468 Transactions of the 



RAISIN CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



BY I. N. HO AG. 



There is a strip of country, say about twenty miles wide, on the west- 

 ern slope of the Sierras, and extending from Butte County to the south- 

 ern extremity of the State, that may be set down as generally well 

 adapted to the growth of the raisin grape and to the drying or curing 

 of the fruit. Along the western slope of the Coast Range, stretch- 

 ing through the State from the same points north and south, but nar- 

 rower in extent, is another strip equally as well adapted to the same 

 business, with the exception of some points where the winds and fogs 

 from the ocean sweep through a depression or canon. In designating 

 this strip by towns, Ave would name Folsom as about the lower or west- 

 ern boundaiy and Coloma as about the higher or eastern boundary. 



This strip or belt of country produces a richer and drier grape and a 

 grape of a better pulp than is produced higher up the mountains or 

 lower down towards or in the valleys. The reason is that the atmos- 

 phere in this belt is more even, as between day and night, than that of a 

 greater or less altitude. When you get above Coloma the dews continue 

 later in the Spring and commence earlier in the Fall, and are more abun- 

 dant. The same is true as to rain. When you come into the valley or 

 brow about the altitude of Folsom, you are more or less within the 

 influence of the sea breeze; the atmosphere is damper even in the day- 

 time, and more so in the night. The south winds that sweep up the val- 

 leys in the afternoons come more or less charged with humidity from 

 the sea, and as the sun goes down this humidity is precipitated to the 

 earth as dew. Grapes are affected by the condition of the atmosphere 

 in which they are grown, and hence it is easy to see why grapes grown 

 either above or below the belt of country named would contain more 

 water, and less pulj) and saccharine matter, than those grown within that 

 belt. 



CURING GRAPES. 



The facts which we have named above, as indicative of the best loca- 

 tion for growing raisin grapes, point with equal force to the same locality 

 as the best for drying or curing them. 



A dry atmosphere, both day and night, and a uniform heat, as near 

 as may be, are the circumstances or conditions favorable to curing 

 grapes. In the belt of country we have indicated there is no dew of 

 any account from July to October to dampen or check drying fruit, and 

 except for the purpose of retaining a greater degree of heat during the 

 night, a cover at any time would be unnecessary. In the latter part of 

 Summer the surface of the earth in this part of the State becomes quite 

 warm, and the atmosphere, close to or on the earth, retains that heat at 

 a greater degree during the night than at a greater elevation; hence, in 

 drying fruit of any kind, the nearer the ground they are placed the 



