STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 185 



CALIFORNIA RAISINS. 



A PAPER READ BY W. B. WEST, OF STOCKTON, BEFORE THE VINICUL- 

 TURISTS OF THE STATE, IN SACRAMENTO, DURING THE STATE FAIR. 



Only a few years ago it was impossible to find any California 

 raisins that were worthy of the name. We were groping in the 

 dark ; we knew nothing of the varieties to plant, how to cure them, or 

 how to pack them. We knew nothing of the localities suited to the 

 raisin grape, and we had extravagant notions of the profits of the 

 business. 



All this has passed. We begin to understand the requirements of 

 the business, and there were produced in this State in the year of 

 eighteen hundred and seventy-nine at least seventy-five thousand 

 boxes of good marketable raisins. We have also learned that to suc- 

 ceed we must have knowledge, patience, energy, and brains ; that we 

 must have the right kind of soil and climate for the true raisin 

 grape ; the Muscatelle will not succeed everywhere, even in Cali- 

 fornia. 



Many who rushed into the making of raisins a few years ago, found 

 that there was too much to learn, and gave it up after making a few 

 tons of trash from all kinds of grapes, dried and packed in a slovenly 

 manner. A few indomitable persons stuck to it ; they had hard 

 times; the price of foreign fruit was low; they had much to learn ; 

 but they persevered and are now nobly rewarded. They have taught 

 us that only in certain localities can the business be carried on profit- 

 ably. We are gaining information by these experiments every day, 

 so that the future of raisin culture is more certain. 



The California process will be given in the report of the Commis- 

 sioner of this district, R. B. Blowers, who is amply able to do it jus- 

 tice, as he is one of the most successful producers in the State. To 

 those who possess the required skill and capital, the method of dry- 

 ing by articial heat is of much value. But I believe in the future 

 this business is destined to be carried on by small farmers. It is 

 preeminently a matter of detail. It is such a business as will give 

 employment to the family of the poor man; the one to make the 

 little homestead in the hills a source of revenue. 



To these the Spanish method is well adapted. I propose, there- 

 fore, in this paper, to give their methods of cultivation and prepara- 

 tion for market. From a people who have cultivated the grape and 

 made raisins for many generations, we can certainly learn some- 

 thing, especially as we are only beginners. 



The raisin district of Malaga extends about seventy-five miles 

 along the coast and six inland. In this little strip of territory are 

 produced all the Muscatelle raisins of Europe, amounting at present 

 to over three million boxes per year. Not near all the land is 

 devoted to raisins. Much of it is hilly and too dry and barren to 

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