58 THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 



until last year, done fry white labor, but the same was so very difficult 

 to obtain that Chinese were then employed. They gave satisfaction 

 to some, while to others not. Some of the principal growers are this 

 year (1889) going to employ Chinese help at $1.25 per day, at which 

 price they board themselves. 



The Crop. The grapes are dried on redwood trays made of sawed 

 redwood shingles, three-eighths of an inch thick. The trays are made 

 two by three feet. The best growers are this year going to assort the 

 grapes when putting them on the trays. This was never done before, 

 but will be of great advantage. A tray will average eighteen pounds 

 of fresh grapes, which will take about one month to dry, never less 

 than three weeks. There is but little second crop, generally none 

 that can be saved. September is the warmest month, or else the grapes 

 could not be dried. At a temperature of 103 degrees Fahrenheit, it 

 was found that grapes scalded or cooked while on the trays. This is, 

 however, very rarely the case. From ninety-five to one hundred 

 degrees is considered the best temperature at which the best raisins 

 are made. The sweatboxes used formerly were two by three feet and 

 ten inches deep; but of late eight inches and six inches in depth is 

 considered the best, on account of the facility with which they can be 

 handled. As to packing, many advocate twenty-pound boxes, that 

 are only four and one-half inches deep, contending that they will hold 

 twenty pounds of loose raisins. Few Dehesas are put up, the general 

 brands being three crown London layers, and three crown loose 

 Muscats. Some are also put up in fancy paper boxes. This year the 

 valley has two packing companies, who buy raisins in sweatboxes, and 

 pay from four to five and a half cents per pound. The yield per acre 

 is from two to three tons of green grapes, I should say this year nearer 

 two than three tons. I saw, however, some that would average five 

 tons per acre, but this land was favorably situated in a moister place 

 than is generally found in Sweetwater valley, and the vines were yet 

 growing on August 2ist. I heard of much greater yields, so extraor- 

 dinary indeed that they are not likely to return again. From five to 

 seven tons to the acre is a really rare yield, even on the best land, 

 where the water is within six or seven feet of the surface. This shows 

 me conclusively that judicious irrigation would materially increase the 

 crop, and greatly improve the uniform size of the berries. The profit 

 on an acre of bearing Muscat vines is from fifty to one hundred and 

 twenty-five dollars per acre. The latter is the most any one realized, 

 and thirty-five dollars is considered a good profit. The expense of 

 running a vineyard is hard to ascertain, but those best informed told me 

 that forty dollars per acre would be an average; this of course includes 

 everything. The small amount of weeds and the absence of irrigation 

 materially lessens the expenses of the El Caj on* vineyards. 



Good vineyard or raisin land can be had for seventy-five dollars 

 per acre. No vineyards in bearing have changed hands. Last year's 

 (1888) pack of the whole of San Diego county was variously estimated 

 at from twenty to thirty thousand boxes, and this year at sixty thousand 

 boxes of twenty pounds each. 



The unanimous verdict of the best growers in Kl Caj on is that want 

 of moisture is the greatest drawback to raisin culture there. And I 



