THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. 67 



among growers of native grapes of competition from California or Europe. 

 The rapid growth which this industry has made is most encouraging to 

 grape-growers for it promises to furnish a permanent and profitable demand 

 for good grapes. 



Raisins' are not made from American grapes.- So far no varieties of 

 the native species have been developed with sufficient sugar and solid 

 contents to make a raisin acceptable to the markets. Even were there 

 varieties from which raisins could be made, it is very doubtful if the climate 

 of eastern America during picking and curing time is such that raisins 

 could be made in competition with the product of California, now the 

 greatest of the world's raisin producing regions, where the climate is almost 

 perfectly adapted to the industry. 



' A raisin is a dried and cured grape. Raisin-making is a simple process. The grapes 

 are arranged on shallow trays, and placed in the sun to dry, being turned now and then by placing an 

 empty tray on a full one and turning both over after which the top tray is removed. When the grapes 

 are properly dried they are put in bins to sweat preparatory to packing and shipping. The finishing 

 touch in the drying is sometimes given in curing-hou.ses, however, to avoid injury from rain or dust. 

 Seeding, grading, packing and selling are now separate industries from growing and curing. At 

 present all raisins are made from varieties of the Old World grape, no American sort having been 

 found suitable for raisin-making. A variety adapted for making a raisin, something better than 

 simply a "dried grape ", must have a large percentage of sugar and solids, a thin skin, and a high 

 flavor. American grapes lack in sugar content and have a skin so thick and tough that the fruit does 

 not cure properly for a good raisin. The raisin industry in the United States is carried on only in 

 California, the great bulk of the crop coming from the San Joaquin Valley and a few of the southern 

 counties of that State. Formerly the raisins used in this country were wholly imported; now this 

 product of the grape is exported and in increasing quantities. The annual production of raisins is in 

 the neighborhood of 100,000,000 pounds. 



- According to Bartram, the aborigines of eastern America made raisins from the wild grapes. 

 He describes the process they used as follows: " The Indians gather great quantities of wild grapes 

 which they prepare for keeping, by first sweating them on hurdles over a gentle fire, and afterwards 

 dry them on their bunches in the sun and air, and store them up for provisions." 



