THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 207 



less trouble now to get the raisins well packed than a few years ago, 

 when everything was comparatively new. Now there is hardly a girl / 

 in any of the colonies who does not know something about raisin- j 

 packing, and who is able to make good wages during packing time. ) 

 Several cents a tray are paid for packing, and many girls earn two 

 dollars a day, while none earn less than one dollar a day. The first 

 quality raisins are packed under the Lion Brand, while the second 

 quality goes by the name of the Golden Gate. Both brands are equally 

 popular and are readily sold. The loose raisins are as important as 

 the bunches and layers. The American housewife has learned that 

 she gets more for her money if she buys loose raisins than if she 

 buys layers, which always contain a large percentage of stems. Loose 

 raisins are therefore now very popular. The loose raisins have all been 

 sweated, and the best of them have come from large, fine bunches, 

 from which they have simply dropped off, and magnificent they look 

 indeed as they are separated and graded into several grades, the largest 

 of course to make the very choicest brands. The process of packing 

 is quite different from that of packing layers. In loose, the boxes are 

 simply filled with fifteen pounds of loose raisins ; then a tray contain- 

 ing five pounds, and which has been faced, is placed on top, this 

 making up twenty-pound boxes. 



The facing is a most important and interesting work. It takes 

 from forty to fifty girls to do it, and only expert hands are allowed at 

 the facing tables. The facing consists in placing large, fine and flatted 

 raisins in layers on top of the box, as an advertisement that the con- 

 tents underneath are equally carefully assorted and choice. A careful 

 and skillful facer can face forty boxes a day, while from twenty to thirty 

 boxes is a low average. Mr. Shram buys raisins and dried grapes from 

 every one who has any that are really choice. For Feherzagos three 

 to three and one-half cents are paid, for Malagas four cents, and for 

 Muscatels three and one-half to five cents, according to quality. All 

 the work in the packing-house is done bv piece work, and from two to 

 five cents are paid for different qualities of tne work, such as assorting, 

 picking over, picking and facing. Four hundred girls and boys are 

 daily employed. The present raisin- pack, Mr. Shram affirms, is the 

 best of any he has ever handled. They are shipped to every large town in 

 the Kast, and are constantly increasing in demand. Besides raisins, 

 Mr. Shram handles peaches, figs, apricots, and in fact any dried fruit 

 we have. Tons and tons of Adriatic figs are brought from the colonies 

 every day at six cents per pound, an enormous price when we consider 

 the yield of a fig tree. But, says Mr. Shram, they are in demand, and 

 as long as we can sell them again when packed and sweated to advan- 

 tage we can afford to pay a good price. 



When sufficient boxes are packed, they are loaded in cars and made 

 up into trains exclusively loaded with raisins. The various packing- 

 houses combine to do this. Generally during the packing season two 

 such train-loads are sent away every week, each one consisting of from 

 ten to fifteen cars of raisins, each car containing one thousand boxes. 

 Five hundred and thirty such cars were shipped from Fresno last year 

 (1889). Some of the packers packed one hundred thousand boxes each. 



