State Agricultural Society. 4(19 



more rapidly they will dry, and particularly in the case of raisins, the 

 better and higher flavored they will be. In the European raisin-pro- 

 ducing countries they make a sort of adobe floor on the ground, looking 

 to the south, with adobe partitions running north and south, say a foot 

 high, and headwalls at the upper and lower ends. Upon this floor the 

 bunches of grapes are laid, and a canvas or cloth awning is arranged, 

 with a roller like an awning, to roll up in the daytime and down in the 

 night. This awning is there necessary to keep off the dews, and answer, 

 at the same time, to keep in the heat that accumulates during the day. 

 For the former purpose it would not be necessaiy here; but for the 

 latter, while it would not be a necessity, yet it would add very much to 

 the rapidity and perfection of the work, and the expense would be but 

 trifling. 



While the grapes are thus exposed to the action of the sun, they are 

 turned over in the bunch each day, and as soon as any bunches are suffi- 

 ciently dried, they are removed from the drying place and packed in 

 boxes for the market. This latter practice becomes necessary to pre- 

 vent any from becoming too dry. Like figs, raisins are ruined or very 

 much injured by being overdried, and like figs, they go through a mel- 

 lowing process after being packed; and to secure the perfection of this 

 last process, they must be packed in just the right condition. To be 

 able to judge of this condition, some experience and skill is necessary, 

 but this skill is soon acquired by experiment and observation. 



Some people have an idea that it is necessaiy to dip the grapes in a 

 lye or other composition before putting them to dry; but this is a mis- 

 take. They should be picked from the vines when very ripe, and placed 

 immediately in the hot sun, to cure in the natural state. They require 

 the influence of the sun to give them the proper raisin color, as the best 

 raisin grapes are of the white or green varieties. 



varieties of "grapes for raisin making. 



There are a number of kinds of grapes used for raisin making. In 

 this State, the Malaga, Muscatel, the white Muscat of Alexandria, the 

 White Malaga, the Fahir Zagos, the Flame Tokay, and various other 

 kinds, have been used experimentally; but the three first named have 

 been found the best, and their excellence is in the order in which they 

 are named. The two first named are richer and higher flavored than 

 the white Malaga, and make a higher-flavored raisin, while the first 

 named is superior to the second, from the fact that its skin is a little 

 more delicate or tender, and it is a little earlier in ripening, thus allowing 

 the work of curing to commence sooner in the season. 



PROFITS OF RAISIN CULTURE. 



We have no data or figures by which we can give the financial results 

 of any experiments in this business in this State; but we would say that 

 in a country where the vine produces so certainly and so abundantly as 

 here, where there has never yet appeared any insect or other enemy to 

 endanger to any extent the crop, and where the climate is so favorable 

 for securing in the fruit the requisite properties for curing it so economi- 

 cally, and where there can be no competition for supplying the ever 

 present and extensive demand, except at so great a distance from us, it 



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