DRYING AND CURING. 



CALIFORNIA SUN-DRIED RAISINS. 



Note. In describing the processes of drying, curing, packing, assort- 

 ing, etc. , I have followed only methods which should be used by every 

 conscientious raisin grower and packer. These methods are now 

 actually in use, not by every packer and grower, but by the best of 

 them, by those who strive to produce a very superior article, which 

 will compare favorably with and compete successfully with the best 

 products of Malaga or other foreign raisin districts. Too much poor 

 curing and packing is done in every raisin district, to the great detri- 

 ment of the district, its growers and its packers. The cause of so 

 much poor work is undoubtedly due to the method of selling the 

 raisins in bulk for a previously fixed sum, whether the crop is good, 

 bad or indifferent. For many years no inducements were held out to 

 the grower to produce a very superior article, and as a consequence 

 the packer got very little first-class raisins to pack. When raisins are 

 paid for according to their quality alone, there will be plenty of first- 

 class raisins, and both packers and growers will be the gainers. The 

 former will get more first-class fruit to pack, the latter will find it to 

 their advantage to produce it. During the last season (1889 to 1890), 

 a change was inaugurated, and a grading of prices according to the 

 quality of the raisins has been insisted on. When this system is 

 fully carried out, and when the grower knows at the beginning of the 

 season that he can get a higher price for his superior raisins, Cali- 

 fornia will produce as high-grade raisins as Malaga or any other raisin 

 district. Already now our average raisins are better than the average 

 Malagas, and all that our growers ask for are inducements to produce 

 the best. With a view to promote the attainment of these expecta- 

 tions, the following has been written. Raisins may be produced by 

 cheaper methods than those which I advocate, but only great care, 

 judgment and study will accomplish the best results. In the raisin 

 industry it pays to produce the best, and to attain this very little extra 

 care is required. 



Time of Ripening. Varying with different localities and seasons, 

 the Muscat grape ripens in California between the xoth of August and 

 the 30th of September. The earliest points where raisin grapes are 

 now grown are probably Palm Valley in San Bernardino county and 

 the plains of Kern county. In both these localities Muscats have 

 been known to be ripe as early as July, but neither locality has yet 

 produced any great quantity of raisins, and can hardly be considered 

 as a raisin center. The earliness c3f the San Joaquin valley generally 

 is probably caused by its small elevation above the sea, which is about 

 three hundred feet for Fresno, and increasing as we go farther south. 

 San Bernardino county again, sa^Bliat later as to ripening, is, as far 



