206 THE; RAISIN INDUSTRY. 



men are working this machine, some feeding, others pushing wide but 

 shallow boxes under the spouts, others again wheeling them away 

 when full. The steam engine of ten horse-power and boiler are fired 

 principally with separated stems, refuse raisins, and stones of peaches 

 and apricots. The separated dried grapes are packed and shipped in 

 eighty -pound sacks, and go in this way to the East, or even to Europe. 

 Every day one or two carloads of these dried grapes are shipped. The 

 Muscatel la.y.ers, however, go first to the sweating-room, before any- 

 thing is done with them. This sweating-room is one hundred by fifty 

 feet, and has the walls and floor filled around with one foot in thickness 

 of sawdust, so as to prevent the outside air from entering. This sweating 

 room is constantly filled with raisin boxes from floor to ceiling, and 

 seldom contains less than forty tons of raisins at one time. It takes 

 I from ten to thirty days to equalize the moisture in the raisins as well 

 as to properly soften the stems so that the grapes will not fall off. 

 This is of the utmost importance. If it is not done the stems will 

 break and the berries fall off, and instead of a first-class layer raisin we 

 would only get a first-class loose. 

 , After having sweated for several weeks the raisins are brought out to 

 * be assorted. We see several rows of oblong tables, each one with a 

 border around like a deep and large tray, and with a hole at each end 

 in which the loose raisins are pushed. It takes eighteen of these tables 

 to receive the grapes to be assorted, and as it also takes six girls at 

 \l each table, it is evident the work is one of great importance. Only 

 girls are used, as boys and men could not as properly do the work, rt 

 takes a girl's nimble fingers to handle the raisins, so that none break. 

 They are also more patient, and are, in every way, suited for the work. 

 As the raisins are beiffgfassorted, the different grades are clipped from 

 the same bunches, and placed in different trays. Thus one and the 

 same bunch may contain four different grades of raisins. Each one is 

 separated at these tables, to make different brands of raisins. The 

 trays, with five pounds of raisins each as they leave the graders, are 

 placed in large piles on the floor, and are from there taken away at 

 leisure, first to be packed and afterwards to the press. This is a 

 department of its own. It takes great experience to press the raisins 

 just so much, that they will look well, but not so much as to 

 burst. A broken raisin will sugar and spoil, and would cause com- 

 v plaint and dissatisfaction. The public is constantly being educated 

 P\ as to what fine raisins are, and now wants only the best. Each tray 

 is pressed, and it takes four trays to make up a box of twenty pounds. 

 A tray is placed over the box, the sliding bottom is pulled out, and the 

 whole cake of raisins with paper and all drop in the box below. 



After the raisins are assorted they have to be packed. Twenty girls 

 V?are occupied with this, the most pleasant, but also the most skillful, 

 "^ work in the packing-house. No bad raisins go in here, and if any 

 there should be, they are separated and placed with a lower grade, as 

 even one or two raisins would spoil an otherwise good box. This 

 requires a great deal of care and attention, but the girls are being edu- 

 cated, and the same ones are re-engaged from year to year. Fresno is 

 getting an army of girls educated for the business, and we find much 



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