218 GRAPE CULTURE AND 



months ; fresh and cool every morning, with the dews of the 

 night still sparkling on them. I venture to predict that their 

 mineral waters would enjoy a greater notoriety and celebrity 

 than they ever did before, and their visitors be sure to return 

 the next season. It would add so much to their attractions 

 that they could not stay away. The grape is considered the 

 most healthy fruit on the Globe, and it is strange that here, 

 where it comes to the greatest perfection, it is utilized so little 

 for sanitary purposes. As long as the American nation sub- 

 sists on warm biscuits and pies, washed down with tea and 

 coffee, intermixed with bad whiskey and brandy, so long will 

 it continue to be, and become more so every year, a nation 

 of dyspeptics. When, in the place of these, good healthy 

 bread and fresh fruit of every kind becomes the daily food, 

 and good, sound, light wine the daily drink, we can hope for 

 a change for the better, "if these few lines can give an im- 

 petus, and induce but a small number to try it, they have not 

 been written in vain, for I know that it need but be tried to 

 be appreciated and followed. 



CHAPTER XX. 



THE VINTAGE RAISIN MAKING. 



This is a very important branch of the industry, next in im- 

 portance to the wine interest. How important it is, what 

 large proportions it has already assumed, and how bright the 

 outlook for its future, can best be seen from the circular of 

 Messrs. Geo. W. Meade & Co., one of the largest commis- 

 sion firms in that trade, and also the heaviest packers of Cal- 



