THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 77 



the ashes evenly over the soil. The vats may be so constructed that 

 the cuttings are burned in them directly as they are being pulled 

 along, thus saving much labor as well as ashes. Such contrivances 

 will probably only prove profitable in large vineyards, where there are 

 long rows and few turnings for the teams. Even the stable manure 

 in our State is not used as it should be. It is hardly possible to 

 understand how vineyardists can be thoughtless enough to haul loads 

 upon loads of stable manure on their roads or in holes and waste 

 places, while their vines adjoining are suffering from the want of 

 sufficient nourishment. In the irrigated districts, this is a very com- 

 mon sight, and the wet places on the road are often deep with manure 

 and strongly smelling of ammonia. If the manure had been placed 

 around the vines, the increase in crops would probably have been 

 sufficient to enable the owner to macadamize or otherwise permanently 

 fix the roads. 



IRRIGATION. 



Introductory Notes. The irrigation of the raisin grapes was, for sev- 

 eral years, considered as a practice entirely peculiar to California, but 

 as our knowledge extended it was found that, far from being anything 

 at all new, it had been practiced successfully for centuries in some of 

 the Mediterranean countries. We have already mentioned how irriga- 

 tion is customary both in the Valencia and Denia districts, as well as in 

 Greece. It is evident that irrigation there is only limited by the supply 

 of water, and that there is no question about its usefulness. As 

 regards the methods of irrigation in these foreign countries, we beg 

 to refer to the chapters treating of these countries. Here our efforts 

 shall be to consider irrigation in its relation to the following points, 

 which are of more general interest to the Californian growers: Neces- 

 sity of irrigating the raisin-vines ; the health of irrigated vines ; the 

 bearing quality of irrigated vines ; the quality of the irrigated grape ; 

 supposed unhealthiness of irrigated vineyards; irrigation by flooding; 

 irrigation by furrowing; subirrigation; seepage; drainage; irrigation 

 and its influence on the soil. s 



The Necessity of Irrigating the Raisin-vines. When the irrigation of 

 raisin grapes was first attempted in Fresno and Riverside, hardly any 

 one was acquainted with or knew that irrigation had ever been used 

 for such a purpose before, and irrigation was considered as a venture 

 which did not promise well for the future. Later on it was found that 

 the raisin grape really would grow and do well in some localities with- 

 out irrigation, and the latter practice was accordingly condemned. 

 To-day, however, the practical knowledge of irrigation is greater and 

 more generally distributed, and it is now fully understood that irriga- 

 tion is not only not injurious, but beneficial and necessary in localities 

 where the raisin-vine will not grow or bear sufficiently without it. 

 The questions then arose, When is irrigation necessary, and how 

 much irrigation is required ? The first object in raisin-growing is the 

 profit* a secondary object is how to so treat the vines that, they will 

 last as long as possible. To attain the first object, we must raise plenty 

 of grapes, and when a larger quantity of good raisin grapes can be 



