THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 181 



This fruit is one of the finest produced in the State and will always 

 enjoy widespread distribution and strong demand owing to the faet 

 that California is practically the only State in the Union able to grow 

 the so-called European varieties. They are deservedly popular, but in 

 marketing are compelled to meet most strenuous competition from the 

 native grapes which are produced in enormous quantities in ^Michigan, 

 New York and other states; tlie-e being grown close to the best markets 

 in the country and favored with transportation charges which are 

 insignificant when compared Avith ours, can be and are sold at very low 

 prices. These grapes are very good and being packed in exceedingly 

 convenient and attractive little market baskets are very popular. The 

 ]\Iichigan and New York grape crops ripen at the same time as the bulk 

 of our grapes, which greatly enhance the difficulty in marketing profit- 

 ably. It would seem that with the constantly increasing production of 

 grapes here, and the even greater increase in the East, that every grower 

 and shipper would ho alive not only to the importance, but to the abso- 

 lute necessity of shipping nothing but the best and perfectly matured 

 stock ; from the middle to the close of the season this fact is recognized, 

 but from the beginning to the middle of August, considerable quantities 

 of grapes are shipped in such an immature condition that even swine 

 would reject them as food. This is because of the fact that early ship- 

 ments usuall}' command high prices and the unscrupulous desire to 

 participate in them has prompted shipping regardless of the immaturity 

 of the product. The first carload or two of this sour trash can be sold 

 in every large market at good prices, but as soon as the public has 

 tasted the fruit, demand is over, and the appetite for California grapes 

 is killed until the disagreeable experience is forgotten. At the very 

 time that tlie public turns naturally to our splendid grapes, these 

 cramp-inducing, teeth-on-edge producers appear and ruin the trade ; 

 later on, when full sugar development has been made and the fruit 

 becomes the perfect food which nature intended it to be, the public 

 gradually learn this fact, and then only will they buy again. Early 

 grapes are not sour if picked in proper condition; if every section can 

 be compelled to market its product Avhen ripe and then only, there is 

 no doubt as to the ability of the markets to consume much larger quan- 

 tities than in the past and at a better average price. It is a shame that 

 premature shipments of Tliomp.son Seedless and ^lalagas from the lower 

 San Joaquin Valley should be permitted, as these shipments absolutely 

 spoil the market for weeks to come, not only working a great loss on 

 subsequent shipments of good grapes but perpetrating an actual fraud 

 upon the defenseless consumer, who being unaware of their unripe 

 condition, invests his money in them only to find that they are too 

 sour for consumption. Such grapes are unfit for food, and if eaten, 

 are liable to produce serious gastric disturbances ; it may be that the 

 pure food law could be made to apply; if it can not, then something 

 else must be done to protect the industry and the consuming public. 

 A law, defining the percentage of sugar that grapes mu.st contain before 

 they can be considered proper food for human beings would cover the 

 ground. It has been found that grapes containing 18 per cent of sugar 

 are palatable — a higher percentage of course is better. Public senti- 

 ment should be educated to the fact that great injury- threatens table 

 grape growing unless this minimum standard is adopted. Thinking 



