THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 165 



packer on the packing table, so as to be within easy reach of the 

 packer. The trays or frames with the sliding bottom are now used. 

 The first move is to place one of the inner paper wrappers in the tray, 

 and next the layers are placed in the frame as carefully as possible. 

 There are two ways in vogue in which this is done. One of them is to 

 crowd the raisins to one side, "bunch" them, so to say, beginning 

 at one end of the tray and gradually working towards the other end. 

 This is the wrong way, which I am sorry to say is used by very many 

 packers, who desire speed above everything, thus sacrificing care and 

 quality and even appearance. Raisins packed this way point their 

 ends upwards in a slanting way, which not only detracts from their 

 appearance, but causes them to get entanged in each other. Such 

 bunches when pressed will generally break, and, when lifted out of the 

 box afterwards, will be very different from what they were when they 

 were placed there in the first instance. The raisins, whatever method 

 is used, should always be placed flat on the bottom of the tray. Care 

 should be taken to arrange them so that they will fit, and only very few 

 broken bunches should be allowed to fill unoccupied corners or spaces 

 in the box. It is better even to leave such spaces empty than to tear 

 up good bunches in order to get the small quantities needed, or in 

 using inferior berries to fill up the holes. 



When at last the tray is full, and all the five pounds of raisins from 

 the weighing tray are in, the upper surface should be smooth so as 

 to require as little pressure as possible. When full the trays are taken 

 to the press and stored on a side table until actually used. The presses 

 are generally arranged for four trays. These are now placed under 

 the press, a follower is placed on the top of every tray, and only suf- 

 ficient pressure applied. Frequently too much pressure is used, and 

 the raisins are flattened out to their greatest possible extent, many 

 even crushed and so broken that the juice runs out. All such crushed 

 raisins will sugar in a few months, and the whole box containing them 

 will spoil and deteriorate in value. If, again, the raisins have been 

 properly pressed, they will keep for months or even years. After the 

 trays have been sufficiently pressed^, which generally is accomplished 

 in one minute's time, the pressure is released, the follower removed, 

 the folders turned over the raisins, and the trays removed to the box- 

 ing table, on which they may be allowed to accumulate until the boxer 

 is ready to fill his boxes. On this table the final packing or "making 

 up' ' of a box is done. It takes four of these five-pound frames to fill 

 one whole box. Each tray is in its turn placed over a box, the sliding 

 bottom is quickly removed, and the five-pound layer drops down in 

 the box undisturbed. Every fourth frame should, in addition to the 

 common paper wrapper, have labels and fancy paper pasted on the 

 folders, or, as is sometimes done, an extra fancy folder or wrapper is 

 placed on the third layer, and on the top or inside of it the fourth layer 

 is dropped. Each layer will thus be found in its own wrapper, but 

 the upper layer will have two, the outside one of which is fancy. Fine 

 layers should have a waxed paper immediately above the raisins, in 

 order that the moisture or sugar from them may not spoil the labels. 



