THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 11 



raisin grapes became more disseminated, and raisins were produced to 

 begin with in -small quantities in widely distant countries, such as 

 Chile, Australia and California. By virtue of their climatic conditions, 

 the Mediterranean countries were the only parts of Europe where 

 raisin culture could be successfully carried on, though it is almost 

 certain that the original home of the raisin grapes must be looked for 

 elsewhere. In searching for the original habitat for the ancient varie- 

 ties of raisin grapes, we must look further east to ancient Persia, or 

 to the tablelands of Western Asia generally. In remotest antiquity, 

 grape culture was carried on there, and in the ancient records of 

 travelers in those countries we find mentioned dried and seedless 

 grapes. We can trace the origin of two varieties of raisin grapes to the 

 beginning of our era, which must then already have attained perfection. 

 As has been mentioned before, Pliny spoke of a small, sweet and 

 remarkable grape grown by the Greeks, evidently the "currant;" 

 he also mentions Uva Zibebae and Uva Alexandria. 



The Latins generally spoke of Uvae Apiariae or Uvae Muscae, our 

 present Muscatels or dried grapes generally. This carries us back * 

 fully nineteen centuries. But we may well believe, even in want of 

 records, that the drying of grapes was practiced centuries before. 



MODERN RAISIN DISTRICTS. 



Leaving remote antiquity, it was only in the Mediterranean basin, 

 and in comparatively modern times, that the drying of grapes developed 

 tp an important industry, and in more recent times yet that grapes 

 were exported to Northern Europe. While thus the industry is old, 

 it was not until the eleventh century, at the time of the Crusades, that , 

 it became important. The returning knights brought with them 

 taste for and acquaintance with the products of the East. Northern 

 Europe became the consumers of raisins, regarding them as the 

 greatest luxuries, only to be afforded by the rich. It has been reserved 

 for our time to make the raisin a necessity even in humbler homes. 

 The perfection to which the raisin industry has attained is of modern 

 origin not yet half a century old. ," 



The raisin districts of the world are not large, and while for 

 centuries every effort was made to extend the planting of raisin grapes 

 and their curing into raisins, few of these efforts have been crowned 

 with success. While raisin grapes may grow and be turned into 

 raisins in almost every part of the Mediterranean basin, experience 

 has demonstrated that it has only proved a paying business in 

 comparatively few localities. , The reasons of this are not fully 

 apparent; but they are evidently dependent both upon climatic condi- 

 tions and upon the capability of the natives to learn and profit by the 

 experiences of others, and upon their enterprise in venturing upon a 

 new industry. On the other hand, it is not likely that, even with 

 extensive experiments and with the aid of large capital, the growing 

 and curing of the raisin grapes could be very extensively extended. 

 The question there as well as here is not one alone of agricultural 

 consideration, but a financial problem dependent upon the labor 

 supply, the facilities for shipping, climatic conditions during the curing 



