SPECIAL VINE CROPS 



215 



Grapes are raised to be eaten raw, for making grape butter, 

 for wine, and for making raisins. When grown for raisins, the 

 grapes are picked and placed carefully bunch by bunch in a tray 

 about three feet long by two feet wide. Each bunch is cut 

 from the vine with a sharp knife, in order that the vine may 

 not be injured or the fruit bruised in handling it. Twenty-five 

 pounds of ripe grapes will make about five pounds of raisins. 

 When each tray is 

 filled with grapes, 

 it is left exposed to 

 the sun's rays for 

 a week, and then 

 another tray is 

 placed over the 

 half-dried grapes, 

 and they are' care- 

 fully inverted and 

 allowed to dry as 

 before. Then they 

 are put into boxes 

 at the packing 

 house, and are put 



Gathering grapes, California. 



through a sweating 



process, until the proper aroma is developed. Sometimes the 

 curing process is carried on by steam instead of by exposure to 

 the sunlight. 



Among the grapes grown for making wine are the following 

 leading well known varieties: Bertrand, Clinton, Concord, Cynthi- 

 ana, Herbemont, Ives, Lenoir, and Norton's Virginia. Other vari- 

 eties well adapted for wine making are the Catawba, Delaware, 

 Elvira, Missouri, Riesling, Niagara, Noah, and the Scupper- 

 nong. 



The Concord, the Delaware, and the Niagara are popular for 

 general market use. 



Hops. This plant, which belongs to the nettle family, is 

 found growing wild in the United States, in Europe, and in Siberia, 

 along the banks of creeks and rivers. In the State of Washington 

 hops are grown and cultivated extensively. The annual crop 



