188 THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 



made ready for the market. As we pass out we get a glimpse of the 

 equalizing room, crowded to the ceiling with sweatboxes, in which the 

 raisins assume an even and uniform moisture. And what luscious 

 bunches they are, large, sweet, thin skinned and highly flavored. 

 Malaga produces nothing better, and much not as good. And, when 

 we are 'all through tasting and admiring, we are invited into the cosy 

 and artistically furnished dwelling, where in the cool shade the lunch 

 and the rest are as welcome and interesting as the vineyards and pack- 

 ing-houses outside. 



As we turn again towards town, we pass the well-kept Goodman 

 vineyard, after which we enter the large Barton vineyard, now partly 

 owned by an English syndicate. The old 640 acres are nearly all in 

 wine grapes, while several hundred acres of young raisin grapes have 

 lately been added. One of the most extensive wine cellars in the State 

 is found here, all kept in splendid shape, hardly a speck of dirt, 

 not a foot of waste land seen anywhere. The mansion is stately, 

 situated on a small hill surrounded by fine grovelTot gum-treeS, eVer- 

 green hedges and ornamental grounds. Should we care to go farther 

 east, we might visit the Kisen vineyard, where the first Muscats were 

 planted in the county. The famous avenue is half a mile long, and one 

 of the most beautiful in the State, lined on both sides with blooming and 

 beautiful oleanders alternating with poplars over a hundred feet high. 

 We might also visit the L,ocan vineyard and orchard, and admire the 

 orange-trees, which speak of what the country can produce in this 

 line. But the time is too short; we might travel a week over this 

 level but beautiful country, and every day, every minute, see some- 

 thing new and interesting among all these vineyards, with their pack- 

 ing-houses, and raisins exposed on trays to dry. 



When we return to town, a visit to the packing-houses is one of the 

 most interesting that can be made. Of these packing establishments 

 Fresno has four or five, besides several in the colonies or in the larger 

 vineyards. Three of these packing-houses are the largest in the 

 State. The building of each one of them, though large, is full and 

 overcrowded. Women at long tables pack the raisins in boxes, at 

 other tables men weigh and assort raisins and take them out of the 

 large sweatboxes in which they left the field. At some tables fancy 

 \/ packing is done, and women "face" the boxes by placing large 

 selected raisins in rows on the top layers. At another table the 

 raisin-boxes are covered with fine colored labels, then nailed and made 

 ready for shipment. Some four hundred men and women are busy 



(with this work under one roof, all earning wages of from one to two 

 dollars a day each. We catch a glimpse of the equalizing room, where 

 fifty tons of raisins are stored at one time for a week or more in order 

 to become of even moisture, the floor being sometimes sprinkled with 

 water to make the air sufficiently moist. As we go out we see the 

 raisin-boxes already packed being loaded on cars and shipped east 

 by the train-load, from four to six such raisin trains leaving every 

 week, each train of from ten to twenty cars. On the other side of 

 the packing-house is a continuous row of teams from the country, all 

 loaded with raisins, brought by the country growers to the packers in 



