THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 157 



Facing-plate. This useful tool was invented by T. C. White. It 

 consists of a brass plate large enough to fit readily into the bottom of 

 the raisin box. In this plate are arranged small cavities, each one 

 wide enough to hold a large raisin. For large boxes the plate is made 

 to contain eleven raisins the short way and eighteen the long way. 

 The plate is first placed in the bottom of the iron frame in place of the 

 loose bottom. A raisin is placed in each cavity and lightly pressed, 

 and loose raisins are carefully filled in on the top. When this frame 

 is afterwards reversed and the raisins and the plate as follower are 

 received in the box, it will be found that the top layer has retained its 

 arrangement and is regularly faced. This facing-plate enables the 

 packer to face quickly and cheaply, but it can only be used when the 

 top-down method of packing is used. The standard plate is nine 

 inches by eighteen inches, and the plate for cartoons is five inches by 

 ten inches, both made of heavy brass. 



Scales. For weighing the quantity of raisins necessary for every 

 layer, scales must be found on every weighing table. Any ordinary 

 grocery scales which work with springs may be used. Generally one 

 pair of such scales are used at each end of the assorting table. 



Labeling Press. Of late every large packer labels his boxes before 

 they are nailed together. This is done by passing the shooks through 

 a labeling press, which prints under pressure the required label on 

 each side or top, the name, etc., appearing in concave type on their 

 face. These presses are run by machinery and work very rapidly. 



Tables. In the packing-house are tables of various kinds; they are 

 generally long and narrow, and about four feet wide. The assorting 

 tables should be furnished with square holes at intervals of five or six 

 feet, so that the loose raisins may be scraped through them into boxes 

 below. The assorting and weighing tables are furnished with a low 

 flange or guard all around, to prevent any raisins falling on the floor. 



Bags and Bag-holders. Two kinds of bags are used, cotton sacks 

 or jute sacks. The former are white like flower sacks, the latter 

 coarser and brownish. In the former no paper linings are used, but in 

 the latter a paper bag is stitched, in order that the air may not pene- 

 trate and dry the raisins. Both kinds of bags are used to an equal 

 extent. The cotton sacks contain either thirty or sixty pounds, while 

 the jute sacks are made to contain an average of eighty pounds each. 

 Patented bag-holders are used everywhere for holding the bags open 

 while they are being filled. 



Trucks. For inside work, trucks very similar to those used in the 

 vineyard are now generally adopted. They are handled with ease, and 

 for moving boxes of various kinds are absolutely indispensable in the 

 modern raisin packing-house. 



Trays for Weighing. These are small, shallow boxes, made of zinc 

 or tin, and large enough to hold five pounds of raisins each. One 

 short side of the tray should be slanting outward in order that the 

 raisins may fall out readily. They are only used in weighing the 

 raisins which are to go in each five-pound layer in the whole boxes. 



Followers. These are wooden blocks of the size of a quarter box of 

 raisins, inside measurement. They should be lined with zinc on the flat 



