THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 55 



which are slipped over the pegs and thus held steady on one side. 

 In the daytime the other end of the canvas is simply thrown back 

 over the pegs; in the night-time the canvas is again turned over the 

 trays, resting directly on the grapes. The other and better way is to 

 run three wires along the row of trays, one on each side of the trays. 

 The canvas is furnished with rings on each long side, which are made 

 to run on the wire. The center wire is run a little higher up, and here 

 and there simply supported by posts. It takes comparatively little 

 time every evening to run the canvas along the wires and cover the 

 trays. The expense is considerable, both in furnishing and preparing 

 the canvas, and in maintaining and operating it. The peculiar climatic 

 conditions of the district, however, necessitate some such contrivance 

 for the drying of the grapes. The vines seldom bear a second crop of 

 any importance. Sometimes in October the district is visited by a 

 warm and dry desert wind called the Santa Ana wind. It comes 

 from the canon of the Santa Ana river, and originates, no doubt, in 

 the Mojave desert, and rising high up in the air is again precipitated 

 over the hiils on the lowlands towards the ocean. This Santa Ana 

 wind is always welcome. It hastens the drying of the grapes just as 

 the Terral or land winds from the plains of La Mancha hasten the 

 drying of the grapes of Malaga in Spain. 



Yield and Profits. The yield is quite small on the gravelly soil, at 

 the most being three tons of green grapes to the acre, on richer land 

 frow six to seven tons, and in rare instances ten tons to the acre. I 

 heard of one vineyard where the owner had sold from twenty acres 

 of Muscatels thirty-three tons of raisins and fifty-six tons of green 

 grapes, equal to about 155 tons from the lot. Another lot of three- 

 year Muscatels bore ten tons to the acre, indeed a very unusual yield 

 anywhere for Muscatels. I hear reports of some wonderful yields and 

 high profits, but am informed by the most experienced and trust- 

 worthy that $125 per acre is an average profit which can be relied 

 upon year after year. The first Muscat vines were planted near 

 Orange, now the station of McPherson, about 1873, by McPherson 

 Bros. The acreage in grapevines jti the Orange county district was 

 about 8,oco acres; but probably over half of it is wine grapes. The 

 highest output of raisins was 170,000 boxes of twenty-pounds each. 



SAN DIEGO AND EL CAJON. 



Location and Acreage. The El Cajon and Sweetwater valleys are 

 the rasin centers of San Diego county. The former contains about 

 four thousand acres of Muscat vines, the latter about five hundred 

 acres. Magnificent-looking Muscat grapes are also grown within 

 three miles of San Diego. Escondido is by many pronounced superior 

 for raisin grapes to any of the other places; but El Cajon is the present 

 center of the raisin industry, and is likely to remain so for years. The 

 raisin-growing section of the two valleys lies from about fifteen to 

 seventeen miles from the coast line, and at an altitude of from 450 to 

 500 feet. The arable land in El Cajon valley contains 50,000 acres, 

 or perhaps less, and consists of the rolling bottom of the valley, but 

 which can in no way be classed as bottom land. The land partakes 



