great importance to know exactly when the raisins have sufficiently
dried to be ready for the sweatboxes. This can properly only be
ascertained by experience, still a few directions will materially help
the inexperienced grower in his judgment. A perfect raisin should be
neither too hard nor too soft. A raisin is too soft when, after rolling
it between the fingers, the least particle of juice exudes through the
cracked skin or meat. Such raisins will “sugar” in course of time, and
not keep a year. If the raisins, or a majority of them, on a bunch are
too wet, they should be spread to the sun for some time longer. If,
however, there are only a few underdried raisins in a bunch, the bunch
may be taken in, and the soft raisins clipped off afterwards. A raisin
is too dry when, in pressing and rolling it between two fingers, the
pulp does not move readily inside the skin. Such overdried raisins will
not again become first-class raisins; their skin will always be tough,
and their color will be somewhat inferior. If but slightly overdried,
they may be brought out by equalizing. To know when the raisins are in a
proper condition to take up is most important to every raisin-man, and
he should never neglect to watch his trays early and late. Upon his good
judgment and watchfulness depend the quality of his crop. To prevent
too rapid drying out after the raisins are nearly ready, the practice
now is to stack the trays in the field.

This stacking simply consists in placing the trays which contain the
ready raisins on top of each other, in piles five feet high. On the top
of every such pile are placed several loose trays crosswise, so as to
shelter the pile from the sun, and possibly even from rain, and other
trays are raised up against the sides of the pile in order to exclude as
much air as possible. If, however, the raisins are rather underdried,
the side trays may be left out so as to allow the raisins to dry more.
It is always best to stack the trays before the raisins are fully dried,
as they will finish drying and curing in the stack much better than in
the sun. The underdried raisins will thus dry just enough, while the
overdried ones, or those just right, will not dry much more.

After the stacking is done, the assorting is in order. This consists in
taking out every bunch that is not sufficiently dried to go into the
sweatbox, and placing them on new trays to dry more. At this time, also,
the bad or inferior and red berries may be taken out, if present in a
very large quantity on good bunches; but when there are only a few on,
it is better not to touch the bunch, as, in handling it, it is only too
apt to break. Any further picking out of bad berries had better be
deferred to the packing-house. The boxing and assorting, which may be
considered together, consist in transferring the different grades of the
now dried raisins to separate sweatboxes. This is done in two ways. The
number one bunches, which have been placed on separate trays, may now
simply be slid into the sweatbox, by a dexterous movement of the tray.
Between every two layers of these first-class bunches should be placed a
stout manilla paper cut so as to exactly fit the box. It is of
importance to have the paper just fit the box, and not be too large nor
too small, as in either case the raisins are apt to become mixed and the
bunches broken. But, if the grapes have not been assorted from the
beginning on separate trays, more work will be required to get them into
the sweatboxes. Every bunch must be carefully taken up by hand from the
tray, and then placed on the paper in the box. But in doing so many
bunches are necessarily broken, as even careful hands cannot help
frequent mishaps, while ignorant and careless workmen may do an immense
injury to the crop. Too few manilla papers are generally used. Some
packers require only two papers in every box, while six or eight, or at
least five, papers should be the proper number for every box of very
choice or even ordinary layers. We must remember that, the more papers
we use, the less apt are the bunches to be injured, but even the best
layer bunches will not suffer if placed two layers high between every
paper. On top and in the bottom of every box must be one paper, so as to
keep out dust. The loose and inferior raisins, which either have been
left on the tray after the layers are picked out, or which from the
beginning have been placed on separate trays, may now, when perfectly
dry, be simply dumped in sweatboxes without any paper.

We have thus at least two kinds of sweatboxes. One kind contains those
raisins which are destined to make layers, and which require sweating
and equalizing before they can be packed. The other kind contains the
loose and drier berries, which are to go immediately to the stemmer and
grader, and which would not separate from the stems if they were made to
equalize.


_Covering._--If the weather has been favorable, the raisins may have
been dried and cured in twelve days. Of these twelve days, the first
seven or eight were used for drying the upper side of the raisins. On
the seventh or eighth day they were turned, and on the twelfth day they
were ready to put in the sweatboxes. But this is fast drying, and drying
under favorable circumstances, with a dry wind blowing gently all the
time. But sometimes it takes a much longer time to dry, say from
fourteen to twenty-one days. In Fresno, where the weather is less
favorable, the drying of the first crop may require from two to three
weeks. In El Cajon it always takes two or three weeks for the raisins to
dry, and in Orange county the drying sometimes requires from thirty days
to five weeks. In Malaga the drying is accomplished quicker than in
California, because there they cover the raisin floors every night with
canvas, and in the morning, when the canvas is unrolled, the raisins are
yet warm. The drying, then, has been continued all night, and the
raisins have not had time to cool when they meet the first rays of the
sun. In California, again, our raisins are cold, possibly even wet with
dew or rain, and it sometimes takes the sun until noon to dry up the
moisture accumulated through the night.

To counteract this absorption of moisture, many of the raisin-growers in
Orange county, California, especially around Santa Ana and McPherson,
cover the trays with canvas every night. This method is to be
recommended wherever there is any difficulty in curing either the first
or the second crop. If this method is employed, I am satisfied that
raisins could be grown and properly cured in localities where otherwise
no raisin cult is possible. The method of covering the raisin trays at
Santa Ana is as follows, varied by different growers, but in the main
the same everywhere. The trays are placed together in long rows; about
twenty yards long is found to be most convenient. The width of the row
is just the width of two trays, or five feet. Thus the row of trays
laden with raisin grapes is about sixty feet long by five feet wide.
Along the north end of this long row of trays are driven down small
posts every six or ten feet, and left extending about two feet above the
ground. Along the south side of the row of trays smaller posts are
driven down at the same distances, but not allowed to extend so high
above the surface of the soil. These pegs or small posts may best be
slanting outward, or from the trays. Along the high posts is strung a
wire in such a way that it cannot easily get loose. To a long canvas
cover are now secured small rings for running on the wire, and on the
other side larger rings to hook over the smaller posts in front. If the
canvas is only one yard wide, two widths must be sewed together so as to
make the canvas six feet wide. The trays, which are two and one-half
feet by three feet, when placed side by side will just form a drying
floor of five feet, large enough to be covered by the canvas six feet
wide. The cost of canvas is six and one-half cents a yard by the bale.

The manner of using the canvas is very simple. The canvas cover, which
is stationary, is attached to the wire and the higher posts. Every
evening the cover is thrown over the trays, the front or lower edge is
hooked by the aid of the rings over the pegs in the ground, and the
trays thus securely sheltered. In the morning, when the sun is up, the
cover is thrown back over the higher posts, and the trays fully exposed.
The trouble to cover is not very great; two men can cover forty tons of
grapes in half an hour, and generally it is considered that the
picking-gang can cover the whole crop in half an hour’s time every
evening, and it takes them as long to uncover in the morning. If well
cared for and properly dried, and stored away in the autumn after the
crop is all in, this canvas cover, with its posts, will last six or
seven years, and if painted or oiled would probably last still longer.
One yard of canvas can cover thirty pounds of grapes, and for the
purpose of utilizing the full space, the trays are made two and one-half
by three feet.

Such is the process practiced in Orange county. If adopted elsewhere, it
would enable many localities to produce good raisins, where the climatic
conditions are such that no drying is now practicable. The process is
not as good as the one employed in Malaga, but it has some advantages
which make it very acceptable. It enables the grower to use trays, and
it makes drying-floors unnecessary, and the spaces in the vineyard can
be used without taking away room from the vines. On the other hand, the
drying-floors of Malaga are warmer and more secure, and almost
absolutely safe in case of rain.


_Drying-floors._--While, in some parts of California, the first crop
dries generally without any difficulty, in other parts rain and dew very
frequently interfere with the drying of even the first crop. In many
places where raisin-curing is not successful, the same could be
practiced profitably if we would adopt the system of drying-floors used
in Spain. Even in localities where the first-crop raisins dry well, the
second crop is always exposed to more or less rain, and the
raisin-grower annually loses large sums of money on account of not being
able to hasten the drying of the second crop. But it is doubtful if the
Malaga drying-floors will ever be found practical and come into general
use with us. They take considerable space from the vineyard, and are
very expensive, but they are very secure, and when once built are very
profitable. A limited number of such floors would be very useful in
every vineyard, especially for drying the second crop. At present no
such floors exist in this State. The following description gives an idea
of how they may be constructed:

These drying-floors may be built of brick with the long sides as long as
required, while the short sides should be about twelve feet long. The
back wall is six feet high, while the front wall is only six inches
high, which, with the above length of side wall, would give enough
slope. In Malaga the interior is filled with black gravel and tamped
hard, but for our purpose probably nothing would be superior to
asphaltum, bituminous rock or cement. It must first be ascertained if
bituminous rock would not impart a flavor to the grapes, in which case
cement would be the most useful flooring. In order to allow the rain to
run off, the front wall should be pierced with small holes close to the
ground, but this would only be necessary in case the bed is filled with
gravel, or no cement floor exists on top of it. Along the back part of
the floor should be set a row of uprights of two by four lumber, driven
securely in the ground. On the top of each post is set an eyelet,
through which runs a stout wire along the whole back of the frame. A
canvas cover long enough to reach the whole length of the floor should
be used for covering, and, in order to secure it to the wire and the
posts, it should be hemmed and furnished with small rings to run on the
wire. In front similar rings are set in order that the canvas may be
secured to the smaller posts and kept down in case of wind. On such
floors common trays may be used. To make the canvas impervious to rain,
it may be painted with boiled linseed oil. The above are only
suggestions based on the Spanish drying-floors. For a full description
of them, I beg to refer to the article on Malaga. In using linseed oil,
care should be taken that only pure oil is used. There is linseed oil
which contains chemicals which rapidly rot the canvas.


_Dryers._--The subject of dryers is of great importance to the
California grower. The last few years have fully demonstrated that every
raisin vineyard, no matter where it is situated, should have one or more
dryers, in order that the last of the crop may be dried properly when
the rain sets in. Many years these dryers are not required, but from
time to time they prove of vast value, and if properly constructed are
much superior to any drying-floor. But so far no perfect dryer has ever
been constructed. Most dryers are too expensive, costing from three
thousand to seven thousand dollars, when of a capacity to dry from
twenty-five to fifty tons of green grapes at one charge. Nearly all late
dryers are constructed with a fan, which sucks the air out through one
end of the building. The large complicated dryers are all patented, but
there can be no doubt that good small dryers might be constructed by
every grower, which will do good service. As, however, so far no very
perfect dryers have ever been constructed, and as every owner of one
changes and rebuilds every year, we must leave the consideration of the
construction of these dryers to some future time when more knowledge or
experience will have been gained. Dryers large enough to hold a charge
of one ton of green fruit have been constructed at the price of two
hundred dollars by Ellwood Cooper of Santa Barbara. They dried their
fruit in twenty-four hours, but they were never used for raisins.

But as this style of dryer may be adapted to raisins, I will give a few
hints at its construction. The heating apparatus consists of a large
iron drum, or radiator, seventeen and one-half feet long by two and
one-half feet wide, set on a furnace in which is burned wood. The
furnace and radiator are built into a bank, on top of which the dryer is
built. This dryer is simply a large wooden box about seventeen feet
square and six feet high, and looks, as seen from the outside, like a
chest full of drawers. These slide on frames, are deeper than they are
broad, and contain movable bottoms or trays made of small redwood ribs.
They begin about two feet from the top of the radiator; if closer, the
heat would be too strong for the fruit. The ventilation is had by small
sliding doors at the bottom of the chest, through which the air rushes
in, while it goes out through the drawers, which for this purpose are
left open an inch or two. The chest is covered over with an open shed,
which makes the labor pleasant, and enables the attendant to inspect any
drawer at any time without seriously disturbing the heat of the dryer.
The cheapness and effectiveness of such small dryers are such that every
one can afford them. A dozen such small dryers all set in a row in a
bank could be attended to by very few hands. They would also be
preferable to very large dryers on account of the short time required to
fill them, and their raisins can be dried long before a larger dryer has
been filled.

As to the usefulness of steam or fire dryers there can be no doubt. The
idea is not to entirely dry the raisins in them, but only to finish up
the raisins when, on account of unfavorable climatic conditions, they do
not dry any more out-of-doors. The question as to which are best,
“machine-dried” raisins or those dried in the sun, is entirely
unimportant. No one would think of drying raisins entirely in the dryer,
as it would not pay. Raisins properly finished in the dryer are not
inferior to those entirely sun-dried.


_Sweatboxes._--The sweatboxes should be made of strong lumber one inch
thick. The length and width should be according to the size of the tray,
and always one inch larger every way than the tray, in order that the
raisins may be let down readily, or that they may receive a tray. The
height of a sweatbox should be from six to eight inches, no more, as a
greater depth will make them too heavy to be handled with ease by two
men. Six inches in depth is better than eight. In order to secure the
box and prevent it from splitting, the sides should be bound with hide,
iron bands or with twisted galvanized wire. The latter is the strongest
and best, costs the least, and is the easiest to put on.


_Trays for Drying._--The tray consists of a wooden frame made of
well-dried half-inch lumber, nailed to cleats of one inch by one and
one-half inch and of desired length. The lumber most commonly used is
well-seasoned spruce. Pine, if not well seasoned, is apt to give the
raisins a taste of the wood or of rosin, while redwood may discolor the
raisins if exposed to rain or very heavy dew. But as the lumber attains
age, it also becomes less injurious to the grapes. Cottonwood or
poplar-wood, which can be obtained in some places, make most useful
lumber for trays, as they do not contain any taste or other substance
apt to injure the raisins. The size of the tray varies according to the
idea of the raisin-grower, but the size generally adopted is two by
three feet. Formerly a smaller tray was used, but no smaller ones are
now made. A larger size, three by three feet, is used by several
growers, but, while it has the advantage of holding more grapes, it is
also less readily handled than the smaller tray. In the southern part of
California, a tray two and one-half by three feet is very popular. The
tops of the trays are bought in the shape of shingles, which should be
well dried before being nailed, as they will otherwise shrink up and
cause cracks to form in the tray, greatly to the detriment of the drying
of the raisins. Loss is also caused by loose raisins dropping through
such cracks. The cleats should be wet or green, or they will split in
nailing. If too dry, they should be soaked in water over night or for a
few hours. The shingles should be planed on the side which is to be
placed upwards. The cost of the lumber for the trays varies from nine to
twelve and one-half cents in the shooks. For nailing the trays together,
a frame is made of wood and iron. The cleats are placed on the two
short, opposite sides, with a heavy bar of iron immediately underneath
so as to clinch the nails. The planed shingles are then placed on top
and nailed to the cleats with round-wire nails, which clinch
automatically on the lower side as soon as they strike the iron bar. No
cleats are required on the long side of small size trays, but if a
larger tray is used a bar on each side may be required to give the tray
sufficient strength. A good workman, after a few days of practice, can
comfortably nail up four hundred trays a day. When the season is over,
every tray should be nailed up and washed, or at least swept clean and
stored dry. The age of a tray, if cared for, is about ten years.


CALIFORNIA LYE-DIPPED RAISINS.


_General Notes._--In California the dipping of raisins in solutions of
lye is yet in its very infancy, and I do not think that in the whole
State over ten tons of lye-dipped raisins have been placed on the market
yearly. But undoubtedly this process is destined to become of
considerable importance, especially in localities where the drying of
the first crop is accomplished with difficulty in the open air. The
first and also most important condition in producing superior dipped
raisins is that the grapes should be absolutely ripe. Unripe grapes will
not produce any good raisins when dipped, but will turn reddish and
otherwise become inferior.


_Dipping Process._--A good location for dipping raisins is by the side
of an irrigation ditch, provided the water in the latter can be depended
upon to flow constantly while the operation of dipping lasts. If not,
the water must be procured by pumping or by means of pipes from
reservoirs or water-works. Flowing water is of great importance in
producing good dipped raisins, and is required for the perfect washing
of the grapes. For this purpose, if no ditch is available, a large
trough may be used to advantage, and so arranged that the water in it
can be kept changing through a continuous flow. The following is a cheap
and efficient arrangement for dipping in actual use in one of the
largest raisin vineyards, and can be recommended on account of its
cheapness and easy working: On one side of the trough is a stationary
iron kettle with a fireplace underneath. By the trough is also placed an
upright post, about five feet high, and on this balanced a horizontal
beam with a double motion. It can be raised and lowered at either end,
or swung to the left or right with ease. On one end of the beam is a
hook on which to hang the grape bucket. On the other side of the trough
is a rough assorting table. Two or more buckets are needed. These
buckets are common galvanized-iron buckets, perforated thickly with
holes, the latter not large enough to let any loose grapes through. In
the kettle is kept constantly boiling a solution of water and potash.
Soda is not suitable. The very best potash should be used in the
proportion of about one pound to twelve gallons of water. The ripe
grapes are now brought to the table and emptied in the buckets. A bucket
is then hung on the beam, the latter swung and the bucket for a second
lowered first in the pure water and then in the boiling potash; but it
is immediately withdrawn and immersed in the water-trough. When rinsed
for a few seconds, the grapes are taken out and spread on common raisin
trays. If the weather is warm, the trays are stacked one on top of the
other, and the grapes thus prepared are dried in the shade.

The rinsing of the fruit before drying is of great importance, and by
far not sufficiently understood. In Valencia the finest raisins are
treated that way and thoroughly rinsed before being dipped in the lye.
But nowhere in Spain are the grapes rinsed in water afterwards, and it
is yet an undecided question if this rinsing improves or injures the
raisins. It is certain that the washing cleanses the berries, as the
water in the kettle is sometimes dark and dirty; but if it is an
advantage to deprive the berries of the lye which more or less sticks to
them is very doubtful. It is well known here that lye-dipped raisins are
apt to mold if the rains set in while the drying lasts, while we are
told that in Spain the dipped raisins do not spoil even if subjected to
several showers of rain. From this it will seem as if rinsing after
dipping is not necessary or perhaps even injurious, but that, on the
contrary, rinsing before dipping is of the utmost importance. It may be
possible that the lye which adheres to the grapes will, in a great
measure, prevent them from molding.

In Spain no olive oil is used for mixing in the lye, and it is not
likely that the oil process will come in vogue in California until it is
fully demonstrated that it not only greatly improves the grapes, but
that it also enables the grower to realize a correspondingly better
price for his raisins. Those who care to experiment with it cannot do
better than to follow the practice as it is used in Smyrna, for a full
account of which we beg to refer to the article under that heading. We
might here only point out that the oil-dipped raisins of Smyrna bring
many times the price of the lye-dipped raisins of Valencia. The
arrangement of dipping, kettles, etc., may, of course, be greatly
varied. Steam may be used for heating the lye and the rinsing water, if
it is desired to keep the latter hot, and regular trays might be used to
hold the grapes, instead of the buckets referred to above. Every grower
will no doubt vary these appliances to suit his own fancy, and improve
upon the methods of others. As an example of the devices used by another
grower, we here reproduce the following from an essay on bleaching
raisin grapes, compiled by the chief viticultural officer, and
especially referring to the system used by Mr. Byron Jackson: “Mr.
Jackson places the grapes on a tray made with a frame of iron, which is
covered with wire gauze with a quarter-inch mesh. The frame projects
upwards on the sides to prevent the fruit floating off while in the dip,
and is made to receive, as a cover, the wooden tray on which the fruit
goes to the dryer. When dipped and rinsed, the wooden tray is placed
over the dipping tray, and two men transfer the fruit by turning over
the two.”

The length of time required for dipping can only be ascertained by
experience, and must differ with the strength of the lye, with the heat
of the solution, and with the thickness of the skin of the grapes. Thus
in different localities the strength of the lye and the length of
immersion must always be different, and may even differ from year to
year. When properly dipped, the skin of the grapes must show some very
minute cracks, similar to cracks in glass which has been heated and
suddenly immersed in or sprinkled with ice-cold water. Deep cracks are
not desirable, as they will cause the juice of the pulp to leak out,
after which the raisins will sugar. In Valencia the grapes used for
dipping are the various varieties of Muscats, while in Smyrna both
Muscats and Sultanas are used. Corinths are never dipped, as they dry
readily and make superior raisins without this process.


_Drying and Curing._--After the grapes are dipped, they must be
immediately dried either in the sun, or in sun and shade alternately, or
entirely in the shade. According to the circumstances attending the
drying of the grapes, the color of the raisins becomes more or less red
or yellow, transparent or opaque. The most perfect amber color is
attained in the shade, while in the sun the color rapidly changes to
reddish, a less desirable color in dipped raisins. The more favorable is
the weather for drying, the choicer will be the raisins, and the better
their color. If the sun is very warm and the chances are otherwise
favorable for drying, the trays should be exposed to the sun only long
enough to have their dip thoroughly evaporated, and for this purpose one
day in the sun may suffice. After this the stacking of the trays is
advisable, and only occasionally may the trays be spread if the drying
does not proceed rapidly enough. Such shade-dried dipped raisins will
assume a beautiful amber-yellow color, and bring several cents more than
those exposed to very warm sun. If, however, the weather is not very
warm, the grapes must be dried in the sun, and the grower has then to be
satisfied with the color that nature will give to his raisins. Dipped
raisins do not necessarily require turning, as they generally dry well
anyhow in from four to six days in fair weather. For this class of
raisins dryers are very useful to help finish the drying. Such dryers
must be almost air-tight, as sandstorms would invariably spoil the
raisins, which, on account of their stickiness, are almost impossible to
afterwards cleanse. Dipped raisins should always be dried on their
trays, and on special drying grounds, which should be so constructed
that no sand can blow on them, or at least so arranged that in case of
rain the sand from the ground will not be splashed over the trays. In
California we have at present no such drying-floors, but it will pay any
one who intends dipping his grapes to construct them either of bricks,
bituminous rock or lumber.


_Stemming, Grading and Packing._--Dipped raisins should be stemmed when
well dried, and then graded in two grades. The proper receptacles for
them are either sacks lined with paper, or twenty-pound boxes, in which
they may be packed without fancy paper, or in the same way as prunes or
other dried fruit. So far no uniform method of packing such raisins has
been adopted in this State.

As to the usefulness and future of dipped raisins, not much can be said
at present. Our importations of Valencia raisins, which are mostly
dipped, are considerable, and as long as this class of cooking raisins
is in demand, there is no good reason why we should not compete and
endeavor to supply the demand. We can produce them as well as Spain can,
and the only reason why we have not competed with Spain so far is that
sun-dried raisins are so readily produced here, that it has not been to
our advantage to produce anything else. There are, however, many places
in our State which will grow Muscatel grapes of good quality, but with
too thick skins to make them proper for sun-dried raisins. For all such
localities the dipping process is to be recommended, as it will enable
the growers to produce marketable raisins, and to profitably supply the
demand for this variety of raisins now imported to this country from
abroad. In localities with early and copious fall rains, the dipping
process will enable the growers to finish quickly before the rains set
in. California dipped second-crop Muscatels and Sultanas have brought as
high as seven cents per pound wholesale.




THE PACKING-HOUSE.


BUILDINGS AND MECHANICAL APPLIANCES.


_The Packing-house._--The packing-house should be large and airy and,
whether it is made of lumber, brick or adobe, it should in preference to
anything else be large. Room is needed at every operation in the
packing-house, and it is hardly possible to get too much of it. So far
no very large and perfect buildings for packing-houses have ever been
erected in California; the raisin industry is too young for that, and
even the best of our buildings are only temporary ones. It is here not
possible nor desirable to give any instructions how to build and arrange
a raisin packing-house, as every packer will have his own ideas and his
own necessities in this respect, and not two packers would build alike.
All we can do here is to refer to what is needed in a general way, in
order that the reader will get some preliminary ideas of what he will
require when his raisin vineyard comes in bearing.

The packing-house should contain the following apartments: First, the
general packing-room, in which the raisins are assorted and packed. Then
the sweating-house or equalizing room, in which the boxes are stored for
several weeks in order to equalize the moisture in the raisins. Then the
stemming-room, in which the stemming and grading of the loose raisins is
carried on. Then we have the weighing room, where the raisins are
received from the field, and where they are weighed when this is
required. There should also be an office and a pasting room, where the
labels are pasted on the lining paper, and finally there should be
plenty of veranda or shed room all around the building, where boxes of
all kinds can be received and temporarily stored, either before the
raisins are packed, or afterwards when they are ready to be shipped. We
might also wish to have a room for a box factory, where boxes of all
kinds are nailed up. This can in our climate best be done in the shed or
under the veranda. The packing-house proper should be as large as all
the other rooms together. It can hardly be made too large, as during the
lively packing season hundreds of hands will here be busy, each one with
his special work. The floor of the packing-house should be of matched
lumber, and slanting towards the center, along which should run a small
gutter. Any other material, such as cement, may also be used, the only
object in view being that the floor can be washed from time to time and
the dirt carried off through the gutter as readily as possible. The
packing-room should have places for long narrow tables, at which the
packing and assorting is done, and these tables can most conveniently be
run the whole length of the room. At one end there should be room for
the presses and the nailing tables, as well as storage room for empty
and full boxes.


_The Sweating-house._--The sweating-house or sweating-room should
immediately adjoin the packing-room. It should be built either of
matched lumber or of brick or adobe, in order that the temperature may
be kept tolerably even and the moisture confined if necessary. The
sweating-room in the Fresno Raisin and Fruit Packing Co’s house in
Fresno is large enough to contain 40 tons of raisins at one time, and is
about 50 feet square, while the sweating-room on the Forsyth vineyard
measures about 35 feet by 50 feet, and is built of brick in two stories,
the lower one of which is used for raisins, the upper one for storage.
For those who wish figures, we might state as examples of buildings,
that the Forsyth packing-house, which also contains a sweating-room but
not a stemming-room, is 120 feet by 35 feet, and contains besides a
small platform outside for the reception of boxes, etc. The Fresno
Raisin and Fruit Packing Co’s building is about 150 feet by 75 feet.

[Illustration: Raisin Stemmer and Grader.]


_The Stemmer and Grader._--This large machine is a California invention.
The principle on which it works is that the dry stems are separated by
revolving the raisins rapidly in a drum made of perforated galvanized
iron or of strong galvanized wire. After the stems are separated, the
raisins fall together on screens of wire with various size meshes,
through which the smaller berries are separated from the larger berries,
while the refuse and broken stems are blown away by a fan. The most
perfect stemmer and grader is the one on the Butler vineyard. The
raisins are first dumped into a hopper below the floor, and from there
they are run automatically on a belt to the top of the stemmer, where
they enter the drum. From the drum they fall on the separating screens,
which grade them in three grades, each one falling in a box of its own.
Somewhat similar stemmers are seen in all the large vineyards, all run
by steam and large enough to stem and grade from forty to sixty tons of
raisins a day. There is considerable difference as to the ingenuity with
which these stemmers are built, some requiring many more hands to run
them than others. The Butler stemmer requires, part of the time, only
one man for its successful running. The Forsyth stemmer stands under a
shed in the open air, apart from the packing-house, in order that the
dust may be freely carried away. The smaller vineyards have stemmers run
by hand, and have separate graders also run by hand, large enough to
stem and grade from five to eight tons of raisins per day.

[Illustration: Raisin Lever Press.]


_The Presses._--These are of two kinds, screw presses and lever presses.
The screw press is much preferable (at least until the lever press may
be perfected), as with it we can gauge the pressure given the raisins.
The only press of this kind is found on the Raisina vineyard of T. C.
White. The press that is generally adopted, and the one that is most
handy, is the lever press, which is so constructed that four boxes of
raisins can be kept in the press at one time, or until the last box or
part of a box is ready. By a pressure with the foot, the levers are
released and the boxes freed from the pressure. While this press is
exceedingly handy and quickly worked, the pressure cannot readily be
gauged, and the raisins are apt to be injured by too heavy pressure. But
it is likely that improvements will soon be made which will remedy this
defect.


_Boxes and Cartoons._--The California raisin boxes are of three
kinds,--whole boxes of twenty pounds, halves of ten pounds and quarters
of five pounds. The wholes and the quarters are those most used, while
the halves are seldom used or required. The cartoons are made of paper
and contain two and one-half pounds of raisins each. The following are
the measurements of raisin boxes and cartoons, and of the lumber
required for making them. Twenty-pound box: 9 x 18 x 4¾ inches.
Ten-pound box: 9 x 18 x 2⅜ inches. Five-pound box: 9 x 18 x 1³⁄₁₆
inches. The foregoing are inside measurements. The tops and bottoms are
one-quarter inch thick, 19½ inches long and 9¾ inches wide. The sides of
the twenty-pound box are 19½ inches long, 4¾ inches wide and
three-eighths inches thick. The ends of a twenty-pound box are 9 inches
long, 4¾ inches wide and three-fourths of an inch thick. The sides of
the ten-pound box are 19½ inches long, three-eighths of an inch thick
and 2⅜ inches wide. The ends of a ten-pound box are 9 inches long,
three-fourths of an inch thick and 2⅜ inches wide. The sides of a
five-pound box are 19½ inches long, three-eighths of an inch thick and
1³⁄₁₆ inches wide. The two and one-half pound cartoon is five inches
wide, ten inches long and one and one-half inches deep.


_Packing Frames or Packing Trays._--These are of two kinds, according to
the method of packing. For the top-up method, wooden frames large enough
to hold five pounds of raisins are used. In length and width these
frames correspond with the raisin box, but in height they are only
one-third of a whole box, or about one and one-half inches. The bottom
is a sliding one, and can be pulled out broadwise. The frame is first
lined on the inside with the necessary paper, and then five pounds of
raisins are placed in the paper. A follower or block of wood, large
enough to fill the form or frame, is then placed on top, the frame is
placed over an empty box, the sliding bottom quickly withdrawn, and the
whole contents fall in the box below undisturbed. For the top-down
method, frames of galvanized iron are used, slightly deeper than the
former, but the bottom is a drop-bottom, resting on a flange, instead of
a sliding bottom, as in the former tray. A loose plate of zinc is placed
on top of the frame, the latter is inverted and placed over the box, and
the zinc plate quickly withdrawn, when the contents covered by the loose
drop-bottom (or by the facing-plate) fall into the raisin box.


_Facing-plate._--This useful tool was invented by T. C. White. It
consists of a brass plate large enough to fit readily into the bottom of
the raisin box. In this plate are arranged small cavities, each one wide
enough to hold a large raisin. For large boxes the plate is made to
contain eleven raisins the short way and eighteen the long way. The
plate is first placed in the bottom of the iron frame in place of the
loose bottom. A raisin is placed in each cavity and lightly pressed, and
loose raisins are carefully filled in on the top. When this frame is
afterwards reversed and the raisins and the plate as follower are
received in the box, it will be found that the top layer has retained
its arrangement and is regularly faced. This facing-plate enables the
packer to face quickly and cheaply, but it can only be used when the
top-down method of packing is used. The standard plate is nine inches by
eighteen inches, and the plate for cartoons is five inches by ten
inches, both made of heavy brass.


_Scales._--For weighing the quantity of raisins necessary for every
layer, scales must be found on every weighing table. Any ordinary
grocery scales which work with springs may be used. Generally one pair
of such scales are used at each end of the assorting table.


_Labeling Press._--Of late every large packer labels his boxes before
they are nailed together. This is done by passing the shooks through a
labeling press, which prints under pressure the required label on each
side or top, the name, etc., appearing in concave type on their face.
These presses are run by machinery and work very rapidly.


_Tables._--In the packing-house are tables of various kinds; they are
generally long and narrow, and about four feet wide. The assorting
tables should be furnished with square holes at intervals of five or six
feet, so that the loose raisins may be scraped through them into boxes
below. The assorting and weighing tables are furnished with a low flange
or guard all around, to prevent any raisins falling on the floor.


_Bags and Bag-holders._--Two kinds of bags are used,--cotton sacks or
jute sacks. The former are white like flower sacks, the latter coarser
and brownish. In the former no paper linings are used, but in the latter
a paper bag is stitched, in order that the air may not penetrate and dry
the raisins. Both kinds of bags are used to an equal extent. The cotton
sacks contain either thirty or sixty pounds, while the jute sacks are
made to contain an average of eighty pounds each. Patented bag-holders
are used everywhere for holding the bags open while they are being
filled.


_Trucks._--For inside work, trucks very similar to those used in the
vineyard are now generally adopted. They are handled with ease, and for
moving boxes of various kinds are absolutely indispensable in the modern
raisin packing-house.


_Trays for Weighing._--These are small, shallow boxes, made of zinc or
tin, and large enough to hold five pounds of raisins each. One short
side of the tray should be slanting outward in order that the raisins
may fall out readily. They are only used in weighing the raisins which
are to go in each five-pound layer in the whole boxes.


_Followers._--These are wooden blocks of the size of a quarter box of
raisins, inside measurement. They should be lined with zinc on the flat
sides, in order that they may be washed readily, and also to prevent the
sugar of the raisins from adhering to them. They should be large enough
to just fit inside a box or frame, and are used to keep the raisins
steady while being changed from the frame to the box. They are also
placed on top of the raisin frames when they are being pressed.


_Paper._--Several kinds of paper are used in the raisin business. Heavy
yellow manilla paper is used to place in the sweatboxes, one sheet
between every two layers of raisins. The paper should be heavy, and cut
to fit the box. Many growers use too short paper, which always has the
inconvenience of causing the raisins to mix and become entangled. Only
one whole sheet of paper should be used at a time; two short sheets will
not answer, as, in lifting out a layer of raisins, the assorter takes
hold of the four corners of the paper, and thus readily lifts out the
raisin block. Lighter paper for lining the raisin boxes is used, both
for layers and loose. The paper generally used is common book paper
twenty-one by twenty-eight inches, and forty, fifty or sixty pounds to
the ream in quality. Previous to being used, this paper is cut to fit
the tray, a square piece being cut out of every corner. When placed in
the tray, the central part of the paper fits the bottom of the tray,
while the sides of the paper extend sufficiently over the sides of the
tray to meet on top when folded over the raisins. Waxed tissue paper
should always be placed on the top of the raisins in order to prevent
the moisture from the raisins injuring the colored and artistic labels.

Colored lithographs or chromos of various designs and qualities are used
for all raisins packed in boxes. When bought they come in three sizes.
The central label should be nearly the size of the face of the box. The
top labels are shorter pieces, almost as wide as the box, but only a few
inches long. They are previously pasted to the top flaps of the lining.
The side labels are twice as long as the face of the box, but not quite
half as wide; they are similarly pasted on the long side flaps of the
lining. There is a great variety of designs used, some of which are not
appropriate. Whatever designs we use, it will be to the advantage of
every country not to imitate, but to use labels characteristic of the
country and locality where the raisins are made.


_Tin Boxes._--For packing raisins for tropical countries, boxes made of
tin should be used. The dampness in those countries causes raisins
packed the common way to mold and spoil. No box should contain more than
ten pounds of raisins, and the top should be so soldered on that it can
be removed without cutting or injuring the box. The French system of
soldering on by means of a narrow strip of tin, which can be wound up,
is admirable, and could hardly be improved upon. Five ten-pound boxes
should be packed in a _light_ case made of light timber, and the whole
package when closed should not weigh over sixty pounds. Four such cases
will make one mule-load, and two such cases can be conveniently carried
by one man.


LOOSE RAISINS.


_Stemming and Assorting._--It must be understood that all the mechanical
appliances and tools mentioned above should now be on hand ready for
use and properly placed. The several different operations in packing,
stemming, assorting, etc., of both loose and layers, will at times be
carried on in different parts of the packing establishment at the same
time, so as to meet the requirements of mixed lots or orders, the
general shipments being of that nature. Loose and layer raisins are
produced more or less from almost every sweatbox brought into the
packing-house, and the only delay to their being immediately disposed of
is because the layer raisins must be sweated or equalized before they
are ready for use. The loose raisins, provided they are properly or
sufficiently dried, are ready to be handled as soon as brought from the
vineyard. A loose raisin, or a bunch from which loose raisins are to be
made, must be overdried rather than underdried; at any rate, it must be
so dry, that no juice will come out of it when the raisin is squeezed
heavily or even torn. But a matter of greater importance even is that
the stems should be brittle or sufficiently dry to break off readily. If
they do not break, the raisins cannot be easily separated from the stem.
The stems, instead of breaking off, will tear off, and the raisins will
be open to the entrance of air, which will cause them to undergo a
chemical change, to sugar and deteriorate.

As soon as a perfectly dried sweatbox of third-grade or loose raisins
enters the packing-house, it should be taken to the stemmer. Any delay
in this is injurious to the raisins, as they will rapidly undergo a
sweating or equalizing, causing the stems to soften and to lose their
brittleness. It will, therefore, be seen that loose raisins must on no
account be sweated or equalized before they have been stemmed. Besides,
if the raisins are in any way moist, they will not shed the dust and
dirt when being passed through the stemmer. It is therefore to every
raisin-grower’s interest to so hasten the drying of the loose raisins
that as many of them as possible can be out of the way when the layers,
which take longer to dry, come in. This, as we have shown before, can
only be done by assorting the raisins while green, and at the moment
they are being picked from the vines. The different size bunches dry at
different times, and the loose can then be partially disposed of when
the layers are ready. The stemmer and grader should separate the raisins
in at least three grades: Number one, large loose; number two, smaller
loose; number three, smallest seedless, to which may be added a number
four, or rubbish. The large loose bring always a good price, and great
care should be taken with them. After having passed through the stemmer
and assorter once, they should be passed through a second or third time,
in order that all the inferior or smaller raisins may be eliminated. In
this way, a fine, large number one is had, which is sure to give
satisfaction. Number two loose may be passed through a second time if
the stemmer has not done its full duty, and the same may also be done
with number three seedless. It always pays to do a thing well, and this
holds good with raisins as with everything else. Colonel Forsyth, who
has acquired a high reputation for his loose raisins, advocates and
practices this repeated assorting, especially of the number one grade,
in order that it may be entirely uniform. Too many poor raisins are
generally found among the small seedless, and if they are to be made to
partially replace the seedless Sultanas or the Currants in the same
manner as the number two is expected to replace the imported Valencias,
they must be made clean from all rubbish. Only by producing a superior
article can we hope to replace the imported dipped raisins by our loose
Muscatels.


_Packing and Cleaning._--The number one and two loose are always put up
in whole boxes of twenty pounds each, never in quarter boxes, but
sometimes in cartoons, to be used as samples or as holiday gifts. In
packing whole boxes, they may either be faced or not. If not faced, the
work is very simple. The raisins are first brought to a large separate
table with a guard all around its edges, so as to prevent the raisins
from falling to the floor. On each such table are one or more small
scales. The workmen gather the raisins with small shovels, and place
them in quantities of twenty pounds each in tin trays, with the guards
slanting at one end, in order that the raisins may fall out readily.
These trays are then immediately carried by other hands to the
packing-table close by. Here the proper papers are being placed in
regular whole raisin boxes, the loose raisins are poured in from the
trays, and from time to time looked over and cleaned. All poor or
inferior raisins should be carefully eliminated, and only good ones
allowed to be boxed. Finally the paper leaves are folded over, and the
boxes are taken away to be nailed up. Number two undergoes the very same
process when packed in boxes.

[Illustration: Raisin Truck for Packing-house.]


_Sacking._--A very large trade is springing up in sacked raisins, and
the demand for them is increasing every year. Both numbers two and three
grades loose are now exported this way either in cotton sacks, or in
jute sacks lined inside with paper. The jute sacks are by many preferred
on account of their showing the dirt less, the cotton sacks generally
arriving soiled at their destination. If cotton sacks are used for
shipment East, they should be first placed in common burlap sacks, in
order to arrive clean and attractive. The extra expense is not great, as
the cheapest kind can be used for this purpose.


_Facing, Top-up Method._--The facing is quickly done with the aid of
White’s facing-plate, but it can also be accomplished without it if the
packer may so desire. The facing-plate, however, is greatly to be
preferred, as we shall show directly. If no plate is used, the operation
is as follows: At the filling table, fifteen pounds of loose raisins are
weighed off directly in the twenty-pound boxes. Then five pounds loose
are weighed separately in a tin tray. The whole boxes are taken to the
packing-table and placed close to the press, one on top of the other,
the smaller trays, with five pounds each, are brought to the facer, who
now takes one of the loose wooden frames with a sliding bottom and
places in it the necessary papers. He then fills in the five pounds of
loose raisins, smooths and spreads them out, and sees that no bad
berries are among the good ones. This operation may also be performed by
different hands, so as to divide up the work. This is probably the best
and most economical way. The next step is to take the tray to the press
and subject it to a certain pressure, so as to get a smooth upper
surface on which to face or place the raisins in rows. When this is done
the tray is taken to the facer. The facer now has in front of him a tray
filled with the ornamental papers and the five pounds of raisins. The
surface of the raisins is smooth and even. The next operation is to
place large raisins in rows on the top surface. A small box with loose,
large raisins should be at the side of the facer, who in taking each one
of them at first presses it towards the table with the thumb of either
hand, thus flattening out the raisin in order to make it appear large.
When the tray is faced, it may again be subjected to slight pressure,
but generally this is not needed. The contents of the tray are now
transferred to the twenty-pound box, which already contains fifteen
pounds of loose. These loose raisins, which will be on the bottom of the
box, are not generally wrapped in paper, although such would very much
improve their appearance. The box is now ready for nailing. This top-up
method is very inferior to the top-down method, as will be described
further on. In packing with this method, only the wooden frame with the
sliding bottom is used. The drop-bottom frame is only used for the
top-down method.


_Facing, Top-down Method._--In using this method, the top layer is
finished first, and the bottom last. The packing is done as follows: In
the bottom of a tin or galvanized-iron tray, previously described, is
placed one of White’s facing-plates. As will be remembered, the frame
has a loose drop-bottom, which falls out as soon as the tray is turned
over. The facing-plate is placed either directly on this loose bottom,
or on the flange supporting it, and always with the facing-cups upward.
The facer now places loose selected raisins, one in each hollow, presses
his finger on the raisin and works it in the hollow until it becomes
flattened. When all the cavities are filled, loose raisins are carefully
filled in until the tray is full, when but a gentle pressure is required
to steady the raisins and make them keep their places. In the meantime,
fifteen pounds of raisins have been put in twenty-pound boxes and
_gently_ pressed. Some packers of choice raisins use a wrapper and label
for every layer of five pounds, which greatly improves the general
appearance of the box. After all is ready, a loose zinc plate is placed
over the filled frame or tray, the latter is reversed and placed
directly over the raisin box, in which has already been placed the
required paper wrapper. The zinc plate, which only served to steady the
raisins while the frame was being turned, is now quickly withdrawn, and
the five-pound faced layer falls down in the box entirely undisturbed,
kept so by the facing-plate which here acted as follower. The box is now
ready for nailing, after a label and wax paper have first been placed on
top of the plate. Without the facing-plate, a skilled facer can face
some forty boxes a day, while from twenty to thirty boxes is a low
average. With the facing-plate, the facing can be accomplished with more
speed and accuracy.


_Comparative Value of the Two Methods._--The top-up method has several
disadvantages. It requires a heavy pressure of the raisins to create a
smooth, flat surface on which to face. But even if no facing is done,
the top layer will always be more or less uneven, and requires heavy
pressure to make it smooth, and appear well and to advantage. This heavy
pressure always bursts many of the raisins, and causes them to sugar and
spoil. It has also another disadvantage, that the facing of the top
layer can only be done with the fancy paper previously placed in the
box. In facing and manipulating the raisins, this paper becomes more or
less soiled and wet. In using the top-down method, the paper is placed
in the box at the last moment, just before the final five-pound layer is
emptied from the tray upon the fifteen-pound layer below. I consider
these advantages so essential that I must strongly indorse the top-down
method, and I believe that, in course of time, it will be generally
adopted by all packers who care for the keeping qualities of their
raisins. As to the time and expense required by these two methods, there
is but very little difference. The top-down method is possibly a little
slower and more expensive, but it is by far the better, and the
difference in expense of packing is not great enough to be taken into
consideration.


LAYER RAISINS.


_Sweating or Equalizing._--This is a process by which the overdried
raisins are made to attract sufficient moisture from the underdried
raisins in the same box or bunch, and whereby the overdried raisins are
made moister, while the underdried ones become drier. Equalizing also
moistens the stems sufficiently to prevent them from breaking when being
handled. In our California climate, where the air is so dry, this
equalizing process is an absolute necessity, and no first-class raisin
pack can be produced without the raisins having first been equalized.
The word “equalizing” is to be preferred to “sweating,” as the latter
word may be misunderstood as meaning that a certain amount of heat is
developed by storing the raisins. Heat is indeed necessary, but it
should come from the outside air, not from the inside or from the
raisins. If from the latter the raisins will be in a fair way to become
spoiled. In the foregoing I have described the construction and workings
of the sweathouse. It may be suggested that, if there is no sweathouse
on the vineyard, a large sail or canvas may be used as a substitute. The
latter is simply thrown over the boxes where they are piled
out-of-doors, and answers to some degree in keeping the raisins moist.
But as this is only a substitute, I shall not dwell longer on its
usefulness. It may, however, be said in favor of this appliance, that
it is used by one of our largest packers, and by him considered as of
equal value if not superior even to a regularly constructed equalizing
house.

The raisins which are to be sweated are only the clusters or layers, and
not the loose, which as we have seen should at once be taken from the
field to the stemmer, while the stems are yet crisp and dry. It is
therefore of importance that the bunches or layers should be separated
from the loose already in the field, or, which is much preferable,
before they are dried, at the time when they are picked from the vines.
If the latter is done properly, there will be only a small quantity of
loose which will go in the sweating-house with the layers. The layers
should at any rate be placed at once in sweatboxes when taken from the
trays, and between every two layers of bunches there should be a stout
sheet of manilla paper, in order that the bunches may not become mixed.
When taken to the sweathouse the boxes should be so placed that air can
enter every one. It will not do to place one box on top of another so as
to cover up the top entirely, as the raisins are then apt to ferment in
a very short time, and, before the raisin-packer is aware, whole piles
may be absolutely spoiled. It is not necessary to place the boxes
crosswise, as it is enough to allow the short side of each box to
overlap the underlying box a little; sufficient air will then enter. In
very dry weather the floor of the sweathouse may be sprinkled with
water, but this is generally not needed, as the underdried raisins will
give out moisture enough to soften those that are too dry, as well as
the stems. Every day the sweathouse should be aired, and it is a mistake
to believe that all air should be excluded. If air is not daily
admitted, the raisins will mold and spoil, and it is even advisable to
keep a circulation of air constantly through the house during the
daytime. The attentive packer will soon learn to regulate this, and
nothing but actual experience with his particular sweathouse will enable
him to decide how much air should be let in and to what extent the doors
should be closed.

At the end of from ten days to three weeks, the equalizing process
should be over, and the layers ready for further packing. When the boxes
are removed, it will be found that the majority of those raisins which
had been too moist or underdried have dried sufficiently, while on the
contrary the overdried raisins, as well as the formerly brittle stems,
will have acquired sufficient moisture to enable the packer to
manipulate them without risk of breaking the bunches. The raisins should
be pliable, and stand moderate pressure without cracking or breaking.
But while equalizing is an important operation, and one which we cannot
dispense with, it is always to the grower’s interest to so dry his
raisins previously that they will require as little equalizing as
possible, as even the most carefully sweated raisins which have once
been overdried will never afterwards equal those which were at once
properly dried in the field. The overdried raisins will always have a
tougher skin and be inferior in color; but on the other hand they will
keep better than raisins which have been dried less.


_Grading and Weighing._--The next step after the raisins have been
equalized is to remove them to the grading tables. This should not be
done by dumping the contents of a sweatbox on the table, as in this way
but very few of the real choice bunches are saved for the packer. If,
however, the raisins have been placed carelessly in the boxes, without
sufficient or perhaps without any manilla papers between the layers, the
only way is to dump out the contents. By first placing the sweatbox on
the long side, and then turning it over, the raisins are but slightly
disturbed. But to get these out afterwards from the chunk is the great
difficulty, and many bunches must necessarily be broken. If, again, the
raisins have been carefully handled and consigned to the sweatboxes,
with four papers in every box, not counting in the top cover, the care
and handling of the sweatboxes will be much simplified. The sweatbox is
then placed alongside of the grading table, and each layer with its
paper is lifted out carefully, and placed on the table. The assorting is
now to begin. The bunches are taken up one by one, all inferior berries
are clipped out, all soft ones are separated and placed in a box by
themselves to be further dried. As each bunch is examined and cleaned,
it is put in one of the weighing trays resting on small scales at either
end of the table, and, when the scales indicate that five pounds of
raisins are in the tray, the latter is removed to the packing table.

In the meantime all loose or inferior bunches are raked down through the
openings in the grading tables and received in sweatboxes below, to be
either further dried or to be stemmed and graded at once. In packing
several grades of layer raisins, the grading of the bunches should be
made at this table. No great choice in selecting the bunches should be
left to the packer, as his time should alone be occupied with the
packing of his box. The best way is to have differently colored scales
for number one and number two layers, and when taking them out of the
sweatbox assort them at once by placing them in different trays. The
graders can never be too careful. No moist raisins, no small ones, no
red and poor raisins, should ever be allowed among a better quality.
They will lower the grade of the whole box, while the good quality of
high-grade raisins will not raise the grade of a generally poor box.
Thus, while the many good raisins in a poor box are not paid for
according to their value, the few poor raisins which will be
accidentally or carelessly smuggled in a good box will lower the value
of the whole. Few packers will sufficiently understand this, which is
really the principle of all good packing, and which should be
scrupulously adhered to. Even inferior size berries, if otherwise ever
so good, should be carefully clipped from the large-berried bunches. It
is astonishing how quickly the buyer will notice a few small berries,
and how readily he will ignore the value of the largest raisins in the
box.


_Packing Layers, Top-up Method._--As with packing the loose raisins,
there are two methods, the top up and the top down. The top-up method
can be as little recommended in this case as in the former, but as it is
used by many of the packers I will here describe it: The trays
containing the five-pound layers are placed in front of the packer on
the packing table, so as to be within easy reach of the packer. The
trays or frames with the sliding bottom are now used. The first move is
to place one of the inner paper wrappers in the tray, and next the
layers are placed in the frame as carefully as possible. There are two
ways in vogue in which this is done. One of them is to crowd the raisins
to one side,--“bunch” them, so to say, beginning at one end of the tray
and gradually working towards the other end. This is the _wrong_ way,
which I am sorry to say is used by very many packers, who desire speed
above everything, thus sacrificing care and quality and even appearance.
Raisins packed this way point their ends upwards in a slanting way,
which not only detracts from their appearance, but causes them to get
entangled in each other. Such bunches when pressed will generally break,
and, when lifted out of the box afterwards, will be very different from
what they were when they were placed there in the first instance. The
raisins, whatever method is used, should always be placed flat on the
bottom of the tray. Care should be taken to arrange them so that they
will fit, and only _very_ few broken bunches should be allowed to fill
unoccupied corners or spaces in the box. It is better even to leave such
spaces empty than to tear up good bunches in order to get the small
quantities needed, or in using inferior berries to fill up the holes.

[Illustration: Riverside, Showing Orange Orchards and Raisin
Vineyards.]

When at last the tray is full, and all the five pounds of raisins from
the weighing tray are in, the upper surface should be smooth so as to
require as little pressure as possible. When full the trays are taken to
the press and stored on a side table until actually used. The presses
are generally arranged for four trays. These are now placed under the
press, a follower is placed on the top of every tray, and only
sufficient pressure applied. Frequently too much pressure is used, and
the raisins are flattened out to their greatest possible extent, many
even crushed and so broken that the juice runs out. All such crushed
raisins will sugar in a few months, and the whole box containing them
will spoil and deteriorate in value. If, again, the raisins have been
properly pressed, they will keep for months or even years. After the
trays have been sufficiently pressed, which generally is accomplished in
one minute’s time, the pressure is released, the follower removed, the
folders turned over the raisins, and the trays removed to the boxing
table, on which they may be allowed to accumulate until the boxer is
ready to fill his boxes. On this table the final packing or “making up”
of a box is done. It takes four of these five-pound frames to fill one
whole box. Each tray is in its turn placed over a box, the sliding
bottom is quickly removed, and the five-pound layer drops down in the
box undisturbed. Every fourth frame should, in addition to the common
paper wrapper, have labels and fancy paper pasted on the folders, or, as
is sometimes done, an extra fancy folder or wrapper is placed on the
third layer, and on the top or inside of it the fourth layer is dropped.
Each layer will thus be found in its own wrapper, but the upper layer
will have two, the outside one of which is fancy. Fine layers should
have a waxed paper immediately above the raisins, in order that the
moisture or sugar from them may not spoil the labels. On the top of the
waxed paper the chromo or label is placed. The box is now ready for
nailing.


_Packing Layers, Top-down Method._--This method I advocate as the most
proper one to use. Thin galvanized-iron trays with a drop bottom are
used. On the top of the drop bottom is placed a heavy follower of metal.
White’s facing-plate, turned over, can be used to great advantage, even
where no facing is required. The choicest bunches are now selected and
spread evenly on the bottom of the tray; other bunches are placed on top
of them, and so on until the tray is full. Great care must be taken in
packing so as to make the bunches fit each other and lie solid;
otherwise they are very apt to be disturbed, or they will require too
heavy pressure to be kept in place. When the tray is full, it is gently
pressed, and the pressure kept up for a few seconds. A loose zinc plate
is then placed over the tray, the latter is turned over and placed over
the box, in which the necessary wrapping papers have been previously
placed, the loose zinc plate is quickly withdrawn, and the contents fall
into the box. The heavy follower keeps the top layer steady, and with a
little care the raisins are not disturbed.

The top-down method for packing layers has the following advantages over
the top-up method. It gives a smooth surface on which to pack the top
layer, without necessitating pressure to first create such a surface,
the packing being done on a hard plate. The wrappers are not soiled, as
they are not first placed in the frames. The packer is enabled to pack
and select his choicest bunches for the top layer while he has plenty to
select from, and any odd berries and broken or smaller bunches come
naturally in the bottom of each layer. In the top-up method all such
odds remain for the top, where they _must_ go in, in order to make up
the required five pounds.

A raisin-packer averages seventy-five trays of five pounds each per day,
for which she is paid two cents each. Some pack more than this; but very
excellent packing proceeds slower, and a packer of very choice layers
can only pack twenty-five trays of five pounds each per day, for which a
correspondingly higher price is paid. In Malaga, a trained and expert
packer receives between two and three dollars per day. In California,
they do not receive any more. In our raisin district, the girls are
rapidly becoming expert packers, and the same ones are reëngaged year
after year by the same packing-house.


_Filling._--The filling of the raisins is a trick to make them appear
larger than they are. This filling was invented in Spain, and is used
there especially on Dehesa boxes and where very expensive packing is
required. It is done in the following manner. The raisin is first
flattened out as much as possible, then the edges are bent, making the
raisins slightly concave. In placing the concave side downwards, a
smaller raisin is slipped underneath so as to cause the manipulated
raisin to keep its shape. These filled raisins are used for facing only.
The Spanish filled raisins have been handled to such an extent that all
the bloom is lost, and the raisin looks anything but attractive. The
California method of filling is a great improvement on the Spanish way.
When the facing-plate is used, the raisin is first placed in a cavity
on the plate, then worked out by a pressure with the finger, and when
sufficiently concave another raisin is dropped in the hollow and pressed
tightly. The faced raisin is thus filled, and when seen from the other
side will appear much larger than otherwise. When, again, the top-up
method of packing is used, a small block of wood may be employed. This
block contains a single cavity of the size, that a raisin when pressed
will fill it. The counterpart of this block is furnished with a convex
protuberance, and when the two halves are placed together with a raisin
between, and pressure is brought to bear, the raisin flattens out and
becomes concave just enough to receive the filling.

In this way no handling with the fingers is done, and the raisin keeps
its bloom undisturbed. Nothing is more attractive than a raisin with its
bloom untouched; similarly the raisin that has lost its bloom always
gives the buyer an idea that it has been fingered. Its appetizing
quality is gone. Spanish Dehesas are generally both faced and filled.
Some objection to this method is that it deceives, but as long as people
not only are willing to be deceived but are actually anxious to pay for
the deception, there is no reason why the filling should not be used.
The deception, besides, is a very innocent one. It has also another
excuse: A well faced and filled box is really a work of art; it will
help to educate the people up to the appreciation of what fine raisins
and fine packing should be. Filling and facing combined are practiced
but little in California, and it is doubtful if filled facing will ever
grow in much demand here.


_Nailing and Trimming._--The boxes are next moved to the nailing table.
Two nails are put in the short sides and two in the long sides of the
cover. The boxes when nailed are passed to the trimmer, who with a
drawknife trims the edges and cuts off the comers diagonally. The latter
prevents the boxes or covers from splitting. The best nails are French
wire nails for the sides and ends, one and one-quarter inches long, and
for tops and bottoms one inch long.


_Labels._--I cannot finish this part without adding some words about our
labels. It is of importance that our labels and colored lithographs
should be appropriate. The time has come when our raisins should stand
upon their own merits, and should be designated with appropriate names.
I should wish to see only California names used, California layers
instead of London layers, California scenes instead of foreign scenes,
which give no idea of our conditions, and which do not help to advertise
our State and its resources. Whatever our labels may represent, they
should be distinctly Californian. Another point which is but seldom
observed on these labels is the shape and color of our raisin grapes.
The latter are often represented on the labels, but their shape is
seldom observed. Nowhere have we seen on them a true Gordo Blanco or a
true Muscat of Alexandria represented, the grapes there pictured being
impossible as raisin grapes, or even well-known wine or table grapes,
out of which no raisins could be made. The packer has a right to protest
against such misrepresentations of our fair grapes, especially as the
lithographer could just as readily and just as cheaply have followed
the originals. A beautiful label is well worth its price. As a work of
art, it is seldom thrown away, but is carefully kept and made to adorn
the walls of many a humble home, in which the name and fame of our State
will soon be a household word. Let these labels go out by the million
yearly to tell of our climate and of our soil, and of the land where the
luscious raisins are produced, with the same care as apples or garden
stuff in countries less favored by nature.




STATISTICS OF IMPORTATION, PRODUCTION AND PRICES.


_Production of Raisins in California from to 1889:_

         Twenty-
          pound
          boxes.
  1873     6,000
  1874     9,000
  1875    11,000
  1876    19,000
  1877    32,000
  1878    48,000
  1879    65,000
  1880    75,000
  1881    90,000
  1882   115,000
  1883   140,000
  1884   175,000
  1885   500,000
  1886   700,000
  1887   800,000
  1888   963,000
  1889 1,000,000

The California crop, from 1885 to 1889, was divided between the various
raisin districts of the State about as follows:

  ==============================+=======+=======+=======+=======+=======
                                | 1885. | 1886. | 1887. | 1888. | 1889.
  ------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
  Fresno                        |107,000|225,000|350,000|440,000|475,000
  Riverside and San Bernardino  |129,000|195,000|190,000|270,000|265,000
  Orange County and Los Angeles}|139,000|180,000| 85,000| 42,000|  8,000
  County                       }|       |       |       |       |
  Woodland and Davisville       | 67,000| 75,000|125,000 115,000|120,000
  San Diego                     | 10,000| 25,000| 20,000| 40,000| 75,000
  Tulare                        |  6,000|  8,000| 10,000| 11,000| 15,000
  Kern                          |   --  |   --  |   --  |   --  |  4,000
  Scattering                    | 12,000| 15,000| 20,000| 25,000| 25,000
                                +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
                                |470,000|723,000|800,000|943,000|987,000
  ------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------


_Number of Acres in Raisin Grapes in California in 1890:_

  Fresno district                    30,000 acres.
  Balance of San Joaquin valley      10,000   “
  San Bernardino district             5,000   “
  San Diego and El Cajon              6,000   “
  Yolo and Solano                     8,000   “
  Balance of the State                7,000   “
                                     ------
                                     66,000   “

This includes grapes in bearing, as well as vines lately set out.


_California and Malaga Prices, Importations, etc., from 1871 to 1889:_

The following statistics of prices of California and Malaga raisins have
been mostly compiled from various sources, such as the Fresno
_Expositor_, the San Francisco _Journal of Commerce_, the _Fruit
Grower_, etc. These statistics and notes will give a fair idea of the
progress made by the raisin industry in this State since 1873, the year
when our raisins first cut any conspicuous figure in the market of this
continent. The first struggle of the raisin-producers of this Coast was
directed against the importers of Malaga raisins, and against the
prejudice of our own consumers. It took about ten years to supersede the
Malaga product by our own. The following table gives the importation of
Malaga raisins to this State from 1871 to 1884:

          Twenty-
           pound
           boxes.
  1871     16,534
  1872     36,153
  1873     27,692
  1874     35,447
  1875     22,228
  1876     29,187
  1877     13,357
  1878     14,824
  1879     10,884
  1880      3,988
  1881      1,719
  1882      1,218
  1883        633
  1884      1,437
  1885        800
  1886       --
  1887       --
  1888       --
  1889       --

It will be observed that the imports began to fall off in 1875, being
that year more than 13,000 boxes short of the preceding year. In 1876
the importations struggled back to 29,187, still being more than 6,000
boxes short of the importations of 1874; and then the battle was
practically won, for in the succeeding years the importations dwindled
away until in 1883 only 633 boxes were imported. The figures from 1886
to date are not obtainable, but are so insignificant as to be considered
unnecessary to record.


_1873._--In 1873 the market was liberally supplied with Malaga raisins,
which brought at wholesale the following prices: Layers, whole boxes,
$3.00 to $3.75; half boxes, $3.62½; quarters, $3.75; eighths, $4.00 to
$4.25; London layers, $4.50.


_1874._--Coming down to 1874, the Malaga still holds the fort, layers
bringing $3.25 for whole boxes, and $3.12½ for half boxes, with the
customary advance on fractions. In all this time the California raisin
was too insignificant for notice, and was not quoted by commercial
papers.


_1875._--On January 14, 1875, this significant comment appears in the
_Journal of Commerce_: “A decided change is being wrought in the markets
of this coast respecting the use of Malaga raisins, figs, Zante
currants, Hungarian prunes, almonds, walnuts, etc. In fact, from this
time forward Pacific Coast supplies of bunch raisins and dried fruits
generally are to be produced here in large quantities, and in favorable
seasons we will doubtless have a large surplus of almonds (hard, soft
and paper shells), English walnuts, chestnuts, hickory nuts, raisins,
figs, etc.”

On November 4, 1875, it was recorded that up to the 1st of November
there had been received 6,000 boxes of California raisins, “the quality
generally good,” worth from eight to ten cents per pound, say $2.00 and
$2.25 per box of twenty-two pounds net; London layers, $3.50 and $3.75.


_1876._--In January of 1876 Malagas were quoted at $3.25 and $3.50,
California raisins bringing ten and twelve and one-half cents per pound.
The following comment was made at that time, which may be considered as
another mile-stone in the progress of the California industry: “Malaga
raisins have been imported to very much less extent the present than
last season, owing to the large products of California cured, which
latter have amounted to upwards of 30,000 boxes, about one-half of which
have been of prime quality, suitable for table use, a portion being
poorly cured and considerably inferior to the imported, but have sold at
lower rates for ordinary cooking purposes.”

The California raisin was now fairly on its feet, so to speak, and was
in lively competition with the Malaga dried grape. The market reports
spoke well of Blowers’ California Muscatels and Briggs’ bunch raisins.
The jobbers, however, were loth to give up the Malaga; but to sell that
article they had to import an extra choice quality, as the public was
beginning to show a marked preference for the home product. In proof of
this the following extract, dated November 9, 1876, is given: “The
quality of the Malaga raisins now here is superior to any ever before
imported, and have a preference over our best California raisins. This,
however, will not always be the case, as experience makes perfect, and
in a few years we will be entirely independent of the Old World for all
sorts of dried fruits.”


_1877._--In November, 1877, very complimentary notice is made of
Blowers’ layer raisins from Woodland, which brought $2.75 and $3.00 per
box. Briggs’ raisins were worth $2.25 and $2.70. This extract, dated
January 18, 1877, is still another landmark in the raisin industry: “The
consumption of raisins has been fully up to the average of past years,
yet divided between Malaga imports and our own California production. Of
the latter, upwards of 20,000 boxes have been already marketed; and, had
it not been for the unusual and unexpected heavy rainfall in October,
there is every reason to believe that our home crop of bunch and layer
raisins would have reached 50,000 boxes of twenty pounds each. Blowers’
Muscat raisins were superior and in every way equal to the imported.
Briggs, of Marysville, also turned out several thousand boxes of bunch,
and others have made a creditable beginning. Enough has been done here
in this line to satisfy our grape-growers that raisin-curing is to be,
in the near future, a prominent California interest, and, to do it
successfully, the sun-drying process is infinitely superior to that of
machine-drying. Sheds must be erected and prepared in time to protect
the fruit from early rain, and then the working process is sure to all
who have the right kind of grapes. Then uniform weight in twenty, ten
and five pound boxes, all handsomely put up in fancy papered boxes, and
California then will be prepared to secure all the raisin trade west of
the Rocky Mountains, and a good part of that of the Eastern States. As
it is, those of our merchants importing Malaga raisins from New York
confine themselves to London layers and others of the best and choicest
quality, leaving the home market to be cared for, in a great measure, by
those of our own production. As a result, raisins have ruled low all the
winter, and are likely to do so for a long time to come.”


_1878._--In 1878 several carloads of California raisins were sent to
Chicago, New York and Boston, and were well received by the trade. In
October of that year, California layers were bringing $2.50 and $3.25.
Imports had fallen away more than forty per cent from the figures of
1874.


_1879._--In 1879 the ruling prices for California raisins, in lots of
250 boxes and upwards, were: Common layers, $2.00 for wholes, $2.25 for
halves, $2.50 for quarters, $3.00 for eighths; London layers, $2.25 to
$2.50 for wholes, $2.50 to $2.75 for halves, $2.75 to $3.00 for
quarters, $3.25 to $3.50 for eighths.


_1880._--In October, 1880, the following quotations were made: Briggs’
layers, $2.00 and $2.75 per box. California raisins, in lots of 250
boxes and upwards, common layers, $2.50 and $2.25 per box; London
layers, $2.50 per box.


_1881._--In November of 1881, Malaga ruled high in the East, and in
consequence prices were generally higher here, quotations for the
California article running $2.50 for wholes, $2.75 for halves, $3.00 for
quarters, and $3.25 for eighths, in lots of one hundred boxes. London
layers, twenty-five cents per box more.


_1882._--In 1882 prices ran $2.37½ and $2.75. During all the period just
reviewed, the duty was two and a half cents per pound on raisins; but in
March, 1883, the duty was reduced to two cents, and yet importations for
that year were only 633 boxes,--a rather singular fact. The reduction in
duty does not seem to have had a very bad effect on prices, because, as
is easily evident from the small importation, no competition to speak of
was encountered in the local market, and, as in that year the imports at
New York from Spain were many thousands of boxes short, Eastern
competition was reduced to a minimum. Prices here ruled through the year
at an average of from seven to eight cents a pound, anything especially
choice bringing better prices.


_1883._--In 1883 California made a big stride forward in packing and
curing, and fancy raisins were put up in layers and cartoons. The Dehesa
brand and other fancy brands made their appearance, and as high as one
dollar was paid for quarters of five pounds each, and T. C. White’s and
Miss Austin’s brands became famous.


_1884._--In 1884, the year following that in which the duty was reduced
to two cents, the following prices prevailed:

In January the following quotations are recorded: Malaga layers, $3.50
for wholes, $5.00 for halves, and $5.50 for quarters in frames. Valencia
raisins, fifteen cents per pound. Loose Muscatels, $1.60. London layers,
$4.00. Briggs, wholes $2.50,--usual advance of twenty-five cents on
fractions. Blowers, wholes $----, quarters $3.50, eighths $3.75. Other
raisins, $2.50 in large lots; quarter and eighth boxes twenty-five cents
higher.

In August the following were the quotations: Malaga layers, $3.50 for
wholes, $4.00 for halves, and $4.50 for quarters in frames. Valencias,
fifteen cents per pound. Loose Muscatels, $1.90. London layers, $3.00.
Briggs, wholes $1.40, halves $1.75, quarters $2.25, eighths $2.75.
Blowers, wholes $2.25, halves $2.50, quarters $2.75, eighths $3.00.

In October the following quotations are to be found: Common layers,
$1.00 to $1.25 for wholes, $1.50 for halves, $1.75 for quarters, $2.25
for eighths. London layers, $1.35 to $1.50 for wholes, $1.95 for halves,
$2.00 for quarters, $2.50 for eighths.

In November, 1884, the following comment is made: The California raisin
pack will probably be 100,000 boxes. There would have been much more but
for the October rains, that prevented proper curing. The crop in Europe
is short, too, and prices are much higher than they were a year ago. It
is said that 15,000 boxes have been sold for the East. We quote: Malaga
layers, $3.75 for wholes, $4.00 for halves, and $4.50 for quarters in
frames. Valencia raisins, fifteen cents per pound. Loose Muscatels,
$1.90. London layers, $4.00. Briggs, wholes $1.75, halves $2.00,
quarters $2.35 to $2.50. Blowers, wholes $2.00, halves $2.25, quarters
$2.50, eighths $2.75. California layers, wholes $1.50, halves $1.75,
quarters $2.00.


_1885._--In 1885 the market showed a gratifying ability to absorb at
profitable rates a good article, for prices ran: California common
layers, $1.75 for wholes, $2.00 for halves, $2.25 for quarters. Briggs,
wholes $2.00, with an advance of twenty-five cents on fractions.
Blowers, $2.25 for wholes, with an advance of twenty-five cents on
fractions.


_1886._--In 1886 quotations show that only extra choice Malagas were
imported, and that, too, for a limited trade. Prices were: Malaga
layers, $4.00 for wholes, $4.25 and $4.75 for halves and quarters.
Valencia raisins, fifteen cents per pound. London layers, $3.00.
California layers, wholes $1.75,--usual advance of twenty-five cents on
fractions. Briggs, wholes $2.00, halves $2.25, etc. Blowers, wholes
$2.25,--usual advance on fractions.

For 1886 the market is reviewed as follows: The past year has been the
greatest for California dried fruit that the State has ever seen. There
has been an increase in every item, and a specially heavy increase in
the matter of raisins, the production of which has increased so fast
that they have become a leading article of merchandise. Where we were
large importers and generous consumers, more in proportion to our size
than any one else in the world, we have almost totally ceased
importation and are among the largest producers and exporters in the
world, next to Spain itself. The total receipts of imported raisins at
New York for the season of 1886-87 were as follows: 911,816 boxes of
Valencias, 427,936 boxes of Malagas, 400 half boxes of Malagas, 88,657
boxes of Sultanas. The California pack is this year almost doubled, and
shows great improvement in quality and packing.


_1887._--In October, 1887, prices were quoted as follows: London layers,
per box, $2.00 to $2.25. Loose Muscatels, from $1.50 to $1.80.

Riverside, El Cajon and Fresno raisins of excellent quality are now in
the market, and Butler and Forsyth raisins in Fresno begin to rival the
very best imported brands. Many large packing-houses are established in
Fresno, Riverside and El Cajon.


_1888._--The pack reaches in California 850,000 boxes, and the Fresno as
well as the Riverside raisins are very large and choice. Forsyth and
Butler raisins take the lead, some of the choicest layers bringing as
high as one dollar per five-pound quarter box. Only 112,000 boxes of
Malaga raisins are imported to the United States.

In October, 1888, the following prices were obtained for imported
raisins at auction sale in New York: 645 boxes best London Layers, $3.25
to $3.12½; 348 Imperial Cabinets, $3.35 to $3.20; 200 fine Dehesa
Bunches, $4.50 to $3.75; 50 Imperial Dehesa Bunches, $5.65; 104 Dehesa
Bunches, $4.05 to $4.00; 100 Finest Selected Clusters, $4.45 to $4.40;
50 Finest Royal Clusters, $4.75; 3 Imperial Excelsior Dehesa Loose
Muscatels, $5.00; 140 Imperial Loose Muscatels, $3.30 to $2.15; 1
Imperial Excelsior Dehesa Clusters, $5.50; 9 Imperial Dehesa Clusters,
$5.12½ to $5.00; 2 Dehesa Dessert Fruit, $4.10; 1,194 Finest Valencia
Layers, 8⅛ to 8 cents; 899 Finest Valencia Raisins, 7 to 6¾ cents; 150
half boxes Finest Valencia Layers, 8⅛ to 8 cents; 246 boxes Finest
Sultanas, 8¼ to 8 cents.

At the same time California layers were quoted at from $1.80 to $2.25
for medium grades, while for Dehesa and Imperial quarter boxes from
eighty cents to one dollar were realized. Raisins in sweatboxes were
bought by packers at five cents per pound, prices not rated according to
quality.


_1889._--The crop of 1889 was not as large as at first calculated, on
account of loss through unusual and heavy rains. It was especially the
second crop which suffered. The first crop was good, and brought good
prices, average layers bringing from $1.75 to $2.25 per box of twenty
pounds. Great improvement is made in packing and labels, and our average
raisins are better than the average imported Malagas. Our choicest
layers, however, do not yet equal in size, curing and packing the
choicest Malagas, and no efforts have been made to compete with them.
There are at least four higher grades packed in Malaga which we do not
produce here. During last season raisins in sweatboxes have ruled higher
than before, and have been bought by packers at from three to seven
cents.


_1890 (to July)._--The crop promises to be as large as last year. It is
greatly in demand, and representatives of Eastern and California dealers
have already bought up the most of the coming crop at prices averaging
one-half a cent more per pound than last year.

From the above statistics we learn that through the production of
raisins in California the price of sun-dried raisins to the consumer on
this coast has been lowered from $3.00, $3.75, $4.00 and $4.50 in 1873
to $2.00 and $2.50 in 1890. The importation of Malaga raisins in the
United States has greatly diminished, while that of Valencia or “dipped”
raisins has increased. In 1873, the United States imported 35,271,312
pounds of raisins, for which it paid $2,292,948, while in 1888 our
importation was 40,340,117 pounds, or about five million pounds more,
for which we paid $2,098,503, or about $200,000 less.


_Exports of Valencia Raisins from 1850 to 1889, according to English
estimates:_

  =====+========+========+========+=======
  YEAR.|England.|America.|  Other |  Total
       |        |        | Places.|  Tons.
  -----+--------+--------+--------+-------
  1850 |  9,423 |    165 |     -- |  9,588
  1851 |  8,491 |    285 |    787 |  9,563
  1852 |  8,844 |    320 |     -- |  9,164
  1853 |  7,883 |     99 |     70 |  8,052
  1854 |  7,206 |    296 |     50 |  7,552
  1855 |  7,464 |    736 |     85 |  8,285
  1856 |  8,909 |     -- |     12 |  8,921
  1857 |  9,485 |     -- |     -- |  7,900
  1858 | 13,542 |    654 |    182 | 14,378
  1859 |  9,546 |    163 |    113 |  9,822
  1860 |  7,257 |  2,831 |    454 | 10,542
  1861 |  8,072 |     63 |    143 |  8,278
  1862 |  7,564 |     -- |    238 |  7,900
  1863 | 12,290 |    125 |    100 | 12,515
  1864 |  8,655 |     38 |    182 |  8,875
  1865 |  9,863 |    362 |     12 | 10,237
  1866 | 12,735 |    403 |    473 | 13,611
  1867 | 12,701 |    668 |    177 | 13,546
  1868 | 14,293 |  3,095 |    794 | 18,182
  1869 |  8,434 |  1,857 |     25 | 10,316
  1870 | 10,060 |  2,210 |    110 | 12,380
  1871 | 12,578 |  5,210 |    625 | 18,413
  1872 | 15,677 |  4,088 |    535 | 20,300
  1873 | 10,796 |  2,960 |    710 | 14,466
  1874 | 13,724 |  5,513 |    439 | 19,676
  1875 | 12,568 |  6,590 |    595 | 19,753
  1876 | 15,272 |  3,816 |    676 | 19,764
  1877 |     -- |     -- |     -- |     --
  1878 |     -- |     -- |     -- |     --
  1879 | 15,231 |  9,525 |  1,244 | 26,100
  1880 | 13,026 |  8,977 |    892 | 22,895
  1881 | 17,507 | 10,169 |    969 | 28,625
  1882 | 18,121 | 21,593 |  1,732 | 41,346
  1883 | 19,644 | 16,722 |  3,983 | 40,349
  1884 | 10,210 |  9,686 |  4,289 | 24,185
  1885 | 10,250 |  9,397 |  3,596 | 23,243
  1886 | 15,194 | 15,687 | 16,113 | 36,994
  1887 | 16,648 | 18,831 |  3,479 | 38,958
  1888 | 15,524 | 12,245 |  4,655 | 32,424
  1889 | 12,000 | 14,645 |  1,724 | 27,369
  -----+--------+--------+--------+-------


_Exports of Malaga Raisins from 1864 to 1889:_

  =====+=========+=======+=======+=======+=======+
  YEAR.|   U.S.  | Brit- | Great |France.| North |
       |         |  ish  | Brit- |       |Europe.|
       |         |  Col- |  ain. |       |       |
       |         | on’s. |       |       |       |
  -----+---------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
  1864 |  879,794| 45,906|258,458|137,379| 59,659|
  1865 |  879,794| 75,708|269,072|171,743| 64,319|
  1866 |  907,305| 72,208|220,756|178,862| 62,076|
  1867 |  966,724| 96,124|166,737|129,391| 58,222|
  1868 |1,053,726|125,407|222,426|163,306| 64,262|
  1869 |  767,321| 58,265|175,602|117,612| 82,472|
  1870 |1,331,937|120,039|216,015| 90,193| 57,687|
  1871 |1,147,633| 98,817|183,916|161,123| 69,800|
  1872 |1,325,705| 95,024|383,890|230,046| 72,788|
  1873 |1,368,822| 45,495|241,325|196,239| 99,424|
  1874 |1,320,000| 43,490|240,000|200,000| 99,500|
  1875 |  976,000| 42,000|271,000|203,000| 98,000|
  1876 |1,321,000| 52,000|357,000|276,000|115,000|
  1877 |1,250,000| 56,600|250,000|300,000|100,000|
  1878 |1,182,088| 58,242|194,471|330,767| 99,661|
  1879 |1,146,228| 30,598|237,659|368,420|107,888|
  1880 |1,115,101| 46,717|174,126|297,412|108,222|
  1881 |1,043,727| 31,730|141,415|251,382|101,828|
  1882 |  967,571| 38,431|176,349|277,253|130,646|
  1883 |       --|     --|     --|     --|     --|
  1884 |       --|     --|     --|     --|     --|
  1885 |       --|     --|     --|     --|     --|
  1886 |       --|     --|     --|     --|     --|
  1887 |       --|     --|     --|     --|     --|
  1888 |       --|     --|     --|     --|     --|
  1889 |  120,000|     --|     --|     --|     --|
  -----+---------+-------+-------+-------+-------+

  =====+=======+=======+=========+======
  YEAR.| South |  Sun- |  Total  | Total
       |  Am.  | dries.|  Boxes. | Tons.
       |       |       |         |
       |       |       |         |
  -----+-------+-------+---------+------
  1864 |109,741|209,000|1,200,000|13,200
  1865 | 96,658|255,000|1,800,000|19,800
  1866 |115,305|191,000|1,750,000|19,250
  1867 |116,762|135,000|1,670,000|18,370
  1868 |103,082|215,000|1,950,000|22,450
  1869 | 67,634| 80,800|1,350,000|14,850
  1870 |113,755|270,000|2,200,000|24,200
  1871 | 87,242|274,000|2,200,000|24,200
  1872 |119,042|     --|1,920,000|21,120
  1873 |     --|140,000|2,500,000|27,500
  1874 |     --|     --|2,160,000|23,760
  1875 |     --| 98,000|1,670,000|18,370
  1876 |     --| 91,000|2,252,000|24,772
  1877 |     --|     --|2,200,000|24,200
  1878 | 98,429|211,000|2,180,000|23,980
  1879 | 63,688|170,000|2,125,000|23,372
  1880 | 75,456|197,000|2,015,000|22,165
  1881 | 81,196|147,000|1,800,000|19,800
  1882 | 98,007|178,000|1,200,000|13,200
  1883 |     --|     --|       --|    --
  1884 |     --|     --|       --|    --
  1885 |     --|     --|       --|    --
  1886 |     --|     --|       --|    --
  1887 |     --|     --|  850,000| 9,350
  1888 |     --|     --|  850,000| 8,250
  1889 |     --|     --|  750,000|    --
  -----+-------+-------+---------+------


_First Cost of Crop of Valencia Raisins, according to the “California
Fruit Grower:”_

  1884, from $4.00 to $6.00 per hundred pounds.
  1885,   “   5.00 to  6.00  “     “       “
  1886,   “   3.00 to  5.00  “     “       “
  1887,       4.00           “     “       “
  1888, from  2.00 to  4.00  “     “       “
  1889,       3.50           “     “       “


_Production and Distribution of Smyrna Raisins from 1844 to 1884,
according to U. S. Consular Reports:_

  1844     8,000 tons.
  1868    19,000   “
  1871    48,000   “
  1872    31,000   “
  1879    75,000   “
  1881    49,000   “
  1884    95,000   “

According to English estimates, the raisin crop of Smyrna only reached
27,000 tons in 1876, and was divided as follows:

  _Red Raisins._--Chesme          5,100 tons.
                  Vourla          5,000   “
                  Yerly           2,800   “
                  Carabourna      1,600   “
                                 ------
                                                      14,500 tons.


  _Sultanas._--Chesme          7,400 tons.
               Vourla          3,100   “
               Yerly           1,150   “
               Carabourna        800   “
                               -----                  12,450 tons.
                                                      ------
                                                      26,950 tons.

This crop was distributed as follows:

  _Red Raisins._--England               2,699 tons.
                  North of Europe       6,488   “
                  Trieste               2,260   “
                  Russia and Turkey     2,995   “
                                        -----         14,442 tons.


  _Sultanas._--England                  7,945 tons.
               North of Europe          1,525   “
               Trieste                  2,820   “
               Russia, etc.               285   “
                                        -----         12,575 tons.
                                                      ------
                                                      27,017 tons.


_The World’s Raisin Production in 1889:_

  Greece                            125,000 tons.
  Smyrna                            120,000   “
  Valencia                           28,000   “
  Lipari, Calabria and Pantellaria   15,000   “
  California                         10,000   “
  Malaga                              8,000   “
  Scattered                           5,000   “
  Chile                               1,000   “
                                    -------------
                                    312,000 tons.

The above does not include dried wine grapes from Italy, California and
Algiers, nor any raisins made in Australia (Victoria).


_Statement Showing the Quantity and Value of Currants, Figs and Raisins
Imported and Entered for Consumption in the United States from 1873 to
1878:_

  ====+=======================++=====================++
  YEAR|       RAISINS.        ||      CURRANTS,      ||
  END-|                       || ZANTE AND ALL OTHER.||
  ING +----------+------------++----------+----------++
  JUNE| QUANTITY.|   VALUE.   || QUANTITY.|  VALUE.  ||
  30. |          |            ||          |          ||
      +----------+------------+++---------+----------++
      |  Pounds. |  Dollars.  ||  Pounds. | Dollars. ||
  1873|35,271,312|2,292,948 83||14,141,797|566,386 49||
  1874|36,419,922|2,544,605 95||19,319,191|752,694 00||
  1875|30,501,316|2,443,155 50||19,334,458|771,384 56||
  1876|32,221,065|2,425,277 14||20,911,061|856,425 62||
  1877|32,419,637|2,109,333 60||17,152,664|749,488 00||
  1878|32,931,736|1,904,866 13||17,941,352|776,827 00||
  ----+----------+------------++----------+----------++

  ====++====================
  YEAR||       FIGS.
  END-||
  ING ++---------+----------
  JUNE||QUANTITY.|  VALUE.
  30. ||         |
      ++---------+----------
      || Pounds. | Dollars.
  1873||7,995,035|506,205 45
  1874||5,630,292|391,300 16
  1875||4,659,860|357,823 99
  1876||5,056,779|361,835 53
  1877||5,889,011|398,982 22
  1878||3,873,884|262,428 15
  ----++---------+----------


_Statement Showing the Quantity and Value of Currants, Figs and Raisins
Imported and Entered for Consumption in the United States, with Rates of
Duty, etc., from 1879 to 1888:_

RAISINS.

  ====+==========+============+=======+============+==========
  YEAR| QUANTITY.|    VALUE.  | Rate  |  AMOUNT OF |Additional
  END-|          |            |  of   |    DUTY    |   and
  ING |          |            | Duty. | COLLECTED. | Discrim-
  JUNE|          |            |       |            | inating
  30. |          |            |       |            |  Duty.
  ----+----------+------------+-------+------------+----------
      |  Pounds. |  Dollars.  |Per lb.|  Dollars.  | Dollars.
  1879|38,523,535|1,943,941 14|2½ c.  |  963,088 42|  92 51
  1880|39,542,925|2,274,763 00|2½ c.  |  988,573 19|  48 43
  1881|39,654,755|2,711,771 74|2½ c.  |  991,368 94|  80 50
  1882|43,779,867|3,260,033 74|2½ c.  |1,094,496 71|    --
  1883|51,487,389|3,495,599 45|2½ c.  |1,287,184 77|  20 70
  1884|56,676,658|3,543,916 15|2 cts. |1,133,533 15|  52 70
  1885|39,778,695|2,728,847 46|2 cts. |  795,573 90| 247 35
  1886|37,999,306|2,782,599 76|2 cts. |  759,986 12|  50 00
  1887|40,660,603|2,297,469 30|2 cts. |  813,212 06|  34 00
  1888|40,340,117|2,098,503 00|2 cts. |  806,802 34|  80 10
  ----+----------+------------+-------+------------+----------

CURRANTS, ZANTE OR OTHER.

  ====+==========+============+=======+============+==========
  YEAR| QUANTITY.|    VALUE.  | Rate  |  AMOUNT OF |Additional
  END-|          |            |  of   |    DUTY    |   and
  ING |          |            | Duty. | COLLECTED. | Discrim-
  JUNE|          |            |       |            | inating
  30. |          |            |       |            |  Duty.
  ----+----------+------------+-------+------------+----------
      |  Pounds. |  Dollars.  |Per lb.| Dollars.   |  Dollars.
  1879|17,405,347|  520,831 07|1 ct.  | 174,053 47 |     --
  1880|18,007,492|  600,603 40|1 ct.  | 180,074 92 |     --
  1881|21,631,512|  845,773 00|1 ct.  | 216,315 12 |     --
  1882|32,592,231|1,388,886 00|1 ct.  | 325,922 31 |     --
  1883|31,171,171|1,247,504 00|1 ct.  | 311,711 71 |     --
  1884|32,743,712|1,220,575 16|1 ct.  | 327,437 12 |     --
  1885|25,534,507|  723,415 00|1 ct.  | 255,345 07 |     --
  1886|22,623,171|  744,784 00|1 ct.  | 226,231 71 |  117 80
  1887|29,196,393|1,062,326 00|1 ct.  | 291,963 93 |     --
  1888|30,636,424|1,176,532 76|1 ct.  | 306,364 24 |     --
  ----+----------+------------+-------+------------+----------

FIGS.

  ====+==========+============+=======+============+==========
  YEAR| QUANTITY.|    VALUE.  | Rate  |  AMOUNT OF |Additional
  END-|          |            |  of   |    DUTY    |   and
  ING |          |            | Duty. | COLLECTED. | Discrim-
  JUNE|          |            |       |            | inating
  30. |          |            |       |            |  Duty.
  ----+----------+------------+-------+------------+----------
      |  Pounds. |  Dollars.  |Per lb.|  Dollars.  |  Dollars.
  1879| 3,369,475|  247,075 06|2½ c.  |   84,236 89|     --
  1880| 6,266,413|  440,507 00|2½ c.  |  156,660 34|     --
  1881| 3,420,427|  379,382 55|2½ c.  |   85,510 72|     --
  1882| 8,874,186|  678,341 87|2½ c.  |  221,854 70|     --
  1883| 5,345,324|  489,108 38|2½ c.  |  133,633 09|     --
  1884| 7,840,634|  504,532 02|2 cts. |  156,812 68|     --
  1885| 7,774,492|  516,083 63|2 cts. |  155,489 84|    6 50
  1886| 6,988,642|  499,985 80|2 cts. |  139,772 84|     --
  1887| 8,752,898|  488,632 00|2 cts. |  175,057 96|  137 00
  1888| 9,965,584|  495,541 50|2 cts. |  199,311 68|     --
  ----+----------+------------+-------+------------+-----------


_Statement of Consumption of Currants and Raisins per Head of Total
Population in 1884:_

  United Kingdom of Great Britain. 4.38 pounds.
  United States of North America.  1.70    “


_Prices Ruling in the California Raisin Districts:_

It is not my intention to give here a regular prospective estimate of
the cost of a raisin vineyard and the profits to be derived therefrom.
Such an estimate, applicable to every case, cannot be made out; about it
not two raisin-growers with equal experience would agree. Below I simply
give isolated statistics of costs of the various operations necessary in
the raisin industry. Each one can figure for himself, and my advice is
to add liberally to the calculated expenses, if disappointment would be
avoided.

As to the profits of a raisin vineyard, the reader will by this time
understand how it might vary, how it must depend upon nice little
circumstances, never foreseen and only to be taken advantage of or
counteracted by the experienced grower. The high statements which have
been given in these pages as samples of how much might be gained from an
acre of raisin-vines can never be counted on as regular. From fifty to
several hundred dollars per acre may be obtained as net profit by care,
skill and favorable circumstances, but an average of seventy-five
dollars per acre can be considered a conservative sum, which the owner
of a good irrigated vineyard may calculate on as a safe net profit. Many
do not reach even that. But, even with that profit per acre, how many
horticultural industries can be counted on to produce better results?
Very few, if any. For the benefit of those who desire figures to guide
them, the following statistics are offered. They have been carefully
compiled in company with T. C. White, one of the most prominent
raisin-growers the State has ever had. These statistics refer especially
to the Fresno district, but they will be found to differ but little from
those elsewhere in this State.

Land suitable to raisins can be had at from fifty to two hundred dollars
per acre. No one not thoroughly acquainted with the requirements of
raisin land should attempt to rely on his own judgment alone in making a
selection.

Vines, already rooted, at from ten to twenty dollars per thousand vines.
An average would be fifteen dollars. The cost of _rooting_ vines is from
one dollar to two dollars and fifty cents per thousand, according to
locality and circumstances.

Cuttings, from two to three dollars per thousand, more or less,
according to size and quality.

Planting rooted vines, one cent per vine. Planting cuttings, half a cent
per cutting.

Plowing yearly, one dollar and fifty cents per acre.

Harrowing, fifty cents per acre.

Leveling land for irrigation, according to the quality of the land.
Leveling the land in from one-half to three-quarter acre checks,
including small ditches, etc., can be done for from ten to fifteen
dollars per acre, if the land is fair. Rougher land will cost
twenty-five dollars or thereabouts, and if the land is rolling and
contains hardpan the expense may reach from fifty to one hundred dollars
per acre. The more “naturally” level the land is the better suited it is
to raisin-vines under irrigation.

Irrigation and cultivation, until the vines come into bearing, including
suckering and pruning, all in large tracts of from forty to one hundred
acres, ten dollars per acre. If in smaller tracts the expense will be
larger.

Pruning when the vines are in bearing, from two to three dollars per
acre.

Sulphuring twice, two dollars per acre. Sulphur costs from two to three
cents per pound. It takes about one ton to twenty-five acres and one man
can sulphur from five to six acres a day.

Topping, about fifty cents per acre.

Trays, twenty-four by thirty-six inches, cost ten cents in shooks,
nailing one cent, nails one cent, total about twelve cents per tray.

Sweatboxes, fifty cents apiece when ready.

Packing-boxes: Wholes of twenty pounds, in shooks, six cents, nailing
and nails two cents, total eight cents each. Halves of ten pounds, in
shooks, four cents, nailing and nails one and one-half cents, total five
and one-half cents. Quarter boxes of five pounds, in shooks, three and
one-half cents, nailing and nails one and one-half cents, total five
cents each.

Twenty pounds of layer raisins will contain about one-half pound of
stems.

Cost of curing cannot be calculated. It depends upon the manner in which
it is done.

Picking: One man can pick from twenty-five to fifty trays of twenty
pounds each a day, at a cost of say from two to three cents per tray, or
about a half a ton of grapes a day, equal to a cost per ton of two
dollars and fifty cents. This places the grapes on the trays, but does
not assort them. By assorting the grapes when picking, the cost is
increased, but better raisins and more good raisins are obtained.

Turning: Two men can turn twenty acres of grapes a day.

Packing London Layers: One man can pack “carefully” ten wholes or forty
trays (of five pounds each) per day. Cost about twelve and a half cents
per box.

Packing Dehesas: One man can pack ten quarters of five pounds each a
day. Cost twelve and one-half cents per quarter box. This includes
facing.

Packing Loose: One man can pack one hundred boxes per day.

Facing-plate (T. C. White’s): Large plate, size nine by eighteen inches,
five dollars per plate. Cartoon plate, size five by ten inches, two
dollars and fifty cents per plate.

Manilla paper for sweatboxes, one hundred and fifty pounds per ream at
fifteen dollars per ream, size thirty-six by forty-eight. The sheets to
be cut in two to fit the boxes.

Stemming: Steam stemmers can separate and assort fifty tons a day. Hand
stemmers run by two men can separate about five tons per day.

Papers for boxes cost, according to quality, three cents per box, more
or less.




THROUGH THE CALIFORNIA RAISIN DISTRICTS.


THROUGH SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY TO FRESNO.

We are on our way up the valley. The train left San Francisco in the
morning. We have crossed the bay and rounded the Contra Costa Mountains,
and Mount Diablo, with its majestic twin peaks, lies already behind us.
We have just crossed the San Joaquin river not far from its mouth; the
west side of the valley is on our right; on the left looms up the Sierra
Nevada, far away it is true, but grand and imposing, gradually
decreasing, as it were, towards the south, finally to disappear among
the clouds at the farther end of the valley. It is in the middle of
August; the day is warm, but there has been a shower in the mountains,
as is usual at this season of the year, a sprinkling of rain has
purified the atmosphere in the foothills, which stand out clear and
bright, a contrast to the dusty road in the center of the valley, over
which the smoking train carries us at a rapid speed. On both sides of us
stretch apparently endless plains, thirty miles wide,--to the Coast
Range on one side, to the Sierra Nevada on the other,--plains dry and
yellow, parched in the brilliant sun, shaded by no clouds, but cooled by
a steady breeze from the northwest following us up the valley. Up, we
say, but it is hardly any more up than down, the ascent being about one
foot to the mile; it is rather a journey over one of the most level
plains on the continent, but still the popular usage insists upon saying
“up the valley.” Acres and acres of already harvested grainfields are
seen on both sides, crossed by roads at right angles; here and there are
stacks of grain which have not yet been threshed, or heaps of straw,
where the threshing engine has done its work; on almost every section of
land we see a farmhouse and barn, a few gum-trees or cottonwoods, and
many a windmill and elevated tank informs us where the farmer gets his
water for his house and his scanty trees. All this we see under a
blazing sun and a quivering air.

This is the great San Joaquin valley, the fertile center of California.
Of the much spoken of irrigation of California, we see almost nothing;
the land is dry and thirsty, the soil is loose, and the engine forces
the dust in a cloud before us. Nothing green is seen anywhere except a
few scattered trees far, far apart. Here and there we pass a little town
with wooden houses and dusty streets, with wooden churches whose spires
do not pierce the sky. We cross many streams, several of which are dry,
or have sluggish waters, while some wind their way down the valley
between banks covered with willows and cottonwoods. Yet there is
something grand in this immense stretch of open, level country, with its
frame of snowy mountains, with its fertile fields waiting for the
winter’s rain or irrigating ditch to produce abundantly of almost
anything that can be grown in any temperate country in the world. The
numerous grain stacks speak of the fertility of the soil and of abundant
harvests, while the vegetation along the rivers indicates that water is
all that is needed to make this large valley like a fruitful garden.

We have passed Lathrop and Modesto and numerous smaller stations
between; the picture is everywhere the same. At Atwater we met the first
signs of irrigation, and saw young vineyards and orchards on either
side, and as we approach Merced we pass large irrigating ditches flowing
with water, and in the distance many houses and farms. The country is
getting greener, and the deep color of the soil is a sign that it is
rich and fertile. At Merced there is a Yosemite air. The large El
Capitan Hotel stands out like a landmark, and the garden with its
flowers and shade trees, and the marble fountain with its rippling
waters, speak loudly of beauty and refinement.

Close to Merced are situated some of the new promising colonies which
are making raisin-growing one of their specialties, and in whatever
direction we look we see signs of such new enterprises, all young, of
course, as irrigation has only lately been brought in here, where no
dense settlements could exist without it. Much of the land is yet held
in very large tracts, but they are being rapidly subdivided and sold out
to actual settlers as fast as there is any demand for them. To our right
lies a splendid body of perfectly level land occupied by the Yosemite
Colony with many settlers already on the land, whose new and cosy
cottages mark their future homes.

In the distance, on the slope of the low hills, stand out prominently a
number of houses, some of them quite pretentious, white and gleaming in
their new dress. This is the Rotterdam Colony, a settlement of
Hollanders who have only lately arrived here. There is not a colony
anywhere which promises to be more interesting, and which is likely to
prove a greater success. The Dutch as a people had succeeded with
colonization long before any other nation began a similar work, and, as
immigrants to this State, they are most desirable. Industrious, saving,
intelligent and persevering, with good land, plenty of water at all
times of the year, and with a good location which insures health and
comfort, there is no reason why they should not succeed. The colony is
most beautifully situated on high sloping ground,--a veritable mesa land
overlooking the vast Merced plains, and only four or five miles distant
from the city. These Hollander colonists are the very best kind of
settlers the State can get,--not the ignorant peasantry of Europe, but
intelligent and well-educated people, which any community can be proud
of. There is great activity in the colony just now. Thousands of acres
are covered with magnificent grain, which, without any more rain, would
give a profit of from twenty to twenty-five dollars per acre, and thus
materially help to pay for the land. A hundred or more horses and mules
with their drivers are plowing and harrowing the soil; and such a
plowing is not often seen anywhere. The plows are set about a foot deep,
and the work is done by the canal company just to help the settlers
along and give them a good start. What more can they expect? Good
treatment is in Merced dealt out to everybody,--a good policy which
should be followed in every new colony in the land. We stop at the
newly-built house of Mr. Canne, a gentleman of middle age with a large
family, and hearty and pleasing, as is so characteristic of the Dutch.
His house is large, very comfortable and airy, with large verandas
overlooking the country far and wide. Inside everything is cosy and
neat, with lots of mementoes from quaint old Holland, with colored china
on the walls and odd tables and odder bric-a-brac, family heirlooms from
generations back. The old grandma, with her eighty-one years, has come
along with the younger folks, happy as they, and, as they, meeting
bravely and with confidence new times and experiences in the new country
which they have chosen as their home. Our wishes for good luck are not
needed; it is sure to come when such people are settled upon such land,
and when everybody enjoys everybody else’s good-will. The land which is
now being broken is to be planted to olives, almonds, oranges, peaches
and vines,--a very good selection indeed, and one which cannot fail to
prove profitable. The deep red soil on the mesa will grow almost
anything, and with proper care and management this colony must in the
near future become one of the most attractive and prosperous in the
State.

The Rotterdam Colony is bounded on one side by the now famous and often
described Crocker and Huffman reservoir. Those who believe that a
reservoir in the foothills is not the proper thing should come and take
a look at this one, and be convinced that it is. The location is a most
favorable one, being ninety feet above the town of Merced, and elevated
sufficiently to irrigate the whole of the level surrounding district,
containing two hundred and sixty thousand acres. The water covers now
about six hundred and forty acres which were formerly a real and natural
valley, across the mouth of which the dam checking the water was thrown.
The average depth of water is about thirty feet, while in some places it
is fifty odd feet deep. The statistics of this reservoir and dam have
been given often enough, but more or less correctly. The dam checking
the water is four thousand feet long, two hundred and seventy-five feet
wide at the base, twenty feet on the top and sixty feet high in the
center. It took four hundred mules and two hundred and fifty men two
years to build it. The reservoir and canal tapping Merced river cost
together two million dollars to build, and the work was constructed in
such a substantial and scientifically correct manner, that it will be
likely to last for ages. There is no other irrigation system in the
State that is as well planned and carried out. This can and must be said
to the honor of the constructors. The canal which taps the river is
twenty-seven miles long, from sixty to seventy feet wide on the bottom,
one hundred feet on the top, and has fall enough to carry four thousand
cubic feet of water per second.

We have already remarked that the country between the dam and the city
of Merced is a magnificent and level body of land, all eminently suited
for irrigation. From the water tower in the reservoir, we overlook all
this land, now in its spring dress a very beautiful sight indeed. The
vast sheet of water, like a placid lake, in which the Sierra Nevada
reflects its snowy peaks, the prairie extending far and wide, divided
between luxuriant grainfields and unbroken lands now covered with their
spring carpet of flowers in the colors of the rainbow,--yellow, white,
blue, violet, red and shades of each, and dotted over with the new
settlers’ homes, freshly built and freshly painted,--what more lovely
view could we wish, a sight of beauty and of plenty. As we drive back to
town, we are more than at first impressed with the lay of the land. The
surface is level and without hills or knolls, but is cut through by many
natural channels or creeks from fifteen to twenty feet deep, insuring a
natural drainage, invaluable in a country where irrigation is required.

The soil in this part of Merced county appears to be made up entirely of
alluvial deposits from the various creeks which in winter irrigate the
plains with their natural overflow. The largest of these creeks is Bear
creek, its deep channel resembling rather an irrigation ditch
constructed on the latest engineering principles than a natural stream.
Its banks are even and slanting, while its bed is deep below the
surface.

But our time to stay was short. We have left Merced and many smaller
towns behind us, crossed many more dry streams, and passed the large
vineyards at Minturn, where sherry and port of excellent quality are
made. We have again crossed the main channel of the upper San Joaquin,
not far from where it emerges from the Sierra Nevada, its silvery waters
winding their way over the thirsty plains between steep and barren
banks. We have crossed a few irrigating ditches full to overflowing with
water, and see a few orchards and vineyards with their bright green
scattered about on the yellow plains. There is suddenly a general stir
in the cars, hats and bundles are taken down from the racks, most of the
passengers prepare to move, the locomotive whistles, houses and trees
are seen on both sides through the car windows, the train comes to a
standstill, there is a hum of voices, a waiting crowd swarms around the
cars, a throng of people pushes in, and another throng pushes out. We
are among the latter, as we are now in Fresno, the largest raisin center
on the continent.

Fresno, as seen from the railroad station, is not as inviting as it
might be, and the thousands of travelers who pass by on the cars, headed
farther south, can judge but little of the town and the district behind
it. The country is so level, that the only way to get a good view of the
country is to ascend some elevated building, the courthouse being the
highest, and through its location the best suited building for the
purpose. The early forenoon, before the noonday sun has acquired its
full power, is the best time for this. Once up there, the view is
decidedly magnificent, and more extensive than we had ever expected
while below. Under us lies a lovely park of trees,--umbrella, elm,
locust and fan palms, covering about four blocks. From it stretch the
regular streets in all directions, lined by cottages as well as with
costly dwelling-houses, shaded with stately trees of various kinds. The
business portion of the town presents itself particularly well,--large
and costly hotels, with comforts that the tired travelers enjoy so much,
imposing bank blocks of brick and stone, with towers and ornamental
roofs, solid structures with continuous lines of stores, etc., mark this
part of town. For a mile in every direction the town stretches out, the
center thickly built, the outskirts with sparsely scattered houses.
Adjoining these the country begins,--vineyards as far as we can trace,
groups of houses shaded by trees in different tints of green, while
broken rows of endless poplars traverse the verdant plains and lose
themselves in the distant horizon. The Sierra Nevada, with their
snowclad summits, and the Coast Range in the west, cloudy and less
distinct, form the frame for two sides of this attractive picture, while
to the north and the south the open horizon, where sky and plains meet,
limits the extensive view.

The street-car lines of Fresno do not run very far out in the country,
and to see the latter we must procure a team. The colonies or
settlements of small farms immediately join the town limits; we are thus
with one step out in the country. On either side we see continuous rows
of vineyards,--the leaves green and brilliant, the vines planted in
squares and pruned low, with the branches trailing on the ground. To
begin with, the houses stand closely, almost as in a village. As we get
farther out there is a house on every twenty-acre farm, or every
one-eighth of a mile. The cottages are neat and tasty, surrounded by
shade trees, while rose-trees and shrubbery adorn the yard, and climbers
shelter the verandas from the sun. At every step, almost, we pass teams
going in various directions,--teams loaded with raisin boxes, teams with
raisin trays, teams crowded with raisin pickers hurrying out to the
vineyards, teams driven by raisin-growers or colonists generally, who
rush to and from town to transact business connected with their one
great industry. Everywhere is bustle and life; every one is in a hurry,
as the grape-picking has begun, and the weather is favorable; no one has
any time to lose. Some of the avenues are lined with elm-trees, others
with fig-trees, with their luscious, drooping fruit, others again are
bordered with evergreen and towering gums, with weeping branches and
silvery bark. Every acre is carefully cultivated; there is room for only
a few weeds. As far as we drive the same scene is everywhere, a scene
like that in the outskirts of a populous city, where villas and pleasure
grounds alternate with the cultivated acres, here those of the
raisin-grower, and where every foot of ground is guarded with zealous
care and made to produce to its utmost capacity. It is a pretty sight, a
sight of thrift and intelligence, of enterprise and of success, of
wealth and of refinement, found nowhere else outside of the
fruit-growing and raisin-producing districts of California.

The raisin harvest has just begun; the vineyards are full of workers,
grape-pickers are stooping by every vine, and are arranging the grapes
on small square or oblong trays, large enough to be easily handled;
teams with trucks are passing between the vines distributing the trays
or piling them up in small, square stacks at every row. Some trays with
their amber grapes lie flat on the ground in long continuous rows
between the vines, others again are slightly raised so as to catch as
much of the sun as possible. In some vineyards the laborers are turning
the partially cured and dried raisins by placing one tray on top of
another, and then turning them quickly over. In other places, again, the
trays with the raisins already cured are stacked in low piles, so as to
exclude the sun and air, and at other stacks a couple of men at each
are busy assorting the grapes, and placing the various grades in
different sweatboxes, large enough to hold one hundred pounds each. In
every vineyard, large and small, we find the hands at work, and every
one able and willing to do a day’s work is engaged to harvest the large
crop. The most of the pickers are Chinese, at least in the larger
vineyards, while in the smaller vineyards, where large gangs of men are
not absolutely necessary, white men and boys are generally employed. The
fame of the raisin section and the harvest has spread far and wide, and
at picking time laborers gather from all parts of the State to take part
in the work, and find remunerative wages at from $1.25 to $1.50 per day.
The country now swarms with pickers of all nationalities,--Germans,
Armenians, Chinese, Americans, Scandinavians, etc., and as the schools
have closed in order to allow the children to take part in the work,
boys of all sizes are frequently seen kneeling at the vines.

The crop this year is very heavy, many vines yielding two trays or even
three, containing twenty pounds each, and, as the trays are generally
placed in alternate rows between the vines, we see, as we pass,
continuous lines of them filled with grapes in various stages of curing,
from the green to the amber-colored and the dark of the fully-cured
raisin. The aroma from the drying berries is noticeable, and the breeze
is laden with the spicy and pronounced odor of the Muscatel raisins.

The average size of a colony lot is twenty acres. Many settlers own two
or three lots, a few owning four or five. But it must not be understood
that the whole of these lots are planted to raisin grapes. While most of
the larger tracts are almost exclusively planted to raisin grapes, the
smaller farms of twenty acres contain as a rule only a few acres of
vines, the balance being occupied by alfalfa, berries, garden, fruit
trees, and yard for houses and barns. From three to fifteen acres of
raisin-vines are found on every twenty-acre farm; none is without its
patch of raisin-vines. We step off and inspect many of the places, large
as well as small. Magnificent vineyards are owned by T. C. White, one of
the oldest and most successful vineyardists, and by other parties, only
second in importance to his. The vineyard of the late Miss Austin is yet
in its prime, the evergreen trees and hedges being as inviting as in
days of old. New vineyards which have not yet come into bearing are seen
on every side, while in places whole orchards or single rows of trees
have yielded to the axe to be replaced by the better-paying
raisin-vines.

Some of the best-paying and largest vineyards are found east of Fresno
City. From the very outskirts of the city we pass through raisin
vineyards, very few fields being planted with anything else. Near the
town some vineyards have given place to town lots, and whole villages
are growing up in the old vineyards. We pass by the large vineyard of
Frank Ball, containing about 120 acres, all in vines except a small
reserve for house, barn and alfalfa field. Adjoining on the same road is
the Bretzner vineyard of forty odd acres, the vines loaded with grapes.
We turn to the left and, passing the vineyards of Merriam and Reed, see
on our left the magnificent Cory vineyard of eighty acres, bordered by
a wonderfully beautiful row of umbrella trees, with crowns as even as
veritable gigantic umbrellas, and through the foliage of which not a ray
of light can penetrate. A little farther on, also to the left, is the
Gordon vineyard, lined by fan palms and fig trees. A large sign across
the main road announces that we now enter the Butler vineyard, the
largest and most famous vineyard in the State, with its six hundred
acres nearly all in vines,--the largest vineyard in one body and owned
by one man in the world. Magnificent avenues of poplars, magnolias and
fan palms stretch in various directions leading to the outbuildings, of
which the packing and drying houses appear most prominently. Mr.
Butler’s home is one of the most attractive, shaded by umbrella trees
and fantastic fan palms, and surrounded by flowers and evergreens. From
his vineyard alone over five hundred carloads of raisins have been
shipped, the yearly product being over one hundred thousand boxes of
raisins,--a thousand tons. The vineyard now swarms with laborers; the
teams wait in long lines to load the ready raisin-boxes, while the
spaces between the vines, as far as we can see, are almost covered with
continuous rows of trays, all loaded with Muscat grapes in all stages of
drying.

We travel constantly eastward; on both sides are raisin vineyards, large
and small. The four hundred acres owned by the Fresno Vineyard Company
are devoted to wine grapes, and large wineries and cellars built of
adobe show the wealth and extensive business of the place. No vacant
land anywhere, nothing but vineyards, the only breaks being groves of
trees shading the homes, wine cellars or packing-houses of the
proprietor. Farther to the north lies in an unbroken row the well-known
Eisen vineyard, where the first raisins were made in this district, but
where now principally wine is produced; the Nevada and Temperance
Colonies, devoted mostly to raisins; the Pew, the Kennedy, the Forsyth,
Woodworth’s, Duncan’s, Goodman’s and Backman’s raisin vineyards, all
splendidly cared for and lined by fig trees. Of these the Forsyth
vineyard deserves more than a passing notice, as it is more inviting to
an hour’s rest than any other. Containing 160 acres, nearly all in
vines, it is one of the best properties of the county. The place shows
an uncommon taste and refinement, and is beautified by avenues of
poplars and magnolias, by groves of acacia and umbrella trees, by palms
and flowers, and by roses and climbing plants. A pond with its lilies,
overhung by weeping willows and shaded by stately elms, is an unusual
sight even in this county of abundant irrigation. The packing-houses and
dryer all display a taste and practical arrangement hardly seen
elsewhere. A climb to the top of the tank-house is well worth the
trouble. The view becomes wonderfully enlarged; we overlook the level
plains, all in vines, with houses and groves scattered about like
islands in a sea,--no wild, unbroken country anywhere. In the distance
is Fresno City, to the north the view is hemmed in by new vineyards and
colonies,--a mass of trees and vines in straight and regular rows. The
courteous owner conducts us through his packing-house and shows us how
the bunches are placed in layers and carefully made to fit every corner
in the box, how the boxes are covered with papers and artistic labels
and finally made ready for the market. As we pass out we get a glimpse
of the equalizing room, crowded to the ceiling with sweatboxes, in which
the raisins assume an even and uniform moisture. And what luscious
bunches they are, large, sweet, thin skinned and highly flavored. Malaga
produces nothing better, and much not as good. And, when we are all
through tasting and admiring, we are invited into the cosy and
artistically furnished dwelling, where in the cool shade the lunch and
the rest are as welcome and interesting as the vineyards and
packing-houses outside.

As we turn again towards town, we pass the well-kept Goodman vineyard,
after which we enter the large Barton vineyard, now partly owned by an
English syndicate. The old 640 acres are nearly all in wine grapes,
while several hundred acres of young raisin grapes have lately been
added. One of the most extensive wine cellars in the State is found
here, all kept in splendid shape,--hardly a speck of dirt, not a foot of
waste land seen anywhere. The mansion is stately, situated on a small
hill surrounded by fine groves of gum-trees, evergreen hedges and
ornamental grounds. Should we care to go farther east, we might visit
the Eisen vineyard, where the first Muscats were planted in the county.
The famous avenue is half a mile long, and one of the most beautiful in
the State, lined on both sides with blooming and beautiful oleanders
alternating with poplars over a hundred feet high. We might also visit
the Locan vineyard and orchard, and admire the orange-trees, which speak
of what the country can produce in this line. But the time is too short;
we might travel a week over this level but beautiful country, and every
day, every minute, see something new and interesting among all these
vineyards, with their packing-houses, and raisins exposed on trays to
dry.

When we return to town, a visit to the packing-houses is one of the most
interesting that can be made. Of these packing establishments Fresno has
four or five, besides several in the colonies or in the larger
vineyards. Three of these packing-houses are the largest in the State.
The building of each one of them, though large, is full and overcrowded.
Women at long tables pack the raisins in boxes, at other tables men
weigh and assort raisins and take them out of the large sweatboxes in
which they left the field. At some tables fancy packing is done, and
women “face” the boxes by placing large selected raisins in rows on the
top layers. At another table the raisin-boxes are covered with fine
colored labels, then nailed and made ready for shipment. Some four
hundred men and women are busy with this work under one roof, all
earning wages of from one to two dollars a day each. We catch a glimpse
of the equalizing room, where fifty tons of raisins are stored at one
time for a week or more in order to become of even moisture, the floor
being sometimes sprinkled with water to make the air sufficiently moist.
As we go out we see the raisin-boxes already packed being loaded on cars
and shipped east by the train-load, from four to six such raisin trains
leaving every week, each train of from ten to twenty cars. On the other
side of the packing-house is a continuous row of teams from the country,
all loaded with raisins, brought by the country growers to the packers
in town. It takes a gang of men to receive, weigh and unload them. In
another department we see the large stemmer and grader, which runs by
steam, and stems and assorts from thirty to forty tons per day, the
clean and uniform raisins running out in a continuous stream, each grade
in separate boxes. There is a restless activity on every side. The large
raisin crop this year is very large; it must be handled in a few months,
and every grower and packer is pushing the work to his utmost ability.

When we consider that most of the crop, which this year will reach five
hundred thousand boxes, comes from the country immediately surrounding
Fresno City, and that the San Joaquin valley is 250 miles long by 75
miles wide, almost all the land capable of being highly cultivated and
of producing abundant crops of one thing or another, then alone can we
realize what the future has in store for this wonderful valley, an
agricultural empire in the very center of California.


FROM LOS ANGELES TO SANTA ANA.

We are fairly out of Los Angeles when the character of the scenery
changes. The railroad here runs through one of the most fertile counties
in the State,--the rich bottom lands being formed by the deposits of
ages from the overflow of rivers and creeks from the Sierra Madre range.
Not an acre of waste land is to be seen anywhere. Everything is clothed
in the softest green, and only in the far distance are seen the hills
and higher mountains of a brownish violet color, with the boldest
outlines against the sky. A more diversified farming district is seldom
seen. Orchards of prunes, walnuts, apples and figs are met with on
either side of the track, here and there expansive vineyards with their
characteristic green, or groves of straight and stately gums, like
immense square blocks of verdure, planted all along from the nearest
fields to the far distant hills. We pass in succession Ballona,
Florence, Downey and Norwalk. The country around the two latter places
seems especially attractive,--orchards as far as we can see, vineyards
and native pastures. We pass villages and farmhouses, here and there a
more pretentious villa, and, in some spots more lovely than the
surrounding, many a mansion has been erected with luxury and taste.

We are soon in Orange county, and the scene changes some, the soil
being, if possible, more fertile. We pass large orange groves of the
deepest green, and immense fields of corn, squashes, pumpkins, peanuts,
beans, and here and there walnut groves and plantations of young fig
trees. Anaheim, Orange and Santa Ana come in quick succession; we are in
the center of a raisin district of the very greatest interest. We can
hardly realize the change. Not having been here since the boom,
everything seems almost new. Santa Ana has grown to be the queen of the
valley, and is undoubtedly, together with its two sister cities, Orange
and Tustin, one of the most prosperous as well as lovely places to be
found in the beautiful South. As we board the street car and ride up
town from the depot, we realize the change even more. On every side are
signs of wealth and refinement, of new ideas and new capital, both
mostly imported from the East. Broad avenues one hundred feet wide, on
either side, lined with trees of various kinds, cultivated fields
immediately beyond, which, with cottages, villas and churches, all speak
of a prosperous and intelligent population.

Santa Ana has her share of these stately structures. The Brunswick is as
fine and substantial a building as any one could wish,--lofty and airy
and of imposing architecture, large rooms and spacious halls. The boom
that has been so much misjudged has done much more than settle up the
country and bring capital. It has left behind substantial improvements
and a taste for architecture, the arts and sciences, which can but be of
permanent value to the country. It brought the country at one bound from
its former frontier life and characteristics to a high degree of
civilization and refinement. It brought capital, soil, climate and
energy together in a way that is hardly found anywhere else out of our
State. The boom is over, but the benefits of the boom are yet here, and
are permanent.

Santa Ana, Orange and Tustin are like three precious stones in a ring of
verdure. Only a few miles apart, they are like the villas on the
outskirts of a central imaginary city, from which the wealthy and poor
likewise fled to a more retired country life, to enjoy both seclusion
and society, both the pleasures of country life and the advantages of an
active city, where every luxury and necessity can be found at the door
of every home.

Santa Ana has a fine, large, central business street, with new and
costly brick blocks containing stores of every description. In this
climate, however, we can see no necessity for ice, and the manufacturer
and mixer of cool drinks can but find his business unprofitable. Up and
down this street a line of cars runs all day long at fixed hours,
connecting with other lines in Tustin and Orange. A trip or two on any
of the lines is one of real pleasure.

Tustin is only two or three miles away, nearer the hills. The car, an
open one with many seats, winds its way under shady lanes on either
side, bordered by large and graceful pepper trees covered with spicy and
fragrant blossoms. Here and there we see alongside the pavement an
enormous sycamore tree, a monument of olden days and the native
vegetation of the country. On both sides of the avenue are sidewalks of
cement, and they who prefer walking can do so for miles under the shady
trees without getting dusty or becoming heated by the sun. These
sidewalks are marvels of beauty and comfort. On one side are old and
graceful trees with drooping limbs, on the other are well-kept cypress
hedges trimmed square and even, or long natural barriers of
ever-blooming geraniums in numerous varieties, of every favorite shade
of color from crimson to palest pink. Over the hedges we look into
blue-grass lawns, green and well kept and exceedingly attractive.
Suddenly we are in the middle of Tustin City. A beautiful, even
magnificent bank building on one corner, a store on the opposite, two or
three smaller shops and the inevitable splendid and elaborate hotel, and
the town is fully described. Immediately adjoining are the beautiful and
evergreen lawns and trees,--the city and country actually combined.

A trip to Orange reveals the very same features, only we pass through a
more fertile country, with vineyards and orchards on every side, orange
groves of various ages, walnut orchards, fields of tall corn, peanuts,
beans and melons. Between all wind the shaded avenues with pepper and
gum, cypress, pine or yellow flowering grevillea. The soil is everywhere
of the richest kind, of a color between ashy green and chocolate.
Nowhere have we seen such magnificent Indian corn,--whole fields where
the stalks are from twelve to sixteen feet high. Orange is a more
pretentious town than Tustin, but hardly any more beautiful, and far
less secluded and quiet. There are two large and fine hotels, the one of
brick being in town, while the other, the family hotel, lies in the
suburbs in bowers of evergreen trees and gardens. In the middle of the
town there is a plaza with a fountain and an exquisite little garden
well planned and better kept. The lawns are like the softest velvet, and
are bordered with blue and green flowers, with beds of sweetest
mignonette, while bananas and palms spread their stately foliage in the
center.

The climate of this part of Southern California is excellent. The
thermometer stands at midday at eighty in the shade; in the evening
there is always a breeze. Many of those I meet complain as usual, and
greet me with the inevitable, “How warm it is to-day,” and our as
inevitable answer is, that we cannot feel it, and that it just seems
delightful to us. People here observe and feel the changes of
temperature much more than we do farther north. With us they share the
habit of complaining even if there is nothing to complain of.

The vineyards of Santa Ana have suffered much from a vine disease which
may be compared with consumption or the Oriental plague in man. But
every one thinks here that the pest will run its course and become
harmless, and even now some of the vineyards are being replanted with
fresh vines. The oranges do eminently well, but they must be sprayed and
constant watch kept for the red scale imported here from Australia by an
enterprising nurseryman. The plantations of walnuts are being rapidly
extended, and nurseries of young walnut trees just appearing above the
ground are seen in many places, the plants probably amounting to
millions. The walnut generally planted is the seedling soft-shell and
the common Santa Ana walnut, than which there is none choicer and more
valued on the coast. Prunes are also a favorite crop, and pay well if
not allowed to overbear, in which case the succeeding crop will be
small. The same may be said of the apricot. These trees are here fine
and healthy, and of a deeper and finer green than is seen almost
anywhere else; but last year the trees bore too much, and this year the
crop is by far not what it should be.

The resources of this country are such that the partial failure of a
single crop will cause no serious injury. New resources are developed
every day; there are few plants that do not thrive here. In the gardens
as well as in the fields we see the tender semi-tropical plants, which
cannot stand any frost, growing close to varieties from the North.
Bananas, date palms, walnuts and oranges grow in the same field with
peaches, apples and prunes. Pepper and camphor trees and the tender
grevillea are on one side of the avenue, while on the other side we may
find elm, eucalyptus or even the beautiful umbrella.

Irrigation is practiced on every farm. Fifteen thousand acres are
covered by water stock, but not all irrigated yet. Just now the orange
groves are irrigated, and I observe their methods. The land is always
leveled before anything is planted, as there is too little water here to
waste any on unlevel land. One way to irrigate an orchard is to plow
furrows in between the rows of trees, and then let the water run in
them. Another way is to check the whole orchard with small levees,
inclosing thus a little square around every tree, and the square check
of one tree meeting the same of the adjoining tree. This is actually
flooding the land. Deciduous trees and vines grow without irrigation,
but to get a good crop irrigation is necessary. The large, dry and rocky
creek beds speak of the water that is wasted in winter time in flowing
to the sea. Practically nothing of it is then saved. Irrigation
districts under the Wright law are formed and forming, and everybody
seems hopeful that in course of time there will be water enough to
irrigate all the land that is good enough to be irrigated. Some of the
finest ranches in the State lie right at the feet of Santa Ana. The San
Joaquin ranch contains one hundred thousand acres, I am told, and it is
not yet cut up, and thus some of the best land around Santa Ana is yet
only used as pasture. The owners failed to sell in the time of the boom
and must now wait until the land that is already covered with ditches
will be fully settled before they can sell, but the time, we predict, is
not very far off.


SANTA ANA TO SAN DIEGO.

A railroad trip from Santa Ana to San Diego offers many points of
interest. It carries us through both the most highly cultivated and
through the absolutely vacant, not to say barren, lands. We leave the
orange grove and walnut plantations of Santa Ana, and are carried almost
immediately past the lovely and shaded Tustin, where pepper groves and
lime hedges, gardens and splendid villas, combine nature with art, taste
and enterprise to create a veritable oasis for those favored ones who
can remain there. We rush for a few minutes through these highly
cultivated lands, and suddenly find ourselves out on a wide, open plain,
comprising about eighty thousand acres, without a house to be seen
anywhere, with no orchards, no vineyards, no signs of civilized life.
And still the soil is the richest, the native vegetation of grasses the
most luxuriant. The soil is apparently subirrigated, and could grow
almost anything the farmer might plant there. Along the horizon,
stretching from the mountains way down on the plains like an immense
plumed serpent in its wavy and coiling track, is seen a continuous band
of sycamore trees, outlining the bed of a stream. It is like stepping
out of one room into another. What can be the reason of the sudden
change? This vast body of land, containing over 126,000 acres, is an old
Mexican grant, the remnant of one of those Mexican cancers, which to
such an extent has retarded the development of California. Sure enough,
we see wire fences everywhere, and cattle with spreading horns and
sheep without number. But we see no sign of the cultivator, no horses,
no signs of progress. The owner held onto the land, probably expecting
it to bring a price many times the sum it was worth. He died, and so
died the boom, and now the land is under administration. When the time
comes that this large San Joaquin grant can be sold to farmers in small
tracts, it will very greatly increase the cultivable area of Orange
county.

But we pass on, leaving the open country; we are soon in among the
rolling lands, among foothills not unlike those of the Sierra Nevada in
the San Joaquin valley. To the left are the San Bernardino Mountains,
here and there a peak of boldest outline, and streams and cañons winding
their way to the sea. At El Toro a number of passengers got off to take
the stage to Laguna, a seaside hotel, where the farmers and business men
of every color, from the heated interior valleys, delight to spend a day
in fishing, hunting for abalones, or in watching the breakers roll
against the sandy beach. A little farther on we stop at El Capistrano,
or rather at San Juan Capistrano, the old ruined mission, situated in
the most beautiful little valley, with its winding and sycamore shaded
creek. The mission must have been one of the very largest in the State.
The ruins are yet very extensive, consisting of long and regular adobe
walls, and one-half of a yet magnificent looking church, in the regular
Spanish style of architecture. A rather large size town of Mexican
houses, with a Mexican population, and venerable fig trees, tall and
wavy palm trees, and large but unkempt gardens, give the place a rather
more important look than it perhaps deserves. There is but little sign
that the boom was ever here. Still the valley is so beautiful and
evidently so fertile, that it needs only work and taste to make it equal
to the very best. We see yet the old mission pear trees, large and
untrimmed, not unlike our drooping oaks, loaded with pears to such an
extent that there appears hardly room for a blackbird to get through.
The mission grapevines are all dead. Gigantic vines, which covered
trellises and arbors, and which perhaps bore tons of grapes, with trunks
as heavy as the body of a boy, are there yet, but without leaves and
young shoots; they are dead, having surrendered to the vine pest of the
country.

After leaving Capistrano we follow the little creek to the sea. The
valley is from one-half to one mile wide. Here and there are flourishing
little vineyards, but mostly pastures and cornfields or patches of
beans. At last we reach the sea, the Pacific, calm and blue, with
breakers lashing the shore. To the right we leave the rocky promontory
of the Capistrano Mountains, and for an hour or more run on the very
beach. In stormy weather the spray of the breakers must wet the cars,
which run only a stone’s throw from the water’s edge. This part of the
route is the most interesting and the most refreshing to one coming from
the interior plains. We are now in San Diego county. The shore is abrupt
and bluffy, the hills bordering on the sea.

At Oceanside we meet the first of the boom towns, one of those that
sprang up for pleasure and profit, towns of magnificent villas, broad
streets and avenues, lined with infant blue gums, with rows and hedges
of the ever-bright geraniums, and with large and splendid-looking
hotels, with airy balconies, verandas and lookout towers, swept by the
fresh breezes of the sea. The vicinity of every such station is heralded
by the characteristic white stakes that mark the town lots, and by rows
of small, intensely blue, gums; by a sprinkling of cottages, small and
large, perhaps a mile or two before the whistle of the steam-engine
brings us to a standstill. The first things that meet our eye at every
station are large and splendid lawns, young plantations of palm trees
and other plants characteristic of the Southern coast climate, flowers
of brightest hue, all started by the enterprising immigrants who came
here to buy climate, sun and air, and to enjoy the breakers and the
ocean every day in the year. After Oceanside, we touch at Carlsbad and
Del Mar, both seaside resorts with magnificent villas costing from
twenty to forty thousand dollars each, and with fine but young
plantations and gardens. I was especially charmed with Del Mar, with its
large, tasteful hotel on the bluff, and quite a large colony of villas
and mansions in various sizes and styles close around,--a bright and
charming picture, a place where a traveler feels at home at once, where
he would like to pass the balance of all the days he can spare from
business and toil.

The scene changes again as the cars carry us through the foothills,
along the bed of creeks, or across lagoons connected with the sea, or
over gaping chasms. We look down deep into the valleys below, where
shady sycamores and white cottages mark the farmers’ homes, and where
vine-clad hills offset the native brown of the country. I am surprised
to see how the grapevines thrive so luxuriantly so very close to the
shore. In some places there are fine and thrifty vines within a stone’s
throw of the breakers, only protected by a slight undulation in the
ground from the most direct wind. Of course, grapes on those vines
cannot be expected to be very sweet; it is wonderful enough that they
are there at all.

The water supply of this part of San Diego county has been very much
underrated. The railroad crosses perhaps a dozen different creeks, all
showing living water, and which are far from being entirely dried up.
With a Supreme Court more enlightened, and with proper legislation as to
the needs of the country, San Diego county may yet be able to store
water enough to irrigate very large areas of land, where colonies of
thrifty farmers may create and maintain prosperous orchards and
vineyards as a support and backbone to the many pleasure resorts.

But we are out of the hills. Smiling and glistening in the evening sun
lies San Diego Bay, with the elevated Point Loma, the ever-present
breakers on the bar, and away out on the low peninsula the gigantic and
turreted pile of the Hotel del Coronado, to say nothing of San Diego
itself, with its miles of marked town lots and villas. But I shall not
endeavor to describe this town and its bay and climate. The latter may
possibly not be excelled anywhere; the former lacks a most essential
thing,--an abundance of trees and vegetation. Still, with the water that
has lately been brought here the trees and flowers will come soon enough
we hope, when green lawns, bananas and palms will be ready to tell the
tale, and young plantations will be seen on the hills and around
roadway homes. But I forget I am bound for El Cajon and its raisin
vineyards, and must catch the train.


EL CAJON.

The country lying between San Diego and El Cajon does not at this time
of the year present many attractive features. The little train,
consisting of a locomotive, tender and a passenger car, wriggles itself
between brown, rolling hills, over small cañons, dry and sandy, without
any other vegetation than grass, and here and there a few evergreen
shrubs. Close to San Diego we pass along the Chollas valley and creek,
where an attempt has been made at colonization, as we understand it in
the San Joaquin valley. The land is divided up in ten and twenty-acre
tracts and dotted over with small and unpretentious cottages, as well as
with fine and expensive mansions. Young orchards of pears, olives,
prunes, oranges and figs are seen wedged in between vacant and unbroken
land. In the river bottom are Chinese gardens, with windmills, and
patches of cabbage, corn and small truck. Much of this land is irrigated
with water from the Sweetwater dam, some twelve miles away on the
Sweetwater river. On the bottom land there are a few Muscat vineyards,
for the supply of the San Diego market. I noticed the grapes there. They
were of the Muscat of Alexandria variety, very large and fine both as to
bunch and berry, and very sweet. I have seen no finer Alexandrias
anywhere.

But we have hardly time to observe this cultivated spot before we are
out again among the rolling hills. The engine pants heavily, and we are
constantly ascending. The same low hills everywhere,--no settlers, no
gardens, no plantations of any kind. The soil is brown adobe mixed with
gravel and small boulders; in fact there is nothing to see and admire.
For twenty miles there are two or three small stations, but there were
no station houses to be seen nor any settlements around. The railroad is
apparently made to tap a better country in the interior. But even in
this uninhabited country the boom started to penetrate in earnest. Large
signs announcing the sale of town lots, wide streets once plowed up
across each other at right angles, square blocks which are plowed around
or otherwise mapped out, here and there a white post with a number and a
name, and we have a good idea of a town where the lots sold for $250
apiece or more.

All at once the engine whistles, the area widens and we see in front of
us a large, flat valley, apparently almost circular, from four to five
miles across, bounded by lower and higher hills, behind which a few
higher peaks look down gray and solemn. This is El Cajon. We step out on
the platform of the station, and the view is fine. The valley lies below
us, the bottom is apparently flat, but in reality slightly undulating
and somewhat sloping towards the center. Rows of vines begin at the
station, and from here vineyards stretch in all directions for miles and
miles, sometimes in large blocks of regular shape, then again in
irregular patches among otherwise cultivated lands half way up on the
lower hills. Dotted all over the valley are farmhouses in all styles,
elegant and tasty or plain and simple, enough only to keep out the rain
and the sun. Around every such cluster of buildings there is a little
plantation of eucalyptus and cypress, and a few ornamental plants. Here
and there at long intervals is seen a row of gums, black and somber, as
if they were on duty as shields from wind and fog. We are soon in the
bus on the way to town. The roads are straight and well kept, bordered
with young eucalyptus and cypress, and with vineyards on both sides with
the rows of vines remarkably distinct; we can follow each one of them
distinctly for several miles over the undulating ground until they end
on the steeper slopes of the hills, or run into the little cañons
bordering the valley. El Cajon has no pretentions to being a town; it is
an unassuming and quiet little village, whose inhabitants, when they
speak of “town,” always mean San Diego, twenty miles away. El Cajon has
a dozen houses, all told, one of each kind of the most necessary stores
and shops, but Wells, Fargo & Co. have not yet discovered this quiet
place. Nevertheless, it has two hotels, one small and unassuming, which
runs a bus to the station, and where everybody seems to meet; the other,
large and pretentious, both as to bay-windows and name,--Corona del
Cajon, but apparently void of much internal life. The railroad to El
Cajon was finished only some eight months ago. If it had been running
three years ago during the Southern boom, the valley would perhaps
to-day be rivaling Pasadena and Riverside in thrifty farms and
residences.

El Cajon is the most important raisin-producing district in San Diego
county, and so exclusively and to such an extent have the raisin grapes
been planted here that we hardly see anything else. Vineyards as far as
we can see in all directions; vineyards in the rolling bottom of the
valley; vineyards also on the steeper slopes of the hills; nothing else
than Muscats of Alexandria for business, and only a few other vines
around the cottages for home use. A drive through the valley brings us
in close contact with what we saw from the more elevated station. One
vineyard joins the other, with only a road between, and there are no
rows of poplars and only very rarely a row of eucalyptus or cypress. The
view is open on every side, and from every point we can see over the
valley and the low hills surrounding it. The vines have at this time of
the year left off growing and have assumed a dark green color, not
relieved by any young and more vividly colored shoots. The grapes hang
ripe under the branches, and the trays are in many places distributed in
piles over the field. There are two packing-houses in the valley; the
one now under way is 40 by 130 feet, being built of redwood, and
apparently most carefully put up. I see no sign of irrigation anywhere,
and every one tells me that it is not required. But I cannot help
thinking that a little water judiciously used would have kept the vines
growing much longer, and would have naturally increased the crop, which
now only averages two and one-half tons of green grapes per acre. There
are many very beautiful mansions in the valley, surrounded by very
praiseworthy attempts at landscape gardening, but the absence of water
for irrigation makes itself felt everywhere, both in regard to the size
of the plants and their color. Water can be had in abundance at a depth
of from only twelve to eighteen feet, and windmills and reservoirs would
do much towards a substitute for ditches. As we drive through the valley
and up the divide between El Cajon and the Sweetwater valley, the view
is very attractive indeed,--on one side the many well-kept vineyards of
El Cajon, on the other, way below us, the narrow and winding valley of
the Sweetwater.

The Sweetwater valley, or rather continuation of valleys, is much
smaller than El Cajon, perhaps only a quarter or half mile wide, but it
is more favorable to raisins, grapes or vegetation of any kind. Olive
orchards of good size trees, vineyards with large and yet growing vines,
cornfields and pastures, and the winding and shaded little creek in the
center of the valley, give the latter a freshness and beauty not
surpassed anywhere.

On our way on the railroad as well as through El Cajon valley, we have
frequently passed alongside of or under the now famous Cuyamaca flume,
carrying water to San Diego and Coronado. This flume is a fine
structure, running sometimes in the ground, sometimes again on elevated
trestle-work over the ravines, or spanning the gaps between lofty hills.
The whole length of the flume is thirty-six miles, and the cost of
construction was $112,000. Its size is five feet, ten inches wide, and
sixteen inches deep, but by an addition of two more boards the depth of
the water can be increased to three feet, ten inches,--a large body of
water for this country, where water is comparatively scarce. The flume
heads in a magnificent dam at the head of San Diego river, and it would
suffice to irrigate quite a large stretch of country if the people were
only willing to use the water. But the farmers here have been so
repeatedly told that the land absolutely needs no irrigation, and indeed
would be ruined by the same, that the most of them now fully believe
this to be the case. The water is therefore not diverted anywhere along
the route of the flume, and even in El Cajon and other places, where the
crop of almost every kind of fruit would be doubled by judicious
irrigation, no effort to use the same is made. I could find no one who
irrigated, and as a consequence the company that owns the flume have not
yet put in the extra boards that would more than double the carrying
capacity of the flume.

One of the most interesting places in San Diego county is the famous
Sweetwater dam. It takes only two and one-half hours to visit it and
return, and a trip to it will repay the trouble. We start out southeast
and cross to National City, only a few miles from San Diego, and really
a suburb of that town. National City is decidedly new, an attempt at
something grand, which it will take sometime to finish. The most
interesting thing there, in a horticultural sense, is the olive orchards
of Kimball Brothers. They are scattered in two or three places, and
comprise about fifty acres altogether. The trees are as large as good
size apple trees, bushy and silvery, and are heavily laden with fruit.
The land around each tree was checked up, each tree having a little
square for itself, and a Chinaman with a hoe was busy irrigating. In
one corner of the orchard was a large circular reservoir five or six
feet high, and perhaps twenty feet across, to facilitate the irrigation.
The train starts from here directly in among the hills, following the
bed of the Sweetwater river. The bottom land is now being settled up by
farmers and gardeners, who were busy taking their first lessons in
irrigation. The plantations of course are very young, the irrigation
works having been finished quite recently. At Sunnyside there are a few
older orchards of oranges and olives, but, as a whole, the country is
uncultivated.

Five minutes more and we are at the dam. There is no station, except a
little wooden platform, and we had to scramble over a rough hill to get
down to the dam. The gorge there is probably one hundred feet wide and
several hundred feet deep, with almost perpendicular sides. There is no
other vegetation visible than grass and a few low shrubs scattered
around. It is a most excellent place for a dam. The Sweetwater dam is
built almost entirely of masonry and cement, and, both as regards
construction and size, is one of the very best in the world. It is built
in the shape of an arch, with the convex part up stream, and gives an
impression of solidity and safety not always found in structures of this
kind. The masonry dam is forty-six feet wide at the bottom, at the top
twelve feet. The length of the top is 340 feet, and at the bottom of the
cañon the base of the dam is about one hundred feet, while the height is
about ninety feet in the center. At one end of the dam is a wasteway and
gates for letting the water out in case of a flood. The gates slide on
an inclined plane, and consist simply of three-inch boards with pegs in
each end, which are caught by a hook when they are to be raised. The
capacity of the wasteway is said to be fifteen hundred cubic feet per
second, or as much as the Sweetwater river is ever likely to carry, even
during flood time. For one who is accustomed to headgates and waterways
in the Fresno canals, this waterway looks very small indeed. But the
engineers say it is large enough, and we suppose they must be right. The
water is delivered through a large iron pipe thirty-six inches in
diameter, covered for some distance down the cañon with masonry. For
29,807 feet, this pipe line runs down the valley or on the mesa lands
adjoining it. It will deliver fifty million gallons of water per day,
and can now irrigate ten thousand acres of land. The whole cost of
construction was $502,000, and the time consumed in building was two
years.

The reservoir, as it now stands, is a magnificent sheet of water with
tributary watersheds of 186 square miles, and a water surface of about
three and one-half square miles. It is a grand illustration of the
enterprise of the San Diego capitalists, of the skill and success of the
California engineers, and of what may possibly be accomplished on nearly
every stream in San Diego county. It is a structure of which any country
might be proud, and which has few equals and no superiors anywhere in
the world.

On our way back we meet a picnic party of schoolgirls, who with their
teachers have spent the day in the country. They fill the cars with
smiles and chat, with flowers in bouquets and garlands, in baskets and
by the armful. We are treated to flowers and to beautiful Muscat grapes
culled from the vineyards,--enormous bunches and berries almost as large
as plums. These grapes are a revelation to me, grown here within the
reach of the fogs of the ocean, and irrigated with water from the dam or
flume. Verily, I have never seen choicer grapes anywhere, and I am
satisfied that they could not be surpassed by any for raisins. What a
fertile country this will be when irrigation is better understood and
more practiced. Could we but see it when that time comes.


RIVERSIDE.

There is no place in Southern California where the effects of a close
and intelligent study of horticultural matters are so visible as in
Riverside. Money alone may build villas and mansions; but the
intelligent and ever watchful horticulturist alone can, out of climate,
soil, water and capital, produce a Riverside. It is charming beyond
description; it must be seen to be realized. The best time to get a full
and good view of Riverside is early in the morning, just at sunrise, and
there is no better place to view it from than the hill on which the
Hotel Rubidoux was to have been built. I arose before sunrise, and
struggled up the steep hillside. It well repaid me for the trouble, as
few more beautiful views can be had. The whole settlement can be taken
in at a glance,--the town close by imbedded in orange groves and
vineyards, and the dense verdure of the country stretching for ten miles
down the valley, and almost connecting with the yet farther off South
Riverside. On the eastern side we see the San Bernardino Mountains, with
the “Old Greyback,” and between the mountains and the settlements a
lower range of steep hills appear, which in a continuous range either
bar the way or like isolated islands shoot boldly up from the mesa land.

The Riverside colony forms a continuous settlement along the mesa,
skirting the river, the deep green of the orange orchards harmonizing
splendidly with the lighter green of the vineyards. At close intervals
there are houses in every direction, with the bluest smoke rising
straight up from their chimneys, and thence carried in long, tiny bands
and columns down the valley just level with the tree tops. It is a pity
the hotel on this hill was never finished--a great many more would then
have enjoyed the almost unequaled view. An extension of the main
business street in town leads up to this hill. On both sides of the
street there are fine orange orchards and neat houses,--real country
homes, sidewalks of cement where rows of fan-palms take the place of
regular shade trees along their sides. The business portion of Riverside
is confined to two streets crossing each other at right angles. If we
stand in the center of this crossing we take it all in, the houses
extending a block and a half in the four different directions. Some of
the houses and brick blocks are very large and expensive, while many
again are smaller, but all are costly and elegant, with new and perhaps
startling ornamental designs. Whatever Southern California does, it does
well, and even the cheapest structures have an air of character and
taste which can hardly be too much admired.

When one speaks of Riverside he means the whole settlement that is
irrigated, and to live in Riverside may mean to live in town, or it may
mean a suburban residence ten miles away. In the latter locality the
benefits of the country are happily combined with the luxuries of city
life. Street cars run from the center of the business part of town down
to the end of the settlement. It is a cheap way to view the settlement
to board one of these early cars. You can see as much as any one may
care to see, but of course cannot stop and examine. The whole drive is
one not to be matched anywhere else. From the moment you leave town you
pass orchards and vineyards separated from each other by only a road or
cypress hedge. Every foot of ground is taken up. The main effort of all
the settlers appears to be to make everything attractive, from the very
sidewalk to the elaborate garden and the villa. Nearer town, every
street has sidewalks of cement, and bordering them are continuous hedges
of cypress trimmed in various styles, and in front of every house are
lawns and plats of shrubbery and flowers, as neatly kept as if visitors
were expected day or night. Some of the villas partake of the character
of mansions, with towers, balconies and painted windows, while here and
there in some of the finest orchards are yet seen some of the first
houses built, small and unpretentious. The individual tastes of the
owners are clearly discernible. One has a row of palms running along his
sidewalk, another has palms and grevilleas, while others prefer the
pepper and gum. The manner of trimming the hedges is charming; it has
here become quite an art. Some hedges have square, others roofed tops,
and at every corner there is a little pillar of cypress with diamond or
globular top, not at all artificial or stiff.

The vast majority of the plantations consist of orange groves. The color
of the trees is splendid, every leaf being bright and shining, and there
is no sign of smut or scale. The large and upright Seedlings are easily
distinguished from the smaller but bushy Navels. The tendency is now to
plant mostly the latter, and most of the old Seedling trees are being
budded over. The original Navel tree, which is the prime cause of the
prosperity of Riverside and of the fame of its oranges, is yet standing
by a modest cottage, which appears not to have kept pace with the times.
The tree is small, perhaps twelve feet high, having been constantly cut
back for buds. From this tree have sprung all the rest. No other Navel
tree imported from Brazil or Australia resembles it in quality of fruit
or in bearing capacity. It is probably a chance “sport” originally
imported by the Agricultural Department at Washington, its companion
trees being different in the most essential points which make this
variety so valuable and so famous. This beautiful and choice orange, now
generally known as the “Washington Navel,” is slightly oblong or
egg-shaped, and the skin is very smooth, with no ridges at the poles,
the latter being characteristic of the other Navel varieties. The crop
of Navels this year is good. Many growers expect from three to four
boxes to the tree, and, as each box brings from three to four dollars,
it is evident the business pays. The valuable and permanent improvements
everywhere show this to be the case; the account books of the grower
need not be searched to demonstrate it. Here and there we also see a
lemon orchard with its larger trees of a different green. A few years
ago many lemon orchards were dug up, as no one understood the secret of
saving the lemons till the warm season, when alone they can bring a good
price. But at last one of the growers wrung the secret from Nature, and
now buys up all the young lemons he can find and stores them away to be
used from six to ten months later, just when they are most in demand. In
company with that courteous horticulturist, the editor of the Riverside
_Press_, E. W. Holmes, we visited this gentleman, G. W. Garcelon. To him
is due much credit for having discovered the process. He presented us
with lemons of the small and proper size that had been picked green
eight months ago. They were equal to the best imported, both as to
smallness of size, acidity, thinness of skin and quality of juice. These
lemons bring now five dollars per box, at which price lemon culture
proves more profitable than that of the orange.

The only variety that should be planted is the Lisbon lemon, the Eureka
having too bitter a peel, and the much recommended Villa Franca being
round and thus unacceptable. We passed several vineyards, the Muscat
vines being large and the vineyards well kept. The grapes are just
ripening, but it will be some two weeks yet before they are ready to
cut. The only variety grown here is the Muscat of Alexandria, the real
Gordo Blanco being unknown, or at least not generally planted.

The far-famed Magnolia avenue is near at hand. The center is occupied by
a continuous row of old pepper trees, with gracefully drooping branches,
under which the cars run. The outside rows are different in various
places, generally palms with alternating grevilleas, or gum or pepper
trees. The custom now is to replace the outside trees with palms, and
many of the stately gums are being cut away. Beyond the sidewalks are
the trimmed cypress hedges, and behind them orange orchards, only
interrupted by open lawns and gardens partially hiding the tasty
dwelling-houses of the horticulturists. All that we see, now so
luxuriant and beautiful, is the effect of water on the otherwise barren
plains. Everything is irrigated several times a year by means of flowing
water brought from distant points, from the mountain cañons, or from the
artesian wells in the river bottom higher up, several miles away.

The canals are all on the highest ground, and are dug on technical
principles. There is no washing and no filling up, no broken-down gates
and overflowing and stagnant ponds. Some ditches are cemented, and look
magnificently clean, without any weeds or mud. The water in them is like
the water of a spring, clear and pellucid. In course of time all the
ditches will be cemented, the cost for doing the work being paid for in
a short time by the water saved and the absence of the necessary
cleaning out.

Riverside is indeed to be envied its Chinatown. The latter was, some
years ago, moved a mile from town into a hollow, and now every house
there is surrounded by cypress hedges and windbreaks of cypress and gum.
Moreover, every house there is connected with the sewerage system, and
the usual smell is not noticed on the outside. Indeed, one can drive by
and not know the nature of the town, for it looks like any other country
village, almost hidden in evergreens.

In a few weeks the raisin harvest will commence, and from that time on
Riverside, along its whole extent, will be life and bustle. When the
grapes are all in, the oranges will be ready for harvesting, and the
country will again boast of its thousands of carloads of the golden
fruit.


REDLANDS.

We have reached the object of our journey in the upper end of the San
Bernardino valley. One of the features of South California, not Southern
California, as we in the center all used to say, is the motor roads, not
electric motors, but regular little steam engines, that will pull you
anywhere, and which will not shock you with anything except perhaps with
their smoke. Such motor roads lead almost everywhere, connecting the
outlying colonies way up in the mesa with the headquarters on the
regular railroad. And these motor roads are neither neglected, nor do
they go begging for customers and freight. They are as much or more
patronized even than the regular railroads, and they pay well. The cause
of this is evident. They are more accommodating; they can without
inconvenience stop wherever required, and passengers get on or off at
almost every corner. The little train stops with equal readiness at the
call in front of the rich man’s villa, to enable him and his family to
embark, as at the poor man’s garden, to allow him to get on with a load
of greens or with a basket of eggs. Thus managed, it rushes along with
short and frequent stops, always full of passengers and freight.

Going up the San Bernardino valley from Riverside is a trip that no one
should neglect. It takes us through one of the best improved parts of
South California, through a veritable garden spot, with a radius of six
or seven miles. From Riverside we pass for several miles over the level
mesa land, just brought into cultivation through the new Gage canal
system. Over two thousand acres have been planted here within the last
two years to oranges, lemons and vines, and the fine and regularly
planted trees with the large distances between show us how much the new
settlers have been able to profit from the experience of the older ones.
For several miles there are young plantations, each with its neat and
substantial residence and outhouses, indicating that the settlers mostly
are people of some means and of much refinement and taste,--just the
class of people that we all would choose for our nearest neighbors.
Everywhere are school-houses of artistic designs, most magnificent ones
in the older settlements, smaller but tasty ones in those of almost
yesterday. As we pass along the mesa, the upper San Bernardino valley,
closed in by steep and lofty mountains, lies on our right, and in front
the Santa Ana river courses through the center of the valley, with its
vast broad river bottom covered with wild vegetation, pastures or
cultivated fields. We cross several ditches, one laid in cement, with
the water running in them as clear as that in the washbowl.

Once across the river bottom we are almost directly at Colton on the
Southern Pacific Railroad. The first thing that attracts our attention
is the beautiful plantation on the railroad reservation. Fine green
lawns, fountains, beds of evergreens and flowers, the whole inclosed in
pepper trees, gives the traveler immediately the impression that
something beautiful in the way of gardening can be accomplished, where
there is only a will and a taste. Such beautiful places everywhere in
the South show that the people who came here, came not alone to make
money, but also to enjoy life and to cultivate those pleasures and
occupations which help to prolong and beautify the same.

From Colton up to San Bernardino the whole country is settled up and
resembles the outskirts of a large city, where the business men have
their suburban residences. The level and gradually sloping mesa is
dotted over with little hills and knolls, just the place for a
residence. Every such place has been taken advantage of, and fine
residences with towers, balconies and airy awnings crown every little
eminence, each one through its peculiar situation seemingly dominating
the valley.

San Bernardino has been greatly benefited by the boom. The old and the
new are there in strong contrast, the new decidedly predominating.
Magnificent brick blocks grace the principal business streets, and the
nearest streets crossing them, blocks that must have cost large sums of
money, and which for design and substantial structure can nowhere be
surpassed in any city of this size. The fine large hotels erected lately
are kept up with style and even splendor. The large Stewart House is not
inferior to the best town hotel that can be seen anywhere, and its
interior arrangements, with a large covered court, are most admirable.
My stay in San Bernardino was only too short; a long stroll around town
and a little longer shake hands with the veteran journalist and
horticulturist, L. M. Holt, took all the time I had to spare.

From San Bernardino to Redlands is but half an hour’s ride through the
bottom lands of the Santa Ana river. We approach rapidly the upper end
of the valley, where the elevated mesa spreads out all around like a
perfect ampitheater, backed by the loftiest mountains in Southern
California. The mesa is now in close view, and Redlands, Lugonia,
Terracina, Crafton, all different points of the same settlement, lie in
front of us at an elevation of about fifteen hundred feet above the sea,
like a map or extensive panorama, where roads, orchards and houses are
so clearly and distinctly seen that they can be observed at a glance.
The mesa land here slopes about four hundred feet to the mile, and the
different orchards or settlements lie apparently one above the other,
all in full view. If I am asked for the place in this part of the
country with the finest view, with the freshest air, with the purest
water, and with the coolest breezes, and where business and the comforts
of life can be combined, I will say, and say it again, Redlands. In all
these points there is nothing here that surpasses it, and few are the
places indeed that even can pretend to equal it. From whatever point we
stand, be it at the lower end of the railroad depot, at any orchard or
home in the center of the settlement, or at the upper end close to the
rolling hills, from every point we see every other point, some below,
some above us, all equally distinct. And this extensive and magnificent
view, that requires no tedious and tiresome climbing to see, extends
away down the valley for sixty miles, over slightly rolling hills, over
level mesas with their dark-green orchards and vineyards, over the
steeper hills, over the lofty Sierra Madre range in the northwest. If we
turn to the right we are immediately met by the snowy peaks and the bare
walls of the San Bernardino range, here and there cut by the cañons and
gorges of the tributaries of the Santa Ana river.

The business part of Redlands is as neat and tasty as any,--brick blocks
and cement sidewalks, horse cars, and water under pressure.

No explanation is required to be made of the quality of the Redlands
climate and soil. A trip over the settlement will reveal all to any one
with open eyes. Orange orchards, young of course, but thrifty, on every
side, alternating with Muscat vineyards, according to the taste of the
owner; beautiful homes of the horticulturists, the stately mansions of
the bank presidents and those that became wealthy quickly, and the grand
view common to all,--these are some of the good things this settlement
enjoys. The water for irrigation is all under pressure, either coming to
the surface in open flues or in iron pipes. The orange orchards are
being irrigated everywhere, in a way which should make a San Joaquin
valley man stare. Iron pipes are laid all over the orchard, and at the
beginning of every row of trees there is a faucet. These faucets are all
opened at the same time, and a tiny stream of water issues forth and
runs on each side of the young orange trees down to the other end of the
check. It is left to run for several days at a time. At the other end of
the check the water is not wasted, but runs into a little wooden spout
at every row of trees and through the same into a cement ditch which
carries the water to another place. The system of irrigation is simply
perfect; if it were not so, the land could not be irrigated. With this
system there is no waste, no weeds, no malaria, no hoeing nor other work
of any kind. Irrigation is here as easy as the washing of your hands in
a patent washstand: you open the faucet and let the water run. The
general opinion by people not acquainted with the colony is that water
here is very scarce; this is a mistake. There is water enough to
irrigate all the land; most of it is now only running to waste to the
sea; to be utilized it must only be stored. The Bear valley reservoir,
when perfected, as it soon will be, will hold water enough to irrigate
over twenty-six thousand acres of ground, which is about all the
irrigable land tributary to Redlands. There are other reservoir sites in
the mountains, and the possibilities of future irrigation can hardly be
comprehended. Although young, only four years old, the upper San
Bernardino colonies produce already considerable quantities of fruit.
Six thousand acres are now under cultivation, eight hundred of which are
in Muscat grapes, the balance mostly in oranges and other fruits. Last
year they produced fifty carloads of grapes and forty carloads of
raisins, and altogether about 149 carloads of fruit, dried or fresh. No
better showing could be expected of any place, and there is no better
advertisement of the resources of the country.

I have yet a thing to add, a thing to praise. Everywhere in the South
magnificent drives are laid out, avenues are planted with shade trees,
evergreens and palms, street cars take you everywhere, and the comforts
of pedestrians and riders are always assured. The roads are all
sprinkled, and the dust is an unknown quantity except in by-lanes and
corners, where the sprinkler cannot reach. Riverside sprinkles the whole
of her business streets, and her Magnolia avenue effectively and
continually for about ten miles down the valley. Other places do the
same, perhaps only not to as liberal an extent. In many places the tired
pedestrian finds little wooden benches to rest on under a shady tree,
close to a fountain of drinking water, all placed there by the kind
society, W. C. T. U. Comparisons are not in place; but how many times I
have wished such a thing had been met with in some other places I know
of where the sun is just as hot, and where the dust is just as deep.


AN HOUR IN A PACKING-HOUSE.

The following sketch of a Fresno packing-house, where already cured
raisins are bought and packed, may prove interesting to those of my
readers who have not had time or opportunity to visit any similar
establishment. The same kind of work is going on in each packing-house,
whether it be large or small, except that the number of hands are
varied. In the two or three largest packing-houses in Fresno, as many as
four hundred hands are sometimes employed at one time when the work is
pressing; as it slackens, less hands are used. These large city
packing-houses are all situated close to the railroad; they buy the
raisins already cured and dried from the colonists, who bring them in
sweatboxes to town. The time of the greatest activity is from the last
week in August to October 15th. The largest of these city packers are
Messrs. Cook & Langley, who own packing-houses both in Riverside and
Fresno; Schacht, Lemcke & Steiner, successors to George W. Meade, the
oldest packing-house in Fresno, superintended by H. W. Shram; Chas.
Leslie & Co., Griffin & Skelley, etc.

The pioneer packing company of Fresno, known as the Fresno Raisin &
Fruit Packing Company, is doing at this time a large business. Every day
five or six carloads of raisins are sent away, while a string of from
twenty to thirty, two and four horse teams are waiting outside of the
weighing shed to have their raisins weighed and received. These raisins
come both from large and small vineyards from all over the country, but
principally from the colonies, where they are the products of
twenty-acre vineyards. Some of the best raisins in fact came from the
smallest vineyards, where they had the best care, and where the owner
has given the vineyard all his time. Mr. H. W. Shram, the superintendent
of this large and old packing-house, has had years of experience in the
packing business, and has followed the Fresno raisin business from its
infancy. As soon as the raisin boxes are unloaded they are immediately
weighed. It takes eight men to attend to this part of the business, one
weighing and one clerk to keep accounts. The dried wine grapes, such as
Zinfandel, Malagas, and even Sultanas, are immediately wheeled into the
stemmer-house to be separated from the stems and cleaned. This stemmer
is one of the largest in the State, and the only one of its kind as
regards construction. It stems, cleans and assorts, in from three to
four different grades, sixty tons of raisins a day. Nine men are
working this machine, some feeding, others pushing wide but shallow
boxes under the spouts, others again wheeling them away when full. The
steam engine of ten horse-power and boiler are fired principally with
separated stems, refuse raisins, and stones of peaches and apricots. The
separated dried grapes are packed and shipped in eighty-pound sacks, and
go in this way to the East, or even to Europe. Every day one or two
carloads of these dried grapes are shipped. The Muscatel layers,
however, go first to the sweating-room, before anything is done with
them. This sweating-room is one hundred by fifty feet, and has the walls
and floor filled around with one foot in thickness of sawdust, so as to
prevent the outside air from entering. This sweating room is constantly
filled with raisin boxes from floor to ceiling, and seldom contains less
than forty tons of raisins at one time. It takes from ten to thirty days
to equalize the moisture in the raisins as well as to properly soften
the stems so that the grapes will not fall off. This is of the utmost
importance. If it is not done the stems will break and the berries fall
off, and instead of a first-class layer raisin we would only get a
first-class loose.

After having sweated for several weeks the raisins are brought out to be
assorted. We see several rows of oblong tables, each one with a border
around like a deep and large tray, and with a hole at each end in which
the loose raisins are pushed. It takes eighteen of these tables to
receive the grapes to be assorted, and as it also takes six girls at
each table, it is evident the work is one of great importance. Only
girls are used, as boys and men could not as properly do the work. It
takes a girl’s nimble fingers to handle the raisins, so that none break.
They are also more patient, and are, in every way, suited for the work.
As the raisins are being assorted, the different grades are clipped from
the same bunches, and placed in different trays. Thus one and the same
bunch may contain four different grades of raisins. Each one is
separated at these tables, to make different brands of raisins. The
trays, with five pounds of raisins each as they leave the graders, are
placed in large piles on the floor, and are from there taken away at
leisure, first to be packed and afterwards to the press. This is a
department of its own. It takes great experience to press the raisins
just so much, that they will look well, but not so much as to burst. A
broken raisin will sugar and spoil, and would cause complaint and
dissatisfaction. The public is constantly being educated as to what fine
raisins are, and now wants only the best. Each tray is pressed, and it
takes four trays to make up a box of twenty pounds. A tray is placed
over the box, the sliding bottom is pulled out, and the whole cake of
raisins with paper and all drop in the box below.

After the raisins are assorted they have to be packed. Twenty girls are
occupied with this, the most pleasant, but also the most skillful, work
in the packing-house. No bad raisins go in here, and if any there should
be, they are separated and placed with a lower grade, as even one or two
raisins would spoil an otherwise good box. This requires a great deal of
care and attention, but the girls are being educated, and the same ones
are re-engaged from year to year. Fresno is getting an army of girls
educated for the business, and we find much less trouble now to get the
raisins well packed than a few years ago, when everything was
comparatively new. Now there is hardly a girl in any of the colonies who
does not know something about raisin-packing, and who is able to make
good wages during packing time. Several cents a tray are paid for
packing, and many girls earn two dollars a day, while none earn less
than one dollar a day. The first quality raisins are packed under the
Lion Brand, while the second quality goes by the name of the Golden
Gate. Both brands are equally popular and are readily sold. The loose
raisins are as important as the bunches and layers. The American
housewife has learned that she gets more for her money if she buys loose
raisins than if she buys layers, which always contain a large percentage
of stems. Loose raisins are therefore now very popular. The loose
raisins have all been sweated, and the best of them have come from
large, fine bunches, from which they have simply dropped off, and
magnificent they look indeed as they are separated and graded into
several grades, the largest of course to make the very choicest brands.
The process of packing is quite different from that of packing layers.
In loose, the boxes are simply filled with fifteen pounds of loose
raisins; then a tray containing five pounds, and which has been faced,
is placed on top, this making up twenty-pound boxes.

The facing is a most important and interesting work. It takes from forty
to fifty girls to do it, and only expert hands are allowed at the facing
tables. The facing consists in placing large, fine and flatted raisins
in layers on top of the box, as an advertisement that the contents
underneath are equally carefully assorted and choice. A careful and
skillful facer can face forty boxes a day, while from twenty to thirty
boxes is a low average. Mr. Shram buys raisins and dried grapes from
every one who has any that are really choice. For Feherzagos three to
three and one-half cents are paid, for Malagas four cents, and for
Muscatels three and one-half to five cents, according to quality. All
the work in the packing-house is done by piece work, and from two to
five cents are paid for different qualities of the work, such as
assorting, picking over, picking and facing. Four hundred girls and boys
are daily employed. The present raisin pack, Mr. Shram affirms, is the
best of any he has ever handled. They are shipped to every large town in
the East, and are constantly increasing in demand. Besides raisins, Mr.
Shram handles peaches, figs, apricots, and in fact any dried fruit we
have. Tons and tons of Adriatic figs are brought from the colonies every
day at six cents per pound, an enormous price when we consider the yield
of a fig tree. But, says Mr. Shram, they are in demand, and as long as
we can sell them again when packed and sweated to advantage we can
afford to pay a good price.

When sufficient boxes are packed, they are loaded in cars and made up
into trains exclusively loaded with raisins. The various packing-houses
combine to do this. Generally during the packing season two such
train-loads are sent away every week, each one consisting of from ten to
fifteen cars of raisins, each car containing one thousand boxes. Five
hundred and thirty such cars were shipped from Fresno last year (1889).
Some of the packers packed one hundred thousand boxes each.




RAISIN GROWERS AND THEIR VINEYARDS.


The following sketches are intended to convey to those not living in the
raisin districts of our State an idea of the men who have made a
specialty of the raisin industry,--men through whose experiences and
intelligent work others are now profiting.

While the raisin growers and packers can now be counted by the hundred,
and while all of them have in some way contributed to the development of
the industry, and as such deserve to be mentioned in the annals of this
industry, it has only been practicable to here refer to a few of the
most prominent. Where exactly to draw the line was not easy to decide,
and my intention has been not to slight or neglect any one, and should
any one find himself omitted he should account for it through my
ignorance of real facts. I should especially have wished to add to these
short notes more extensive accounts of the work and vineyards of R. B.
Blowers of Woodland, of the late G. G. Briggs of Davisville, and of
Robert McPherson of McPherson, but I have not been able to procure the
necessary data. These three gentlemen have all greatly contributed to
the development of the high standing of the raisin industry in this
State.


G. G. BRIGGS.

Mr. Briggs was the first large raisin-grower in the State, and owned
vineyards in both Solano and Yolo counties aggregating seven hundred
acres or more. Subirrigation by means of perforated pipes, in which the
water was made to circulate under pressure, was first tried extensively
in Mr. Briggs’ vineyard at Davisville, by which means the grape crop was
almost doubled. Later on Mr. Briggs planted extensively in the
Washington Colony at Fresno, but he died before his vineyard there came
into bearing. He is said to have imported raisin grapes direct from
Spain, and a grape now growing in the vineyard of G. E. Freeman at
Fresno is said to be of that variety. It resembles the Muscat of
Alexandria in growth, but the berries are those of the Gordo Blanco. Mr.
Briggs advised to give the raisin-vines more room, and following his
ideas several vineyards as well as his own were planted with the vines
ten by sixteen feet.


R. B. BLOWERS.

R. B. Blowers of Woodland, Yolo county, planted his first vines in 1863,
and produced his first raisins in 1867. From 1870 to 1873 he planted the
principal part of his vineyard. He was the first one in California to do
any really careful packing, and he may justly be said to be the father
of the raisin industry in this State. Mr. Blowers was the first to
irrigate the raisin-vines by means of pumping and flooding, for which
purpose he constructed his afterwards so famous well. The first
successful raisin dryer was invented and built by him at a time when
every one else doubted the propriety and desirability of drying grapes
by artificial heat, and the dryer thus constructed has never yet been
surpassed. One of the characteristics of the Blowers dryer was the
blower or suction fan, by which means the air was changed in the dryer,
the moist air being sucked out, while dry air was allowed to rush in.
Mr. Blowers improved nearly every branch of the raisin industry, and
studied every operation, such as plowing, irrigation, curing and
packing, more thoroughly than any one ever did before or has done after
him. Mr. Blowers’ raisins were the best in the State at their time, and
wherever exhibited received the first premium. At the World’s Fair at
Philadelphia, they received the first premium, and attracted much
attention. I may add that Mr. Blowers is the inventor or at least the
perfector of the “face-down” method of packing, the best method for
packing raisins. Mr. Blowers has published a short essay on raisins,
referred to elsewhere in this book.


ROBERT McPHERSON.

Robert McPherson was for Southern California what G. G. Briggs and R. B.
Blowers were for the Northern part. The McPherson vineyard extended once
over 360 acres of land, and one year he shipped over one hundred
thousand boxes. Many of the practical devices for irrigating, curing and
packing raisins now generally in use in the southern part of the State
were invented by him. The McPherson vineyard was situated in Orange
county in the southern part of this State. Robert McPherson was
certainly the largest and most prominent raisin-grower in Southern
California. He is now no longer in the business.


T. C. WHITE.

The “Raisina” vineyard was the first thoroughly conducted raisin
vineyard in Fresno. It was planted by T. C. White in 1876, ’77 and ’78,
and from that time gradually extended until it contained one hundred and
twenty acres, of which sixty-five acres are in Muscatel grapes of the
variety known as Gordo Blanco, brought there from the Blowers vineyard
at Woodland. The vineyard also contains some Seedless Sultanas and White
Corinths. The soil of the vineyard is white ash, the location two miles
south of Fresno, in the old Central California Colony. The soil is now
partly subirrigated. T. C. White has done a great deal to develop and
perfect the packing and curing of raisins, and he has also given much
time and study to the other branches of the industry, such as growing,
pruning and cultivation. Through the study of the imported Spanish
raisins, as well as of those produced by R. B. Blowers, Mr. White
succeeded in packing a very superior brand, which has never been
surpassed in this State. The brands packed at the Raisina vineyard were
as follows: Dehesa Clusters, London Layers, California Layers, Loose
Muscatels, and cartoons of two and one-half pounds. The largest pack at
one time was thirteen thousand boxes of twenty pounds each. In order to
“face” the boxes accurately and rapidly, T. C. White invented the
facing-plate elsewhere described in this book. Experiencing considerable
difficulty in properly facing his Dehesas, it occurred to him that a
block or plate might be made with cavities in which the raisins could be
placed quickly and without danger of being disturbed. His idea was
entirely original, and the facing device as made by him is a perfect
machine which has not been improved upon. This device is now covered by
patents.

In packing T. C. White employed the Blowers’ method, or the “face-down”
method, which he so improved upon that it has not since been excelled.
Many of the fine points in raisin curing and packing were perfected by
him, and the raisin industry will always be benefited by the work he has
done. Below I give a list of the premiums taken by T. C. White’s raisins
at various fairs: 1885, silver medal and special first premium for best
raisins at the Mechanics’ Fair in San Francisco; 1886, first premium and
gold medal at the Mechanics’ Fair in San Francisco; 1888, first premium
and one hundred dollars for best raisins at the State Fair. Same year
they received first premium and gold medal at the Fresno District Fair;
1889, first premium at the Fresno District Fair.


MISS M. F. AUSTIN.

The story of Miss M. F. Austin and her success with the Hedge Row
Vineyard reads like a beautiful tale. A schoolteacher by occupation,
Miss Austin possessed many prominent qualities and elevated ideas, among
others that horticulture should become a business for women as well as
for men. Acting upon these ideas, Miss Austin removed to Fresno in 1878
in company with a lady friend and teacher, Miss L. H. Hatch, and she
began immediately to improve her Hedge Row Vineyard, a part of which had
been planted two years before by Bernhard Marks, the founder of the
Central California Colony. The vineyard was gradually extended until it
contained one hundred acres, nearly all in Gordo Blanco vines. Miss
Austin must be given credit for having improved upon many operations in
the vineyard and in the packing-house. She first discovered that under
proper conditions the sulphuring should be done in the flowers of the
grapevines. By this method she one year largely increased her crop of
grapes. In packing she showed her womanly taste and refinement, and not
only succeeded in producing superior Layer and Dehesa raisins, but made
several innovations in packing which to this day are imitated. Among
these we may mention the packing in cartoons, and in small ornamented
paper bags, which latter were again placed in paper boxes. Miss Austin
and T. C. White were the originators of fancy packing in this State.

The largest pack of the Hedge Row Vineyard was seventy-five hundred
boxes, while the total of one year’s pack reached sixteen thousand
boxes. Miss Austin built the first raisin dryer in Fresno, and
demonstrated that machine-dried raisins were a success if not a
necessity as regards the last crop. The pluck and intelligence of Miss
Austin soon became extensively known, and many were the ladies who,
imitating her, engaged in horticulture and in the raisin industry.
Fresno county and the State at large owe her a debt of gratitude for
what she has done. Those who had the pleasure and honor of her
friendship lost in her a dear and faithful friend, a brilliant and
intelligent companion, and a person who had few equals in any path of
life.


JOSEPH T. GOODMAN.

The owner of the Floreal vineyard arrived in Fresno in 1879, and
purchased a then already started plantation, which, however, he soon
greatly remodeled, enlarged and improved. Mr. Goodman, formerly one of
the brilliant newspaper men and literary writers of this coast, and
publisher of the _Territorial Enterprise_ of Virginia City, Nevada, has
probably more than any other man studied the characteristics and
requirements of the raisin grapes. His vineyard, while not the largest,
is in our opinion the best cared for in the State, and newcomers could
perhaps not do better than learn from it. It now comprises one hundred
and twenty acres, mostly in Gordo Blanco. For the curing of the grapes,
thirty thousand trays or more are needed, while a separate packing-house
and tray-shed are prominent features of the vineyard. The land was all
leveled with great care before planting, and every check can be flooded
if necessary. The soil is the very richest, being the chocolate-colored
loam, which in Fresno is considered the best and strongest soil for
Muscat grapes. The location of the vineyard is the old sink of Red Bank
creek, in the same district where Forsyth’s and Butler’s vineyards are
situated. As regards planting, pruning, sulphuring, topping and other
vineyard operations, Mr. J. T. Goodman is an authority from whose
verdict there is no appeal. The Floreal vineyard always bears good
crops, which must be exclusively attributed to the care given the
vineyard and to the judgment with which all operations there are
conducted. Mr. Goodman has invented several appliances for facilitating
the vineyard work, most prominent among which I may mention the vineyard
truck, by the means of which the expenses of harvesting and some other
vineyard labors are greatly reduced. He also suggested the facing-plate
independently of T. C. White.


A. B. BUTLER.

The largest raisin vineyard in Fresno county or in the State of
California, as well as in the world, is owned by A. B. Butler. The
vineyard is situated about three miles southeast of Fresno, on the sink
of Red Bank. It contains about six hundred acres, nearly all of which is
planted in Muscat grapes of the Gordo Blanco and Alexandria varieties,
and a few Sultanas. The vines are planted at various distances, such as
ten by sixteen feet, and six by twelve feet, etc. The pruning is all
“low standard,” except the Sultanas, which are staked four feet high.
The only trees in the vineyard consist of two or three avenues of fig
and poplar interspersed with fan palms, while some poplar trees line the
outside boundaries of the vineyard. The first vines were set in 1879,
and since that time the planting has been carried on until the whole six
hundred acres are now in vines in full bearing. Mr. Butler himself
superintends the general work of the vineyard, and during the packing
time carefully watches the packing. The latter is accomplished in a
large building containing packing-rooms, storerooms, steam dryer,
separator, box factory and storeroom for labels. The dryer has a
capacity of fifty tons charge of green fruit, and is considered one of
the best in the State. There are two dryers, the large one just
mentioned and one smaller, of twenty-five tons capacity, situated in the
center of the vineyard. The Butler raisins are celebrated all over the
continent, and are most excellently packed. The labels used are very
fine and are manufactured to order in France. The principal brand packed
is “Butler’s Cluster Raisins.”

Mr. Butler acquired much experience in Spain, where he spent
considerable time studying the raisin business. The output of the
vineyard has been as high as one hundred thousand boxes per year.
Similar to the other vineyards in this district, the soil of the Butler
vineyard is among the very best in the county, all now subirrigated. Mr.
Butler is the largest packer in the State, and his raisins have gained a
continental reputation. As regards Spanish methods of packing, Mr.
Butler is better posted than any other packer in the State. An
interesting essay on Mr. Butler’s experiences in California and in Spain
is published in monthly _California_ for March, 1890. The crop this year
promises to be of extra quality.


WILLIAM FORSYTH.

The owner of the Forsyth vineyard and the producer of one of the two
finest brands of raisins in this State arrived in Fresno in 1881, and
planted his present vineyard of one hundred and sixty acres in 1882 and
1883. The vineyard is situated in the sink of Red Bank creek, some four
miles east of Fresno, and consists of heavy reddish or chocolate-colored
soil of unusual richness. The vines used are almost entirely the Gordo
Blanco variety, with a few Sultanas. The land is all leveled, was
irrigated the first year only, and is now subirrigated and drained,
requiring no further irrigation of any kind. The vines, set eight by
eight feet, are pruned low, and given short spurs. The outbuildings
consist of a packing-house, and equalizing or sweating house combined,
thirty-five by one hundred and seventy feet. A dryer of late pattern,
with steam boilers and flues, has a capacity of forty tons at a charge.
The houses for the laboring men as well as the Colonel’s dwelling-house
are most elegant and complete, and show the care and refined taste of
the owner. Over fifty thousand trays for drying the raisins are used in
curing, the trays being three feet square, large enough to hold thirty
pounds of grapes. The grove of palms, ornamental and shade trees, the
flowers and shrubbery surrounding the Colonel’s home in the center of
the vineyard, are all models of beauty and testify to the culture and
prosperity of one of our foremost raisin-growers.

The vineyard produces yearly from fifty to sixty thousand boxes of
twenty pounds each, of the highest quality of raisins. The raisins are
remarkable for their high grade and even packing. The brands are:
Forsyth’s Imperial Clusters, the “Tiger” brand and the “Forget-me-not”
brand. During the packing and picking season some two hundred and fifty
hands are employed daily in the various departments, all under the
direct supervision of Colonel Forsyth himself, who has gained his
experience both by practical work in California and by visits to the
raisin districts of Spain. During the latter he has gained much
experience about foreign methods, which he has not been slow to apply in
his own business. As regards location, the Forsyth vineyard is not
surpassed by any, and as regards appointments it is the most complete
and handsome establishment that can be found anywhere. The Forsyth
raisins excel in quality of berry, grade, uniformity of size and in the
elegance and care with which they are packed. They stand at the head of
the California raisin product. Col. Forsyth has been appointed
Commissioner for California at the World Fair in Chicago, 1892.


A. D. BARLING.

Among our younger raisin-growers and packers, Mr. A. D. Barling occupies
a prominent place. A sketch of his life and connection with the raisin
industry is most interesting. He came to the raisin district with only a
dollar in his pocket. To-day he is a wealthy grower and packer, whose
raisin brand is among the best in the State.

Mr. Barling, formerly of Michigan, was educated at Ann Arbor. In 1873 he
left college and started West, settling in Merced county, California.
There he became connected with the Farmers’ Canal Co., as their chief
engineer, which position he held for seven years, and in that capacity
conducted the water of the Merced river down to Livingston on the S. P.
R. R. From Merced he went to Mexico in the employ of the Mexican Central
Railroad, but returned to San Francisco, California, in 1882. Here he
had charge of the construction of the large wharf at Alameda point, then
being constructed by the S. P. R. R. Co.

Becoming tired of working for a salary, Mr. Barling went to Fresno and
rented a lot in the Central Colony. By dint of hard work, not having any
capital at all to start with, he and his wife saved one thousand
dollars, with which they purchased the present El Modelo vineyard,
paying forty-five dollars per acre for the rough land in 1885. Mr.
Barling and his wife went to work with a will and set out the land in
Muscat cuttings, but through unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances
all the first planting was lost. Undaunted they replanted in 1886 with
great success, and to-day they own one of the finest and best-paying
150-acre vineyards in the county, having yearly added new territory to
the first purchase. Last season they packed sixteen thousand boxes of
Muscat raisins, and established the El Modelo brand, which in the market
is considered second to none, and which has established an enviable
reputation for its packers. This year’s pack is estimated to reach fifty
thousand boxes of twenty pounds each. Mr. Barling’s thorough education
and skill and experience as an engineer has materially contributed to
his success. He has also held the position of assistant cashier in the
Fresno Loan & Savings Bank for the last five years.


FRANK H. BALL.

The Ball Vineyard adjoins the town of Fresno, and is situated in the
rich red lands, the sink of old creeks. The one hundred and twenty acres
in Muscatels are among the best cared for in the district. Mr. Ball
possesses the faculty of doing the necessary work at the right time and
doing it thoroughly. The crop is annually sold in the sweatboxes to
packers in Fresno City, no raisins being packed on the vineyard. Mr.
Ball is the author of an excellent essay on raisin-grape growing and
curing, published in the _California_ for July, 1890. His methods of
culture and curing are the best, and the raisins produced by them are
not surpassed by any in the State. Mr. Ball is one of our most
successful raisin-men.


SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY RAISIN PACKERS, 1889.

  ===============+=========+==============+==============+==============
       NAME.     |LOCATION.|    BRANDS.   | LOCAL AGENTS |EASTERN AGENTS
                 |         |              |AND ADDRESSES.|AND ADDRESSES.
  ---------------+---------+--------------+--------------+--------------
  American Raisin|Fresno.  |Eagle, Star.  |Noble Bros.,  |Delafield,
  Co.            |         |              |Fresno.       |McGovern &
                 |         |              |              |Co., Chicago.
                 |         |              |              |
  Barling, A. D. |Fresno.  |El Modelo,    |Townsend,     |Delafield,
                 |         |Golden Gate.  |McGovern &    |McGovern &
                 |         |              |Co., San      |Co., Chicago,
                 |         |              |Francisco.    |New York and
                 |         |              |              |St. Louis.
                 |         |              |              |
  Barton Estate  |Fresno.  |Peacock.      |              |
  Co.            |         |              |              |
                 |         |              |              |
  Butler, A. B.  |Fresno.  |Butler’s      |H. M. Newhall |J. K. Armsby
                 |         |Cluster.      |& Co., S. F.  |Co., Chicago,
                 |         |              |              |etc.
                 |         |              |              |
  Cal. Raisin and|Fresno.  |Seal, Eclipse.|Williams,     |C. M. Webber &
  Fruit Co.      |         |              |Brown & Co.,  |Co., Chicago.
                 |         |              |S. F.         |
                 |         |              |              |
  Camp, G. W.    |Armona.  |              |              |
                 |         |              |              |
  Cook & Langley.|Fresno.  |Horseshoe,    |Cook &        |Ariel
                 |         |Lily, Eureka. |Langley, Los  |Meinrath,
                 |         |              |Angeles.      |Kansas Cy. &
                 |         |              |              |Chicago.
                 |         |              |              |
  Cook, H. E.    |Fresno.  |Cook’s.       |S. L. Jones & |
                 |         |              |Co., S. F.    |
                 |         |              |              |
  Curtis Fruit   |Oleander.|Greyhound, San|H. M. Newhall |J. K. Armsby
  Co.            |         |Joaquin.      |& Co., S. F.  |Co., Chicago,
                 |         |              |              |etc.
                 |         |              |              |
  Forsyth,       |Fresno.  |Imperial,     |Townsend,     |Delafield,
  William        |         |Tiger, Forget-|McGovern &    |McGovern &
                 |         |me-not.       |Co., San      |Co., Chicago,
                 |         |              |Francisco.    |New York and
                 |         |              |              |St. Louis.
                 |         |              |              |
  Fowler Fruit   |Fowler.  |Pride of Cal.,|Brown & May,  |
  and Raisin     |         |Comet.        |Fresno.       |
  Packing Co.    |         |              |              |
                 |         |              |              |
  Fresno Fruit & |Fresno.  |Lion, Golden  |Schacht,      |Rossiter &
  Raisin Co.     |         |Gate.         |Lemcke &      |Skidmore, New
                 |         |              |Steiner, S. F.|York.
                 |         |              |              |
  Fresno Raisin  |Oleander.|American Flag.|Brown, May &  |
  Co.            |         |              |Co., Fresno.  |
                 |         |              |              |
  Gould, E. H.   |Malaga.  |Olivet, El    |D. L. Beck &  |U. H. Dudley
                 |         |Monte.        |Son, S. F.    |& Co., New
                 |         |              |              |York.
                 |         |              |              |
  Griffin &      |Fresno.  |Griffin &     |Griffin &     |Delafield,
  Skelley.       |         |Skelley’s.    |Skelley, S. F.|McGovern &
                 |         |              |              |Co., New York.
                 |         |              |              |
  Holton, S. B.  |Selma.   |Golden West.  |Townsend,     |Delafield,
                 |         |              |McGovern &    |McGovern &
                 |         |              |Co., San      |Co., Chicago,
                 |         |              |Francisco.    |New York and
                 |         |              |              |St. Louis.
                 |         |              |              |
  Leslie, Chas.  |Fresno.  |Liberty,      |Geo. & John H.|Geo. & John
                 |         |Royal.        |Leslie,       |H. Leslie,
                 |         |              |Fresno.       |Chicago.
                 |         |              |              |
  Mau, Sadler &  |Fresno.  |Sierra Park,  |              |
  Co.            |         |Parrot.       |              |
                 |         |              |              |
  Miller, James. |Fresno.  |              |              |
                 |         |              |              |
  Paige & Morton.|Tulare.  |P. & M., Brown|Paige &       |
                 |         |& Co.         |Morton, S. F. |
                 |         |              |              |
  Reese, J. W.   |Fresno.  |Cartoons.     |              |
                 |         |              |              |
  Rodda &        |Fowler.  |Maple Park.   |Townsend,     |Delafield,
  Nobmann.       |         |              |McGovern &    |McGovern &
                 |         |              |Co., San      |Co., Chicago,
                 |         |              |Francisco.    |New York and
                 |         |              |              |St. Louis.
                 |         |              |              |
  Viau, N.       |Malaga.  |Viau’s.       |              |
                 |         |              |              |
  Viau, S. P.    |Malaga.  |              |              |
  ---------------+---------+--------------+--------------+--------------




LITERATURE.


The literature of the raisin industry is a very scant one, and as far as
I have been able to ascertain not a single work especially devoted to
this industry has appeared in any language. The various cyclopedias
contain articles on raisins, but they are all more or less confused and
unreliable, and of no great use to any one who wishes only reliable
information, and who must depend upon the same for practical purposes.
As regards California, much information has been given about raisin
growing and curing in almost every newspaper published in the State. To
mention them all would be to enumerate all the papers of the Pacific
Coast. I can here refer only to a few of the principal ones, where the
student who has time and inclination to follow up the subject may find
material for a more detailed history of the raisin industry than the one
I have written.

First among these papers I must mention the _Pacific Rural Press_,
edited by that distinguished horticulturist, Professor E. J. Wickson,
and published by Messrs. Dewey & Co. of San Francisco. In the files of
this weekly, from 1873 to the present time, 1890, may be found scattered
many interesting articles referring to our subject. A paper
contemporaneous with it was the San Francisco _Merchant_, which
contained many interesting articles on raisins and raisin grapes,
especially during the period from 1881 to 1887. In the issues of the
_Press and Horticulturist_ of Riverside, San Bernardino county,
California, we find during a series of years occasional notes and
articles referring to the raisin industry of that section of the
country. As regards the Santa Ana and Orange county district, the
Anaheim _Gazette_ will prove the most reliable guide, as recording the
rise and decline, and, as we believe, also the revival, of the raisin
industry of that section. The Yolo _Democrat_ and the Woodland _Mail_
published at Woodland, Yolo county, have devoted much space to the
raisin industry of that section. In Fresno county the Fresno
_Republican_, between the years 1882 and 1887, contained weekly a
separate department for viticulture and horticulture edited by the
author of this book, and that paper has ever afterwards devoted much
space to recording the progress of the raisin industry of the country.
The Fresno _Expositor_, the oldest paper in Fresno county, has contained
much information about raisin grapes and vineyards since 1873, when the
first raisin-vines were planted in the county. During the period from
1888 to 1890, this paper contained almost daily editorials upon the
raisin industry, mostly contributed by this author.

The California _Fruit Grower_, a weekly horticultural paper mentioned
below, has since its beginning a few years ago made dried fruit its
specialty, and has contained many important articles on our industry,
and in its columns may be found the most reliable raisin statistics
published in this State. The San Francisco _Examiner_ contained in 1888
a series of articles on raisins, contributed by this author. The San
Francisco _Chronicle_ has from time to time given much space to the
raisin industry, and its horticultural editor, George F. Weeks, has most
ably contributed to the dissemination of knowledge about our California
raisins. A special raisin edition of this paper appeared February 2,
1890. Another San Francisco paper, the _Journal of Commerce_, contains
much information as regards raisin statistics and the progress of the
raisin industry generally, and its files may be consulted with much
interest and profit. Among Eastern journals I wish only to call
attention to the _Fruit Trade Journal_ published at New York up to date
(June, 1890); it contains weekly statistics of raisin sales, etc., all
of great interest to the grower and packer. An important contribution to
the history of the raisin industry is the work by Professor E. J.
Wickson,--“California Fruits, and How to Grow Them.” It contains several
chapters on grapes, most conscientiously written and very reliable. This
book will always remain as a standard work of reference upon the
subject. Professor E. W. Hilgard has during a number of years published
essays upon topics related to our industry, all most valuable to the
practical grower. They are enumerated below.

I may also mention the _Rural Californian_, published in Los Angeles. It
devotes from time to time some space to the raisin industry of the
southern part of the State. In the Reports of the State Board of
Horticultural Commissioners will be found several papers upon the raisin
industry, all mentioned below. Similarly the Reports of the State Board
of Viticultural Commissioners contain several important and very
interesting essays on raisins, etc., which are duly mentioned below. In
these reports we find articles by T. C. White and W. B. West and others,
as well as interesting discussions by growers. The _California_, a
journal of rural industry, which commenced publication this year (1890),
and is issued weekly and monthly, makes the raisin industry a specialty.
It has already contained many articles contributed by our most
successful growers, such as A. D. Barling, T. C. White, A. B. Butler,
Frank Ball, Wm. Forsyth, etc., and also by this author. In the way of
illustrations, California is fortunate to possess a most exquisite work
on grapes. We refer to the very fine colored prints of California grape
varieties published by Edward Bosqui. Among the number are our Muscat of
Alexandria and Seedless Sultana. Each one of these plates is a work of
art, than which there is nothing superior produced anywhere.

Below follows an enumeration of books, which to a greater or less degree
refer to the raisin industry. For access to many of them I am indebted
to the kindness of the proprietor of the Sutro Library, Mr. Adolph
Sutro, of San Francisco, and to his librarian, Mr. George Moss.

  ANSTED, D. T.: Ionian Islands in 1863. London, 1863.

  ARQUIMBAU, JOHN D., United States Consul at Denia: Raisins in Denia.
  United States Consular Reports, No. 41½, pages 681 and 682. 1884. Mr.
  Arquimbau is the largest packer in Valencia.

  AUDIBERT, JOSEPH: Les Raisins Secs. Paris, 1884. This work treats
  almost exclusively of dried grapes imported from Turkey and Greece to
  France for wine-making.

  BALL, FRANK H.: My Work in the Raisin Vineyard. MS. to be published in
  _California_ for July, 1890.

  BARLING, A. D.: Culture and Curing. In Vol. I, No. 4, of monthly
  _California_, a Journal of Rural Industry, El Verano, Cal.; also in
  same weekly No. 14, April 12, 1890.

  BEAUJOUR, F.: Tableau du Commerce de la Grèce. Paris, 1880.

  BLOWERS, R. B.: Report on Raisin-making in California. First Annual
  Report of the State Board of Viticultural Commissioners. San
  Francisco, 1881. Pages 13 to 15.

  BORDE, ANDREW: Breviary of Health. 1542.

  BULLETIN, THE SAN FRANCISCO: Published by Messrs. Pickering and Fitch,
  San Francisco. The Bulletin was the first of the large San Francisco
  papers to devote time and space to the horticultural and viticultural
  interests of California, and its weekly issues between 1875 and 1890
  have been full of valuable information upon these subjects.

  CALIFORNIA, a Journal of Rural Industry: Published by The California
  Company, San Francisco. Gustav Eisen, Horticultural Editor. Contained
  a series of articles on Raisins, by the author, commencing January,
  1890, to date (June, 1890).

  CHAMPIN, AIMÉ: Vine Grafting. Translated by J. H. Wheeler, in Second
  Annual Report of the Chief Executive Viticultural Officer to the Board
  of State Viticultural Commissioners for the year 1882-83, Appendix
  III. Sacramento, 1883.

  CHIPMAN, GEN. N. P.: Report Upon the Fruit Industry of California.
  Published by the Board of Trade. San Francisco, 1889.

  CHRONICLE, THE SAN FRANCISCO: Published by M. H. de Young, San
  Francisco. This large daily paper contains in the weekly and Sunday
  issues much valuable information about horticultural subjects. The
  issue of Feb. 2, 1890, was especially devoted to the raisin industry,
  and was most ably edited by George F. Weeks, its horticultural editor.

  COLMET: Dictionary of the Bible. 1838. Grapes of Eschol, seedless.

  CORYAT, THOMAS: Crudities. London, 1776.

  DAVY, JOHN: Notes and Observations on the Ionian Islands and Malta.
  London, 1842.

  DIRECTORY OF THE GRAPE-GROWERS AND WINE-MAKERS OF CALIFORNIA; compiled
  by the State Board of Viticultural Commissioners of California.
  Sacramento, 1888.

  DODOENS, REMBERT (Dodonaeus Rembertus): Histoire des Plantes. Antwerp,
  1557.

  DOWLEN, E.: Several Reports on the Mysterious Vine Disease to the
  State Board of Viticultural Commissioners of Cal.; published in the
  San Francisco _Merchant and Viticulturist_ during 1889-90. These
  reports of carefully conducted experiments are highly interesting.

  EISEN, GUSTAV: Raisin-grape Growing. A series of articles on the
  Growing, Curing and Packing of Raisin Grapes. Published in the San
  Francisco _Examiner_, both in the daily and weekly, during the months
  of September and October, 1888; also a series of articles on Raisins,
  in _California_ for 1890.

  ENGLISH SOURCES: Under this heading I have referred to a pamphlet on
  Dried Fruits, by an unknown English author, privately printed and
  circulated. The part pertaining to raisins is very detailed and
  contains much information of which I have made free use in this book.
  It was kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. Thomas Nelmes, of Pasadena.
  The book being without title and the author unknown, I cannot refer to
  it in any other way. The pamphlet appears to have been printed in
  1876.

  EXAMINER, THE SAN FRANCISCO: Published by W. R. Hearst, San Francisco.
  Contained during the months of Sept, and Oct., 1888, a series of
  articles upon Raisin-grape Growing by the author of this book. In
  March, 1890, appeared a special Fresno number, with much information
  about the raisin industry (author unknown).

  FARLOW, W. G.: On the American Grapevine Mildew. Bulletin of the
  Bussey Institution, March, 1876. Boston, Mass.

  GALLOWAY, B. T.: The Journal of Mycology. Published by the U. S.
  Department of Agriculture, Washington. Several volumes published in
  serial to date, 1890. Contains articles on Grape Fungi, etc.

  GRASSET DE SAINT SAUVEUR, JACQUES: Voyage dans les Iles et Possessions
  des Venetiennes. Paris, 1800.

  GROCER AND COUNTRY MERCHANT, THE SAN FRANCISCO: Published by Briggs
  and Harrington, San Francisco. Devotes much attention to raisins, as
  well as to other rural industries of California.

  HACKLUYT, RICHARD, REV.: Principal Navigations, Voyages and
  Discoveries made by the English Nation. London, 1589.

  HARKNESS, H. W.: Fungi on the Pacific Coast. Bulletin of the
  California Academy of Sciences. Vol. II, 1886 to 1887. San Francisco,
  1887.

  HARTEMA, LUDOVICUS DE: In Hakluyt. Principal Navigations, Soc. ed., p.
  77. Mentions seedless raisins from the Town of Reame in Arabia Felix.

  HEAP, G. H., United States Consul-General at Constantinople: Fruit
  Culture in Turkey. United States Consular Reports, No. 41½, pages 726
  to 740. 1884.

  HILGARD, E. W.: Alkali Lands, Irrigation and Drainage, etc. University
  of California, College of Agriculture, Appendix VII, Report for the
  year 1886. Sacramento, 1886.

  ---- Investigation of California Soils. Appendix I, Report of the
  Professor in Charge, etc. University of California, College of
  Agriculture. Sacramento, 1882.

  ---- The Rise of Alkali in the San Joaquin Valley. University of
  California, Agricultural Experimental Station, Berkeley, Cal. Bulletin
  No. 83.

  ---- Abnormal Deposits on Vine Leaves. In _same_. Bulletin No. 70.

  ---- Mysterious Death of Vines. _Same._ Bulletin No. 70.

  ---- Sulphuring of Vines. _Same._ Bulletin No. 56.

  ---- Irrigation, Drainage and Alkali. Bulletin No. 53.

  ---- Examination of Tule, Marsh and Alkali Lands. Bulletin No. 28.

  LE BRUN (or BRUYN) CORNEILLE: Voyage au Levant, Delft, 1700. Mentions
  seedless raisins in Persia.

  LITHGOW, WILLIAM: Adventures and Peregrinations. 1614.

  LOCKE, JOHN: Histoire de la Navigation. Paris, 1722.

  MARSTON, H. C., United States Consul at Malaga: Fruit Culture in
  Malaga. United States Consular Reports, No. 41½ pages 682 to 689.
  1884.

  ---- Malaga Raisins. United States Consular Reports, No. 10.
  Republished in said Reports, No. 41½, pages 691 to 693. 1884.

  MAS ET PULLAT: Le Vignoble. Paris, 1876-77. On page 73, tome I, we
  find a figure of a Muscat of Alexandria with round berries, and which
  undoubtedly is nearly related to the Gordo Blanco. It is not the true
  Muscat of Alexandria. As synonyms are given Gordo Blanco and (Don
  Simon Roxas is referred to as authority) also Uva Zibeba. The latter
  is undoubted the same as our Muscat of Alexandria. Another synonym is
  Muscatel Romano, which again is only another name for Gordo Blanco.
  The French authors have undoubtedly everywhere confounded the two
  varieties. In the same work, page 31, tome I, we also find the White
  Corinth referred to as the currant grape of Zante, which is erroneous.

  MORYSON, FYNES: Itinerary, containing Twelve Years’ Travels through
  Turkey, France, etc. 1617.

  NIEBUHR, CARSTENS: Description de l’Arabie (Trans, from German).
  Copenhague, 1773. Mentions “Kishmish” seedless raisins from Arabia.

  NOUVEAU DUHAMEL ou Traité des Arbres et Arbustes. Paris, 1815. On pl.
  No. 65, tome 7, figures Muscat d’Alexandria. This variety differs from
  our Muscat of Alexandria by having the berries less tapering, like
  the “Malaga.” On pl. 72, tome 7. there is a figure of White Corinth,
  but the bunch is too loose to be characteristic.

  PACIFIC RURAL PRESS: Edited by Prof. E. J. Wickson. Published by Dewey
  & Co., San Francisco; weekly. It contains in its pages occasional
  references to the raisin industry. The issue of Mays, 1877, contained
  an article on Huasco Grapes of Chile.

  PALLAS: Voyages dans pl. Provinces de l’Empire de Russie. I, b 13,
  “Kyshmish” seedless raisin grapes from Astrachan.

  PIERCE, N. B.: The Mysterious Vine Disease. Essay read before the
  State Horticultural Convention in Los Angeles, March, 1890. Published
  in _California_, a Journal of Rural Industry, Vol. III. No. 18, pages
  2 and 3, 1890.

  PLINIUS: Historia Naturalis. Lib. xiv cap. iv, _a_, mentions _raisins_
  such as Duracinæ and Amineans; cap. ii, _b_, Muscadella and Apiariæ;
  _c_, Corinth grapes.

  RANDOLPH, BERNARD: Present State of Morea, Island of Zante, etc. 1689.

  REPORTS OF THE STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA: First Raisins
  Produced in California. Sacramento, 1863. Page 88.

  REPORTS OF THE STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE OF CALIFORNIA: Biennial
  Report for 1885 and 1886; also Appendix for 1887. Sacramento, 1887.

  ---- Third Biennial Report. Sacramento, 1888.

  ---- Official Report of the Tenth Fruit-growers’ Convention of the
  State of California, etc. Sacramento, 1889.

  ---- Official Report of the Eleventh Fruit-growers’ Convention, etc.
  Sacramento, 1889.

  ---- Annual Report of the State Board of Horticulture. Sacramento,
  1890.

  RICHARDSON, CHARLES: Dictionary of the English Language. 1836.

  ROXAS, DON SIMON: Essai sur les Variétés de Vignes de l’Andalusia.
  Gordo Blanco is here designated as the raisin grape of Malaga.

  SCRIBNER, F. LAMSON: Report to the Mycological Section of the
  Department of Agriculture. In the Reports of the Department of
  Agriculture. Washington, D. C., 1886.

  STEVENS, W. E., United States Consul at Smyrna: Fruit Culture in Asia
  Minor. Pages 744 to 748 of United States Consular Reports, No. 41½.
  June, 1884.

  STURTEVANT, E. LEWIS: Seedless Fruits. Memoirs Torrey Bot. Club, Vol.
  I, No. 4. New York, 1890.

  TABLADO, JOSÉ HIDALGO: Tratato del Cultivo de la Vid, y Modo de
  Mejorarla. Madrid, 1873. This, the standard authority on viticulture
  in Spanish, refers only briefly to the Gordo Blanco as the raisin
  grape of Malaga, and gives as synonyms Muscatel Romano and Muscatel
  Real, but the description of the grape is unsatisfactory.

  TAVERNIER, JEAN BAPTISTE: Six Voyages in Turquie, etc. 1676.

  THE CALIFORNIA FRUIT-GROWER: Published by B. N. Rowley, San Francisco;
  weekly Horticultural Journal. Contained during 1889 and 1890 several
  articles on raisins, among others: White Muscat of Alexandria, in No.
  2, Vol. VI; Statistics of Malaga Raisins; also article on Currants, by
  L. C. Crowe, etc.

  VERNGE, F. DE LA: Mémoire sur la Maladie de la Vigne. Bordeaux, 1853.
  I Pl.

  WARNER, RICHARD: Antiquitates Culinariæ, 1791. Mentions “The Forme of
  Curry,” 1390. a work in which “Raysons of Coraunte” are first
  mentioned in English.

  WEST, W. B.: Raisin-making in Spain. First Annual Report of the State
  Viticultural Commissioners. San Francisco, 1881. Pages 33 to 39.

  ---- Raisins and Shipping Grapes. Essay read before the Third Annual
  State Viticultural Convention in San Francisco, December, 1884.
  Published by the San Francisco _Merchant_ in 1884.

  WHEELER, J. H.: Bleaching Seedless Sultana Raisins. Annual Report of
  the Board of State Viticultural Commissioners for 1887. Sacramento,
  1888.

  ---- Grafting to Muscats. Appendix 14 to the Annual Report of the
  Chief Executive Viticultural Officer for the year 1888. Sacramento,
  1888. Contains reports from forty-eight grape-growers as regards their
  views and success with the grafting of muscats.

  WHELER, SIR GEORGE: Journey in Greece. 1682.

  WHITE, T. C.: Raisins--Drying, Packing and Preparing for the Market.
  Report of Sixth Annual State Viticultural Convention of California.
  Sacramento, 1888.

  WICKSON, E. J.: California Fruits, and How to Grow Them. Dewey & Co.,
  San Francisco, 1889. This, the standard work on fruit-growing in
  California, contains much reliable information about the raisin
  industry of California.




INDEX


                                                                    PAGE
  Acarnania                                                           29
  Acres in Raisins                                               48, 169
  Ætolico                                                             29
  Agrotis                                                            101
  Aidin                                                               31
  Albuñol                                                             12
  Alfilerilla                                                         99
  Algarve                                                              9
  Alicante                                                        10, 15
  Alkali                                                              72
  Andalusia                                                         8, 9
  Antidotes for Alkali                                            74, 75
  Arabs                                                               22
  Argentine Republic                                                  59
  Argos                                                               29
  Arizona                                                            134
  Armona                                                             214
  Arquimbau, J. D.                                                    21
  Arundo donax                                                        20
  Ash-trough                                                         131
  Assorting                                                     138, 159
  Austin, M. F.                                             39, 122, 210
  Australia 11,                                                       59
  Australian Salt Bush                                                74
  Average Price                                                       21

  Back-furrowing                                                     115
  Bag-holders                                                        157
  Bags                                                               151
  Bairdir                                                             31
  Ball, Frank H.                                                213, 216
  Barling, A. D.                                                213, 216
  Baskets                                                             18
  Bearing Quality                                                     79
  Belvidere                                                    9, 10, 36
  Bermuda Grass                                                       74
  Bidwell, Gen. J.                                                    44
  Bittern                                                             73
  Borates                                                             72
  Boxes 156,                                                         180
  Brands of Raisins                                               15, 51
  Briggs, G. G.                                      38, 41, 42, 89, 208
  Black Currants                                                      90
  Black-knot                                                         102
  Black Smyrnas                                                       10
  Bleeding 26,                                                       128
  Blowers, R. B.                                        38, 42, 208, 209
  Bluestone                                                           95
  Butler, A. B.                                   20, 126, 211, 212, 216
  Butte County                                                        44

  Calcium Chloride                                                    73
  Calabrian Raisins                                            9, 10, 36
  California                                                          97
  California Dipped                                              10, 149
  California Malagas                                                  10
  California Raisin Districts                                         38
  California Sultanas                                                 10
  California Sun-dried                                           10, 133
  Cañezos                                                             20
  Canvas Covering                                               145, 146
  Carabourna                                                     31, 176
  Carbonate of Lime                                               72, 74
  Care of Currant Cuttings                                        25, 27
  Care of Vines in Smyrna                                             32
  Cartoons                                                           156
  Cascalina Currants                                                  30
  Castellon                                                           15
  Castille                                                             8
  Catacolo                                                            30
  Catcher                                                            140
  Caterpillars                                                       100
  Cephalonia                                                      27, 29
  Chains                                                             131
  Chaintre System                                                    127
  Chandler, S. R.                                                    121
  Chapman, W. S.                                                      38
  Chemicals                                                           74
  Chenopodium                                                         74
  Chesme Raisins                                         10, 31, 34, 176
  Chico                                                               44
  Chile Guano                                                         13
  Chile Raisins                                                   11, 36
  Chios                                                               23
  Choice Layers                                                       15
  Clark, R. G.                                                        39
  Clay for Grafting                                                   26
  Cleaning                                                      137, 160
  Cleats                                                             149
  Climate                         12, 17, 30, 37, 40, 41, 48, 56, 60, 67
  Coast Vineyards                                                 66, 67
  College City                                                        44
  Collins, W. E.                                                      48
  Color                                                               79
  Colure                                                          57, 93
  Colusa County                                                       44
  Consumption of Currants                                             29
  Cooking                                                        18, 139
  Cooper, Ellwood                                                    147
  Copper Sulphate                                                     95
  Corauntz                                                             6
  Corens                                                               6
  Corinth                                                          7, 22
  Corone                                                              29
  Cortez of Cadiz                                                      8
  Corynthe                                                             7
  Cos                                                             31, 67
  Cost of Valencia Raisins                                           176
  Cost of Vineyards                                          28, 35, 113
  Cotton Sacks                                                        51
  Covering                                                      123, 145
  Cowdung                                                             27
  Crimea                                                              38
  Crocker-Huffman Reservoir                                          188
  Crop                                           40, 42, 47, 50, 54, 169
  Cropping                                                            74
  Cross-plowing                                                      115
  Crow, L. C.                                                         29
  Crusades                                                        11, 23
  Cucamonga                                                           48
  Cullera                                                             15
  Cultivation                                                   115, 131
  Curing                            18, 27, 30, 33, 37, 54, 58, 133, 151
  Currants                            6, 10, 22, 106, 109, 110, 111, 178
  Cutter-sleds                                                  116, 131
  Cuttings                                                           179

  Damage to Raisins                                                   61
  Davy, Dr.                                                           61
  Dehesa Raisins                                    7, 9, 13, 15, 87, 90
  Deilephila                                                         100
  Delano                                                              45
  Delmas, A. and D. M.                                                38
  Denia                                                        9, 15, 16
  Dibble                                                             130
  Dipped Raisins                                      6, 10, 19, 33, 149
  Discoloration                                                      139
  Diseases                                                    16, 73, 93
  Disposing of Crop at Denia                                          20
  Distances of Vines                             13, 18, 25, 30, 46, 104
  Dodoens                                                              7
  Double Plow                                                        114
  Dowlen, E.                                                          97
  Downy Mildew                                                        95
  Drainage                                                            84
  Dried Grapes                                                        10
  Dryers                                                             147
  Drying                           14, 20, 22, 33, 37, 58, 133, 139, 151
  Drying Floors                                             14, 146, 147
  Drying in the Shade                                                 10
  Dry Season                                                          60
  Duracinæ                                                            22
  Duty                                                          177, 178

  Eisen Vineyard                                                      38
  El Cajon                                 39, 55, 62, 63, 134, 195, 196
  Elche                                                               15
  Elemê Raisins                                                       10
  Elevating the Trays                                                142
  Equality Price                                                      21
  Equalizing                                                         162
  Erodium                                                             99
  Erythroneura                                                    42, 98
  Escondido                                                           59
  Estremadura                                                          8
  Etiwanda                                                        48, 52
  Exhausting the Soil                                                 76
  Exports                                               22, 34, 115, 176
  Extent of District                                          15, 30, 45

  Facing                                                        157, 160
  Fall Rains                                                          60
  Faro Raisins                                                        10
  Feher Szagos                                                        92
  Fertilizing                                                         75
  Figliatra                                                           29
  Figs                                                          177, 178
  Filling                                                            166
  Finest Dehesa                                                       15
  First Crop                                                         135
  Flat Stacking                                                      143
  Flavor                                                              90
  Flooding                                                            81
  Floreal Vineyard                                                    89
  Fogs                                                            46, 66
  Follower                                                           157
  Foreign Districts                                                   10
  Forsyth, Wm.                                              39, 212, 216
  Fowler                                                         45, 214
  Frames                                                             156
  Freeman, George A.                                                  89
  Fresno                                 39, 44, 134, 184, 185, 186, 187
  Frost                                                               63
  Furrowing for Irrigation                                            82

  Gandia                                                          16, 22
  Gargaliano                                                          29
  Gastuni                                                             29
  Gila River Valley                                              59, 134
  Glauber Salt                                                        73
  Goodman, J. T.                                             39, 88, 211
  Gordo Blanco                                        13, 45, 50, 87, 88
  Gould, E.                                                           41
  Grading                                                  151, 153, 164
  Grafting                                                       25, 117
  Graham, George                                                      21
  Grasset, St. Sauveur                                                23
  Grasshoppers                                                       102
  Great Reasons                                                        5
  Grecian Islands                                                  9, 74
  Gridley                                                             44
  Grocers Company                                                      6
  Guadalaviar                                                         18
  Gypsum                                                          73, 75

  Hakluyt                                                         23, 24
  Happy Valley                                                        44
  Haraszthy, A.                                                       38
  Hardpan Soils                                                   70, 71
  Harkness, W. H.                                             95, 96, 97
  Harrowing                                                          179
  Health of Vines                                                     79
  Heap, G. H.                                                     34, 67
  Heat for Drying                                                    139
  Highlands                                                           48
  Hilgard, E. W.                                                     216
  Historical                                                       5, 22
  Hoeing                                                        117, 131
  Holland                                                          7, 29
  Huasco Raisins                                                  36, 89
  Hurdles                                                             61

  Ideal Conditions                                                    67
  Imbat                                                               31
  Imperial Clusters                                                   47
  Imperial Dehesa                                                     15
  Importation                                                30, 38, 179
  Injury to Raisins                                              65, 139
  Insect Pests                                                        93
  Ionian Islands                                              23, 26, 61
  Irrigation                              17, 18, 37, 49, 54, 60, 77, 85
  Italian Raisins                                                     36
  Ithaca                                                          24, 29

  Jabea                                                               16
  Jackson, Byron                                                     150
  Jalon                                                               16
  Jaraco                                                              16
  Jerrea                                                              16
  Jucar River                                                         18

  Kalamata                                                        29, 30
  Karabournou                                                         31
  Kaweah River                                                        46
  Kells, R. C.                                                       121
  Kern                                                       45, 46, 134
  Kettles                                                            150
  Kyparissia                                                          29

  Labeling Press                                                     157
  Labels                                                             169
  Labor                                                               15
  Labors of the Year                                                 124
  La Mancha                                                       14, 65
  Land Scraper                                                       105
  Land Plaster                                                        73
  Large Black Raisins                                                 35
  Large Red Raisins                                                   35
  Latitudes                                                           60
  Leaching                                                            73
  Leaf-hopper                                                 42, 57, 98
  Leon                                                                 8
  Lepanto                                                         23, 29
  Lerdo                                                               45
  Levante                                                             65
  Lever-press                                                        155
  Lexias                                                       9, 10, 15
  Ligudista                                                           29
  Limits of Raisin Districts                                          60
  Lipari                                                       9, 22, 36
  Literature                                          215, 216, 217, 218
  Lithgow                                                             24
  Lixivium                                                             9
  Location                                                        12, 60
  Locke, J.                                                           23
  London Layers                                                       15
  Longevity of Vines                                                  70
  Loose Raisins                                                  21, 158
  Lye                                                            19, 149
  Lye-dipped                                                           9
  Lyeometer                                                           34

  Machine-dried Raisins                                                9
  Madeira                                                             94
  Madera                                                              45
  Magnesium Chloride                                                  73
  Malaga                                      7, 9, 12, 15, 91, 134, 176
  Malaga (Cal.)                                                       45
  Mai Nero                                                        64, 98
  Marking out Vineyard                                               105
  Manilla Paper                                                 158, 180
  Manuring                                                            13
  Marbella                                                            12
  McPherson Bros.                                                 39, 55
  McPherson, Robert                                                  209
  Mediterranean Basin                                                 11
  Merced                                                     45, 46, 182
  Merino                                                               8
  Mesta                                                                8
  Mildew                                                              93
  Mirabelle Vineyard                                                  30
  Mission Vines                                                       98
  Missolonghi                                                         29
  Modern Raisin District                                              11
  Modone                                                              29
  Moisture                                                        54, 66
  Morea                                                       23, 27, 29
  Moryson, Fynes                                                      24
  Moors                                                        7, 16, 22
  Moss, Geo.                                                         216
  Murcia                                                               8
  Musca                                                                7
  Muscatels                                   6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 43, 87
  Muscat of Alexandria                                16, 50, 57, 87, 88
  Mussel Slough                                                       44

  Nailing                                                            167
  Nathaligo                                                           24
  Nauplia                                                         29, 30
  Naxos                                                               23
  Neglected Vines                                                    137
  Nice, Climate of                                                    12
  Nisi                                                                29
  Northern Raisin Districts                                           43
  North, J. W.                                                    39, 52

  Off-stalk                                                           21
  Oidium                                                              93
  Oleander                                                           214
  Olive Oil                                                          150
  Olivo                                                               16
  Olympia                                                             29
  Ondara                                                              16
  On-stalk                                                            21
  Ontario                                                         48, 52
  Orange County                                    39, 52, 145, 146, 189
  Orland                                                              44

  Packing-frames                                                     156
  Packing-house                                  153, 205, 206, 207, 214
  Packing Raisins                                  14, 20, 151, 160, 164
  Palermo                                                             44
  Pantellaria                                                         36
  Paper                                                              158
  Pasas                                                               22
  Pasture Lands                                                        8
  Patras                                                          24, 29
  Pedreguer                                                           16
  Pergos                                                              29
  Peronospora                                                         95
  Petrasso                                                            24
  Philampelus                                                        100
  Phœnician                                                           16
  Pickers                                                            137
  Picking                                                       135, 180
  Pierce, N. B.                                                       97
  Placer County                                                       43
  Planting                                           18, 25, 41, 53, 104
  Planting-bar                                                   88, 130
  Plowing                                                            114
  Plows                                                              131
  Portugal                                                            15
  Powdery Mildew                                                      93
  Preparing Land                                                      25
  Presses                                                            155
  Prices                                    34, 38 52, 58, 115, 170, 179
  Prodenia                                                           101
  Production                                                      22, 34
  Profits                                                     51, 55, 53
  Pruning                             13, 18, 26, 47, 124, 128, 131, 180
  Pupæ                                                               100
  Pylia                                                               30
  Pylos                                                               29

  Quality of Raisins                                          18, 57, 79

  Racemus                                                              5
  Radiator                                                           147
  Rain                                                    12, 32, 55, 61
  Raisin Districts                                                    10
  Raisin Grapes                                                       87
  Raisin Packers                                                     214
  Raisins                                                              5
  Raisins, Import of                                                 178
  Raisin Vineyards                                           30, 38, 104
  Raysins of Corauntz                                                 23
  Reasons                                                              5
  Red Currants                                                        91
  Redding                                                             44
  Redlands                                             48, 202, 203, 204
  Red Raisins                                                   176, 177
  Red Spider                                                         100
  Retoria                                                             16
  Reversing                                                          141
  Reysin                                                               5
  Ringing the Branches                                           27, 123
  Rinsing                                                            150
  Ripeness                                                           135
  Ripening                                                    31, 33, 50
  Riverside                                   39, 48, 134, 199, 200, 201
  Roberts, Lewis                                                      22
  Ronda                                                               12
  Roof-stacking                                                      143
  Rooted Vines                                             106, 112, 179
  Root-pruning                                                       129
  Rosedale                                                            45
  Rosine                                                               5
  Ross, Newton                                                        51
  Rotterdam Colony                                                   182
  Royal, Finest Dehesa                                                15

  Saccharine                                                         134
  Salt                                                                73
  Salt River Valley                                                  134
  Samos                                                               31
  San Bernardino                                                  39, 48
  San Diego                                                      55, 192
  Sandy Soils                                                         70
  Sanger                                                              45
  San Joaquin Valley                                             44, 181
  Santa Ana                                    14, 52, 55, 134, 145, 190
  Santa Maura                                                     24, 29
  Scalding                                                            19
  Scales                                                             154
  Seabreezes                                                          31
  Secadero                                                            19
  Second Crop                                                        136
  Seedless Grapes                                                  9, 90
  Seepage                                                             84
  Selma                                                          45, 214
  Sequero                                                             14
  Shasta County                                                       44
  Sheep’s-foot                                                   88, 130
  Slanting the Trays                                                 142
  Smirna                                                               9
  Smyrna Raisins                                             10, 30, 176
  Soils           12, 16, 25, 37, 41, 45, 49, 53, 56, 60, 67, 68, 69, 70
  Solano                                                              41
  Solis                                                            9, 10
  Spades                                                             131
  Spring Frost                                                        64
  Spring Rain                                                     60, 62
  Stabler, B. G.                                                      89
  Stacking                                                      142, 144
  Stanchio                                                            31
  Stationers Company                                                   6
  Statistics                                                         169
  Stems                                                              136
  Stemming                                            151, 154, 158, 180
  Stevens, W. E.                                              32, 35, 61
  Stock for Grafting                                                 121
  Strentzel, Dr. J.                                                  138
  Subirrigation                                                       83
  Subsoil                                                             70
  Suckering                                                          129
  Sulphates                                                           73
  Sulphuring                                           47, 121, 131, 180
  Sultana Raisins                                 6, 9, 10, 45, 135, 177
  Summer Pruning                                                     128
  Sun-dried Raisins                                                9, 10
  Surface Water                                                       48
  Sutro, Adolph                                                      216
  Sutro Library                                                      216
  Sutter County                                                       43
  Sweatboxes                                                    148, 180
  Sweat-house                                                        153
  Sweating                                                           162
  Sweetwater Valley                                               55, 59

  Taking-up                                                          143
  Tehama County                                                       44
  Temperature                                                     31, 48
  Terral                                                              18
  Thermalito                                                          44
  Thinning the Grapes                                                123
  Thompson Seedless                                           10, 43, 91
  Tin Boxes                                                          158
  Tools                                                         106, 130
  Tray-catcher                                                       140
  Trays                                                20, 148, 156, 157
  Trieste                                                             29
  Trifylla                                                            30
  Trimming                                                           167
  Trucks                                              131, 137, 157, 160
  Tulare                                                         45, 214
  Turkish Raisins                                                     92
  Turning                                                       140, 180
  Tying-over                                                         122
  Tyra                                                                31

  Uncinula                                                        93, 94
  Uva Alexandria                                                      11
  Uva Apiariæ                                                      7, 11
  Uva Muscæ                                                           11
  Uva Passa                                                           26
  Uva Zibeba                                                          11

  Valencia raisins                               9, 10, 15, 21, 175, 176
  Varieties of Grapes                                         13, 35, 37
  Velez Malaga                                                         8
  Venetians                                                            6
  Vergel                                                              16
  Villa Joyosa                                                        15
  Vine Plague                                                         96
  Vostizza                                                        24, 29
  Vourla                                                         31, 176

  Ward, C. T.                                                         89
  Weed-cutter                                                        116
  Weeks, George F.                                                   216
  Weighing                                                           164
  West, W. B.                                                        216
  White Corinths                                                  45, 91
  White, T. C.                               38, 122, 156, 209, 210, 216
  Wickson, E. J.                                                     216
  Winds                                                               65
  World’s Production                                                 177

  Yerly                                                          31, 176
  Yield                                                           13, 55
  Yolo                                                                41
  Yuba                                                                43

  Zante                                                           23, 29
  Zea                                                                 67




Additional Notes for 1890.


The first crop suffered considerably from mildew and climatic conditions
unfavorable to the setting of the grapes. The second crop, however, is
large and very good, and altogether the yield is a satisfactory one. The
prices have ruled higher than before and raisins in sweatboxes have been
contracted for readily at from 5½ to 6½ cents per pound or even higher.
Wine grapes dried here sold for 3 to 4 cents per pound, and Malaga and
Feherszagos raisins have brought from 4 to 5 cents. No such prosperous
year has before been experienced by the raisin men of this State, and
reports come in that many growers are realizing from $250 to $450 per
acre from vines in full bearing.

The weather all through the summer has been unusually temperate and thus
very favorable to the full development of the grapes, and so far the
drying weather has been very favorable for the proper curing of the
raisins. Many new packing houses have been established, and the crop is
being better cared for than in previous years. The health and general
condition of the vines is better than it was last year and the vine
plague is less virulent, and according to some reports even on the
retrograde. The demand for the raisin product has never been as large as
now and there will apparently be no surplus left over, as the demand is
rapidly increasing. The above refers especially to the central part of
the State, to Merced, Fresno, Tulare and Kern counties, where the
prosperous season will encourage increased planting. In Southern
California the crop will be fair both in quality and quantity. In El
Cajon valley it is reported as very good, and as being one-half larger
than last year. Prices here ruled to begin with at from 4½ to 5 cents
but rose rapidly to 5½ and 6 cents in sweatboxes.

The duty on raisins has this fall been raised from 2 cents to 2½ cents
per pound, which insures an additional profit to the raisin men.

       *       *       *       *       *


_Rain-fall of 1889-90._--The rain-fall of 1889-90 in the Central and
Northern raisin districts of California was as follows:

  ======+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+======
        |Oct.|Nov.|Dec.|Jan.|Feb.|Mar.|Apr.|May.|Total.
  ------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------
  Fresno|3.10|1.43|3.80|2.16| .65| .92| .29| .25|12.60
  Tulare|4.17| .43|2.60|2.75| .74| .81| .22| .20|11.92
  Kern  |2.04| .22|1.75|1.20| .16| .24|    | .06| 5.67
  Yolo  |8.14|3.04|9.62|6.36|3.69|3.35|1.60|2.21|37.41
  Yuba  |5.87|3.73|9.01|4.44|4.65|6.71|1.85|2.55|38.81
  ======+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+======

The above figures are from the “tables of rainfall in the principal
agricultural counties” of California, compiled and published by Albert
Montpelier, Esq., Manager of the Grangers’ Bank, San Francisco, but no
report is made of the rain-fall in the counties of San Bernardino and
San Diego, and statistics of those counties are not at hand.

       *       *       *       *       *


_Duty on Raisins._--The revised tariff of 1890 makes the duty on
imported raisins 2½ cents per pound, an increase of ½ cent on the old
schedule. Currants, Zante and others, are now on the free list and pay
no duty.




  ~RAISIN BOXES, RAISIN TRAYS, SWEAT BOXES.~

  KINGS RIVER LUMBER CO.,

  SANGER, FRESNO COUNTY, CAL.

  San Francisco Office, 109 California St., San Francisco, California.

  Manufacturer of and Wholesale and Retail Dealer in all kinds of

  Lumber, Boxes, Doors, Sash, Blinds and Mouldings.

  This Company has at Sanger the best appointed Box Factory, Door, Sash
  and Blind Factory and Planing Mill in the State.

  Special Mill Work of all kinds Estimated on and Furnished.

  [Illustration: BOXES]

  ALL KINDS OF BOXES MANUFACTURED AND IN ANY QUANTITY RAISIN AND ORANGE
  BOXES A SPECIALTY.

  This Company manufactures, at its works at Sanger, Raisin Boxes of all
  sizes from the very best of Sugar Pine, cut from its own lands, which
  for quality of material, perfection of workmanship and printing have
  no equal.

  THE COMPANY HAS AT ALL TIMES IN STOCK AND FOR SALE

  LUMBER OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS, GRAPE STICKS, POSTS, SHINGLES, SHAKES,
  PICKETS AND LATH.

  ORDERS SOLICITED AND PROMPTLY EXECUTED.

       *       *       *       *       *


  [Illustration: WATER TOWER AT LAKE YOSEMITE.]

  YOSEMITE COLONY.

  This Colony is two miles from Merced City, California. Merced, from
  its fine fountains, is now known as “The Fountain City.” It is the
  county seat of Merced County. The Southern Pacific Railroad, a
  transcontinental line, passes through this place, from San Francisco
  to New York. The Oakdale Line from the north also starts from Merced
  City, giving direct communication by rail with Sacramento Valley,
  Oregon, Washington, and all points north. Merced City is the nearest
  point in the San Joaquin Valley to the great Yosemite Park, and
  commands the only passable railroad route to this “World’s Greatest
  Wonder.” Merced City also lies in a direct line from Yosemite, through
  Pacheco Pass, in the Coast Range, to Del Monte, on the Bay of
  Monterey. These great natural advantages are now being developed on a
  scale commensurate with nature’s own great gifts. The largest and most
  costly irrigating canal in the United States has been completed, and
  is now discharging the crystal snow waters, fresh from the Yosemite
  Falls, into Lake Yosemite, one mile from this colony. Thus we find
  ourselves in the possession of a combination of nature and art, which
  present advantages in climate, health, water privileges, wealth of
  soil and their productions which are not as fully possessed by any
  other locality in California. And, as an enduring crown to our
  prosperity, we point to the late Act of Congress of the United States
  in setting apart the Yosemite Park, with her giant Sequoia and
  sugar-pine forests, insuring and perpetuating the annual snow and rain
  on the watershed of our canal system. The Yosemite Colony contains
  about 5,000 acres, and is beautifully situated by the side of Lake
  Yosemite, and bounded on the north by the fine Colony of Rotterdam.
  “The Yosemite” was the first colony subdivided and placed on the
  market after the perfection of our irrigating system, two years ago;
  and a large main ditch was then brought by the proprietor from Lake
  Yosemite to and through these lands. Young Orange Groves, Almonds,
  Prunes and Apricots, Figs, Pomegranates, Peaches, etc., etc., have
  already been planted; also several fine young Raisin Vineyards, of
  only two years’ growth, which this autumn produced raisins of the most
  superior quality. The soil is from four to twelve feet in depth, with
  under strata of heavy, rich clay, which will always insure an
  abundance of moisture, when with proper irrigation. These lands are
  all free from alkali, and about one-half of them situated on the rich,
  alluvial plain; the other half are gently rolling, and extend into the
  red gravelly soils, so much prized for Olives, Oranges, Lemons, Wine
  Grapes and Strawberries, while the lower levels are especially prized
  for the famous Muscat Raisin Grape, as well as for the Prune, Almond,
  Pear, Apricot, Alfalfa and Vegetables. Merced City, situated one
  hundred and fifty miles from San Francisco by rail,--one hundred miles
  from the coast,--in the center of the San Joaquin Valley, is also the
  exact geographical center of the State--north, south, east and west.

  We are not offering you land that has not been thoroughly tested to
  produce what we advertise. Neither are we offering you hog wallows,
  salt grass and alkali flats; but we offer you a block out of one of
  the richest fields of California. As to health, we challenge the whole
  world to surpass us. Our locality is free from malaria; and fogs in
  summer and autumn are unknown in this dry and equable climate. Not
  only is our locality free from fog, and fanned by the gentle
  invigorating sea-breezes from the south and southwest, but we are
  protected from the harsh, desiccating northwest winds, offering a
  retreat to the weak and ailing; and its rich and attractive location
  contributes greatly to its charms.

  For scenic beauty it has but few, if any, superiors in California.
  Standing at the lake, or on any other elevated point on the Colony, a
  most inspiring panorama is presented to the eye. The vision reaches
  one hundred and fifty miles south and east, and takes in the ever
  snow-capped Sierra Nevada; thence south and southwest we follow the
  long blue line of the Coast Range to the Mt. Diablo, one hundred and
  thirty miles to the northwest, in the vicinity of San Francisco.
  Looking to the north and east, you see looming up the grand Sierra
  Nevada, with its mantles of perpetual snow, seemingly so near in the
  pure air that, although it is one hundred miles to the summit,
  strangers are almost tempted to quit the green colony fields and visit
  them as an afternoon stroll.

  A fine school-house has been erected on the Colony, at a cost of
  $5,000, and is now in good working order. Trees of one and two years’
  growth border most of the avenues, including Palms, Locust, Olive,
  Magnolia, Eucalyptus, Mulberry, etc., etc.

  Under our irrigation system the owner of the land purchases water from
  the Canal Company which is filed in the County Recorder’s books, and
  is then inseparable from the land, and is always conveyed as a part of
  the realty.

  We now offer you this land, together with perpetual water-right, at
  from $150 to $200 per acre, according to quality and location. No land
  will be deeded to any persons except actual settlers. As inducements
  to families, we will plow and prepare the land ready for planting, as
  our aim is to settle these lands with families. Payments may be made
  in installments to suit purchasers. We make the following liberal
  offer to those who do not feel able to pay cash for the land: The
  purchaser is to build and occupy a neat and substantial cottage; also
  build all needed outhouses, paint or whitewash the same, and plant the
  land to such trees and fruits as may be agreed to be the best. This
  done the first payment will be deferred for five years, one-quarter to
  be paid annually thereafter. Said sum agreed to be paid to bear eight
  per cent interest per annum from date of sale. Deed will be given
  purchaser when he builds and plants, and the purchase price secured by
  mortgage on the premises. A family with from $1,500 to $2,000 to make
  their improvements can settle down and safely wait until their fruits
  or raisin vineyard come into bearing. The whole purchase price should
  be produced from the lands the fifth year.

  For those who have not experience, or are desirous of avoiding the
  expense of team and tools, we will plant, cultivate, irrigate and care
  for their orchard and vineyard until it comes into bearing. It will be
  worth about $25 per acre to furnish and plant the first year, and $10
  to $15 per acre each year thereafter. The above figures mean
  compensation for good, first-class work.

  We have already some fine planted tracts for sale, embracing Raisin
  Vineyards, that will come into bearing next year (1891), also young
  Orange Groves, as well as deciduous Fruit Orchards. We also aim to
  keep a vacant cottage on the Colony, for the accommodation of each
  newcomer until such time as he can build on a lot of his own choice.
  Deciduous Fruit Trees can be planted commencing January 1st, and as
  late as the 1st of April. Orange Trees in March and April. Grape
  vines, rooted or cuttings, should be planted in February or March.
  Peaches and Apricots will bear light crops the third year. Pears,
  Almonds, Figs and Oranges will begin to bear the fourth year. Raisins
  begin to bear, from the cuttings, in the third year. One year’s time
  is gained by planting rooted vines. It is safe to expect $50 per acre
  the third year from rooted vines, and $100 per acre the fourth year,
  at least, gross product. A respectable cottage should be built, with
  from four to five rooms, at a cost of from $500 to $800; barn, $200.
  One pair of horses and harness, $150; milch cow, $25; tools, $25; wood
  is high, $7 per cord; flour, $3 to $4 per barrel of 200 lbs.; beef,
  from 6 cts. to 10 cts. per lb.; hens, from $5 to $7 per dozen; eggs,
  from 25 cts. to 50 cts. per dozen; building lumber, $25 per M. in the
  valley or farming sections of the State. Male labor on the farm, $30
  per month, except four or five months in the summer, when they receive
  $1.50 to $2 per day. Female labor has never been ample, and commands
  from $20 to $30 per month. Families coming out here can bring with
  profit all clothing, bed-clothing, table cutlery and such articles as
  would not be bulky. Large furniture or farming implements will not
  bear transportation.

  The very favorable conditions existing for small farming in this rich
  valley of California, where water can be obtained to render crops
  certain, are not generally known in the East and Europe. For instance,
  our breadstuffs (wheat) must be shipped around Cape Horn to Liverpool
  to find a market. Beef and pork the same. Our wool also has to go
  around the Horn or across the Continent. The consequence is that the
  fruit farmer eats the cheapest bread and beefsteak of any people in
  the world. Our woolen mills are able to furnish the finest and
  cheapest clothing worn. Labor is high, and everything the small farmer
  produces is high, including poultry, vegetables and fruit, and will
  always be so. The big farmer can’t get at this business with his steam
  engine and long sickle. We can close Europe and the United States out
  of the fruit-producing business, and force them to become consumers.
  Why? Because of the certainty of our crops, and because we have the
  whole valley for a drying house.

  Address or call upon the undersigned, owners and proprietors,

  V. C. W. HOOPER &. SON,

  MERCED, MERCED COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

       *       *       *       *       *


  EISEN & STEWART,

  Real Estate and Horticultural Land Brokers,

  * DELANO, *

  KERN COUNTY,  ----  CALIFORNIA.

  ~We make horticultural lands a specialty, and offer special bargains
  in the Kern and Tulare Irrigation District, and in the Poso Irrigation
  District. These lands are suited to Olives, Raisins, Oranges, other
  fruits and alfalfa. They are now cheap, but will soon rise in value,
  and become as high priced as any in the State.~

  ~We also attend to the business of absent owners, and we guarantee
  satisfaction.~

  ~_Correspondence solicited._~

       *       *       *       *       *


  THE

  YOST WRITING MACHINE

  Acknowledged by Experts to be The Best.

  ~THE YOST is full of New and Valuable Improvements, and is guaranteed
  to do as represented~.

  FOR CATALOGUES, TESTIMONIALS, ETC., SEND TO

  J. P. MIGHELL & CO.

  413 MONTGOMERY STREET

  SAN FRANCISCO,      CALIFORNIA.

       *       *       *       *       *


  Thompson’s Seedless Grape

  MAKES ABSOLUTELY

  SEEDLESS RAISINS

  The very best for Culinary Use!

  This Grape has been thoroughly tested in California, having been grown
  and raisins made of it, in Sutter County, for the past fifteen years.

  It is far superior to the Sultana, being much sweeter, a heavier
  cropper, more easily dried, and ripens earlier.

  For rooted vines, guaranteed true to name, address,

  B. G. STABLER,

  YUBA CITY,

  Sutter County, California.

  Prices reasonable; given on application for both one and two-year old
  rooted vines. Will also send _sample of raisins, if desired_.

       *       *       *       *       *

  Described by Prof. Eisen.

  In a communication to _California_, a Journal of Rural Industry, May
  No., 1890, entitled “With the Fruit Growers in Sutter County,” Prof.
  Eisen thus refers to Mr. Stabler, and his work: “Mr. B. G. Stabler
  makes a specialty of dried peaches and seedless raisins, and has
  succeeded well with both. The principal raisin-grape of this vicinity
  is the little-known seedless grape, Lady Decoverly, here known as the
  Thompson Seedless, he being the first to grow it. Years ago, about
  1872, this gentleman saw advertised in an Eastern Catalogue a seedless
  grape, said to come from Constantinople, and was called the Lady
  Decoverly. It proved to be very different from the common Sultana,
  being of yellow color, and of oblong shape. It is certainly strange
  that this singular variety of grape should have existed here so many
  years, and failed to attract general attention. It is an enormous
  bearer, heavier even than the Sultana, and ripens early in August. It
  makes very choice raisins for cooking purposes. The color is similar
  to that of the Muscatel, and makes a raisin of beautiful color. Among
  other novelties in the way of fruit, Mr. Stabler has a Chance Seedling
  Apricot, which promises to be something extraordinary. It is not yet
  in bearing, * * * but think of apricot leaves six inches in diameter,
  and limbs many times as long and strong as those of ordinary apricot
  trees,” etc.

       *       *       *       *       *


  FRESNO AND MERCED

  COUNTY LANDS

  TO RENT AND FOR SALE.

  75,000 ACRES OF WHEAT AND SUGAR-BEET LAND in the above counties to
  rent for a term of years; also =100,000 acres= of fine Raisin, Fruit,
  Alfalfa and Sugar-Beet Land, with water for irrigation, for sale in
  tracts of from twenty acres to large tracts suitable for colony
  purposes.

  For particulars apply to

  E. B. PERRIN,

  402 Kearny Street,

  SAN FRANCISCO.

       *       *       *       *       *


  FRESNO AGRICULTURAL WORKS

  [Illustration]

  MANUFACTURERS OF

  Raisin  ·  ·

  Machinery;

  All KINDS OF

  Vineyard Tools

  LEVELING and
  CANAL SCRAPERS.

  SEND FOR

  Descriptive

  Catalogue.

  ADDRESS,

  JAMES PORTEOUS,       FRESNO, CAL.

       *       *       *       *       *


  GUSTAV EISEN,

  HORTICULTURAL LAND AND RAISIN EXPERT.

  I have had twenty years of experience in fruit growing, raisin-grape
  growing, raisin making, and in other horticultural industries, in
  California, Central America, Mexico and Europe. I make it a specialty
  to assist and advise those engaged in horticultural pursuits. Whether
  you wish to select land or plant it to vines and trees, whether you
  are a capitalist, the member of a syndicate or a farmer, my services
  will be a thousand times more valuable to you than the reasonable
  charge I make for them. If you are not acquainted with land, soil,
  climate or the profits of the horticultural industry you intend to
  engage in, you will find it to your advantage to engage me to make you
  thorough and truthful reports.

  All matters strictly confidential and charges reasonable.

  Address,

  =GUSTAV EISEN=,

  CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES,

  ~_San Francisco._~

       *       *       *       *       *


  YOSEMITE | ILLUSTRATED IN
           | COLORS

  PUBLISHED BY

  H. S. CROCKER & COMPANY

  215 BUSH STREET, SAN FRANCISCO

  _THE FINEST   | _It has no rival. Each book is wrapped in heavy
                | paper and enclosed in a specially made box, suitable
  HOLIDAY GIFT_ | for presentation to friends. For shipment East, we
  provide an extra heavy box. Size of book, 12 x 16 inches._

  Full Morocco, or Undressed Kid       $15.00
  Half Undressed Kid                    12.50
  Full Cloth, elegant paper edges       11.00

       *       *       *       *       *


  H.S. CROCKER | 215, 217, 219
               |  BUSH STREET
  & COMPANY    | SAN FRANCISCO

  Wholesale Stationers
  Printers, Lithographers and Bookbinders

  A FULL AND ELEGANT LINE OF

  FRUIT AND RAISIN LABELS AND PAPERS ALWAYS ON HAND

  _OUR SPECIALTIES ARE_

  _Incorporation Outfits_   _Bank Supplies_   _Copperplate Engraving_
        _Map and Pamphlet Printing_           _of Visiting-Cards and_
            _Stationery Outfits_               _Wedding Invitations_

  CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED

       *       *       *       *       *


  THE FRUIT REGION OF MERCED.

  The fruit lands now offered for settlement by the Crocker Land and
  Water Company are situated in the very center of California. Besides
  being so favorably located, they offer advantages which are not
  possessed by any other lands in the State. The fifty-five thousand
  acres, which are now for the first time subdivided, consist of virgin
  pasture and wheat lands, which have become too valuable to be devoted
  to their former use. They are now being irrigated by the most
  expensive and magnificent irrigation system on the continent, by a
  canal capable of carrying 4,000 cubic feet of water per second, and by
  the artificial lake Yosemite, the most extensive irrigation reservoir
  ever built in America. The water from this system is abundant and
  continuous; it comes from the snow-capped Sierra, from the Falls of
  the Yosemite, and will suffice to irrigate and fertilize hundreds of
  thousands of acres more than are offered for sale.

  These fruit and horticultural lands are situated in the warm belt of
  the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, protected by sheltering hills,
  traversed by natural creeks and surrounded by the grandest scenery
  known to man. The famous Yosemite is almost within sight, and the
  high-peaked Sierra can be reached in a day’s journey. The Coast Range,
  with Mt. Diablo, is in full view, while the fresh breezes from the San
  Pablo Bay temper the climate, and contribute to make it one of the
  finest, most salubrious and most enjoyable in the world. Through the
  irrigation water always at the command of the horticulturist, our
  lands are being transformed into beautiful orchards, vineyards and
  meadows. The peach, the prune, the apricot, the pear and the
  raisin-grape are made to flourish, and the olive to produce its
  valuable oil, the orange and the lemon their golden fruit. The
  colonies already established are situated in the thermal belt of the
  Sierra, in the finest citrus region of the State, in a district equal
  to the best anywhere, and in a territory remarkable for its earliness
  and productiveness. Every variety of temperate and semi-tropical fruit
  is now growing within sight of the colonies,--the almond, the olive
  and orange upon the more elevated land; the peach, the prune, the
  apricot, the pear and the raisin-grape upon that of a more alluvial
  nature. The Rotterdam Colony contains now over a hundred settlers from
  Holland; other colonies are being established by English and American
  farmers, by doctors, lawyers and professional men of every station in
  life. The people whom we invite, and who have responded to our call,
  are the most desirable, the most intelligent, the most energetic and
  the most refined classes. They are now building up horticultural
  communities of the most prosperous nature.

  The lands we offer are situated six hours by railroad from San
  Francisco. They are traversed by two railroads, and the principal
  colony is only four miles from Merced City, the county seat, while
  some of our land joins, and actually surrounds, that town. Our prices
  are low, and our terms very reasonable. We offer various grades of
  land, all eminently suitable for the highest state of horticulture, at
  prices ranging from $75 to $175 per acre, with water.

  For particulars address the

  Crocker-Huffman Land and Water Company,

  MERCED,

  Merced County, Cal.




Transcriber’s Notes


  Inconsistent and unusual spelling, hyphenation and capitalisation have
  been retained, unless mentioned below; this also applies to
  non-English words and phrases.

  Robert McPherson and Robert MacPherson are presumably the same person.

  Page 29, table: the data given do not add up to the totals given.

  Page 216, Audibert: the full title is L’Art de faire le vin avec les
  raisins secs.


  Changes made:

  Some minor punctuation and typographical errors have been corrected
  silently.

  Footnotes have been moved to directly under the paragraph where they
  are referenced.

  Several tables have been split or otherwise re-arranged to fit the
  available width.

  Page  ii  The Raisin Grapes moved up one level as in text;
  Page   6  Venitians changed to Venetians; _Dipped and Sultana_ changed
            to _Dipped_ and _Sultana_;
  Page   7  Dodoen’s changed to Dodoens’s;
  Page  10  elemes changed to elemês; Pantallaria changed to
            Pantellaria;
  Page  15  known as Velencias changed to known as Valencias;
  Page  26  Ionion Islands changed to Ionian Islands;
  Page  31  Stan-chio changed to Stanchio;
  Page  96, illustration caption: _c._ changed to _b._; its Tuberous
            Mycelium changed to their Tuberous Mycelium;
  Page 119  illustration captions combined into single caption;
  Page 133  as high-grade raisins changed to as many high-grade raisins;
  Page 182  about a feet deep changed to about a foot deep;
  Page 205  Shacht changed to Schacht;
  Page 214  table row Mau, Sadler & Co. moved to before Miller, James;
            Schact changed to Schacht;
  Page 217  Grasset de Saint Sauveur, Jacque changed to Grasset de Saint
            Sauveur, Jacques; Noveau Duhamel On Traité des Arbres ...
            changed to Nouveau Duhamel ou Traité des Arbres ...; Rambert
            changed to Rembert;
  Page 218  varietés changed to variétés;
  Page 219  Aetolico changed to Ætolico; Albunol changed to
            Albuñol; Cascalira changed to Cascalina; Cooper, Elwood
            changed to Cooper, Ellwood;
  Page 220  Crocker-Hoffman Reservoir changed to Crocker-Huffman
            Reservoir; Eleme changed to Elemê; Gargalino changed
            to Gargaliano;
  Page 222  Sweat-boxes changed to Sweatboxes; Entry Quality of Raisins
            moved to before Racemus;
  Index     some page numbers have been corrected.