CI RRANT GRAPE CLUSTERS FROM CHRDLED AND NOT GIRDLED VINES 



On the left a saleal)le cluster of Panariti grape from a vine which was girdled at blossoming 

 time. On the right three imperfect unfilled clusters from not girdled vines, showing their un- 

 satisfactory character. U. S. Deuartmcnt of Agriculture Experiment V^ineyard, Fresno, Cali- 

 fornia. (Fig. 7.1 



such l)aiik or to liyi)othecate their cro]). 

 Such a l)ank was finally estahlished in 

 1899, with a capital of 300,000 

 drachmas (about $675,500), realized by 

 the government from the sale of cur- 

 rants to distillers, etc. The United 

 States, previous to the war, annually 

 imported over 30.(XX),000 pounds of 

 such dried currants the equivalent of 

 100,000,000 pounds or 50,000 tons of 

 fresh grapes, as it takes about three 

 potmds of fresh i^rapes to make one 

 pound of dried. 



CAX 1!E I'KOl riWI'.LV c.uowx 



The United States Department of 

 Agriculture has succeeded in demon- 

 strating that these currant grapes can 

 be profitably grown in America. 

 This paves tlie way for the establish- 

 ment of anf)ther very im])ortan.t and 

 extensive grape industry in this coimiry. 

 Another exceedingly important matter 



is that the cm-rant grapes are among the 

 very earliest grapes to ripen, in fact, 

 ripen so early that they will be dried 

 and put away before the earliest rains 

 occiu' in districts where other raisin 

 varieties are too late in ripening, and 

 in the present raisin sections of this 

 country cin-rants can be grown as an 

 advance crop and be cured and stored 

 by the time other raisin grapes ripen, 

 so the same labor employed in harvest- 

 ing and ctUMUg currant grapes can, after 

 having accomplished that work, harvest 

 and cure the other raisins. 



Currant grape varieties were intro- 

 duced into California as early as 1861, 

 rmd these were followed by later intro- 

 ductions. Among all these, however, 

 there appears to have been no valuable 

 dark cohu-ed varieties, but some fairly 

 productive red and white strains pro- 

 ducing fruit of inferior c|uality. 



The "Pan.iriti" was introduced bv the 



