RAISINS 



4925 



RALEIGH 



pounds, were produced. By 1894 the crop 

 amounted to more than 100,000,000 pounds. 

 The supply was so much greater than the de- 

 mand that the market "broke," and raisins sold 

 for less than two cents a pound. Immediately 

 the fruit growers cut down their output, for 

 they could not afford to produce more raisins 

 than people would buy at a reasonable price. 

 The supply has been controlled ever since by 

 a Raisin Growers' Association, which manages 

 successfully to stimulate the market and 

 to distribute the crop. 



How Raisins Are Prepared. The finest raisins 

 are made from grapes containing a large amount 

 of sugar, and they are always sun dried. Some- 

 times the bunches of grapes are simply cut 

 partly through at the stem to stop the supply 



Water, 14. 6~> 



COMPOSITION <>r K.MSINS 



of sap and then are left hanging on the vines 

 to dry. Usually, however, they are picked and 

 spread out in shallow trays in the hot sun. 

 They are turned from time to time by simply 

 placing an empty tray top side down on a full 

 one ami then turning both over and taking off 

 the top tray. From ten to thirty days are re- 

 quired, depending on the weather and the con- 

 dition of the grapes, before the raisins are 

 considered "cured." After they are dried they 

 are stored in great bins called "sweat boxes" 

 until they can be sorted, weighed, packed and 

 shipped. 



Almn-t (very operation is now performed 

 by machinery. Tho first machine was one for 

 seeding r.iHns; the latest is one' which (ill-, 

 jhs and seals the packages of dried fruit 

 finest raisins are dried in clusters just as 

 tli y come off the vine and carefully packed for 

 table use. Loose raisins are parked in 1 

 boxes, or are seeded and put up 

 paper cartons, the average market price I 



n cents a pound. There was a movement 

 in 1917 to set apart a special day of < 

 on which people throm United States 



should eat raisins. "Raisin Day" advocates 

 hope thereby to stimulate the raisin trade. 



Raisins have, on an average, a carbohydrate 

 (starch and sugar) content of 76.1 per cent and 

 a fuel value of 1,445 calories (see CALORIE) per 

 pound. They are wholesome and nutritious 

 and are seived in numerous ways. Nuts and 

 uncooked raisins are a pleasing form of dessert, 

 and raisins are also extensively used in the 

 preparation of boiled rice, puddings, bread, 

 cookies and other forms of pastry. See FOOD, 

 subhead Chemistry of Food. 



Consult Eisen's The Raisin Industry; Hus- 

 mann's Grape, Raisin and Wine Production in 

 the United States. 



RAJAH, rah' ja, a Hindu title derived from 

 a Sanskrit word meaning king. It was origi- 

 nally given to princes who ruled over the na- 

 tive states of India, but has been also conferred 

 on Hindu subjects of high rank by the British 

 government. Each native prince, or rajah, has 

 his own small army, but a British officer, called 

 a residt tit. who lives near the court, watches the 

 administration of the government, and p: 

 reports to the Viceroy of India. As a rule the 

 native princes now also assume the title ma- 

 harajah, meaning great king. 



RAJPUTANA, rahjpootah'na, a political 

 division in the north-central part of India, 

 known officially as RAJPVTAXA AGKNCY. It 

 embraces twenty-one native states, which sur- 

 round the British province of Ajmer-Merwara. 

 The area is 128,987 square miles; the popula- 

 tion was 10,530,432 in 1911. Most of the in- 

 habitants are Hindus, but there are nearly one 

 million of the Mohammedan faith. The I'.u- 

 ropeans number about 1,200. Much of the 

 country is rocky or desert land, but there are 

 fertile sections in the southeastern part, and 

 there the people grow millet, wheat, barley, 

 sesame, corn. rice, cotton, hemp, tobacco and 

 indigo. The raising of camels, cattle and sheep 

 is the chief industry in the northwestern sec- 

 tion, where soil and climate are unfavorable to 

 agricultural pursuits. These sections are two 

 di-tinct physical divisions of Rajputana. and 

 separated by the . \ra\alh HilU. The high- 

 est point of this range, Mount Abu, is 5,650 

 feet above the >ea ; it is the loftiest elevation 

 the Himalaya Mountains and Nilpiri 

 Hills, in the southern part of the Indian penin- 

 sula. Of the several rivers which drain the 

 southeastern section of Rajputana, the largest 

 i- tl., Chambal. See IMM\. 



RALEIGH, raw'li, N. C the r lp ,tal of the 

 state and the county seat of Wake County, 



