THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 21 



the case, are taken to the merchant or packer who has supplied the 

 grower's wants during the year in anticipation of the coming crop. 

 There are thus a number of special packers in Denia, who own large 

 and splendid packing-houses in which the crop is yearly handled. The 

 grower never packs himself, the enhanced value of the raisins not 

 being sufficient to warrant the trouble. One of the best and by far 

 the largest packing-houses in Denia is owned by J. D. Arquimbau. 

 A more perfectly equipped establishment is not found anywhere else. 



All of the packing is done by women, while the men do the carting 

 of the raisins from the vineyards to the packing-houses. During the 

 balance of the year, when there is no more work in the packing-houses, 

 these very men occupy themselves with the sardine fishery, while 

 their wives then dress the sardines and pack them in oil. They have 

 thus work all the year round, an absolute necessity in a country 

 where the wages are so small, and where the poor man has no chance 

 to save up a capital. The wages paid for packing in Denia is only 

 fifteen cents per day; while in Malaga the same work commands from 

 forty to sixty cents per day. In some of the warehouses in Denia, 

 from two to three hundred women are employed, as well as a number 

 of men. The boxes now used are halves of twenty -eight pounds, or 

 quarters of fourteen pounds each. The large or whole boxes of fifty- 

 six pounds each are no longer in use. The raisins are all packed ' ' off- 

 stalk," or, as we say, "loose." Bunch or stem raisins, or "on-stalk " 

 raisins, are seldom seen. This great improvement in packing is of 

 recent origin, and is due entirely to the influence of English merchants. 

 Some thirty years ago, the raisin industry of Valencia had so deterior- 

 ated, that it threatened to entirely cease. The cause of the deteriora- 

 tion was principally the habit of the buyers to pay for crops, not 

 according to the quality of the raisins, but according to the quantity. 

 The small farmer with a few hundred pounds of raisins carefully cured 

 was paid less, or at least not any more, than the man who had hun- 

 dreds of tons carelessly cured. As a consequence, it was to no one's 

 interest to take any particular pains in curing. The raisins deterior- 

 ated; no care was paid to packing; anything, almost, stalks, dirt and 

 bruised berries were dumped in boxes together; brands, trade-marks 

 and labels were unknown. The whole business was apparently going 

 to ruin. The orders from England became less and less every year. 

 Those from America almost ceased. The ' ' equality price " or ' ' aver- 

 age price,' ' which has been so much in vogue in California, actually 

 ruined the Valencia raisin industry. We ought to take a lesson from 

 them, and change this system in time, or we will be in the same bad fix 

 as they were. 



The improvement in Valencia raisins was entirely due to the ener- 

 getic efforts of English gentlemen. Mr. George Graham,' agent for an 

 English firm, established himself in Valencia, investigated the raisin 

 business, and, seeing the true cause of the ruin, set himself to 

 work to remedy the same. He introduced better methods in 

 growing, curing and packing; and through his efforts a better 

 price was paid for a better grade of raisins, and it was not 

 long before the raisin business was on an entirely different footing. 



