220 GRAPE CULTURE AND 



counteract this great discrepancy, therefore, it has become 

 incumbent upon the ingenuity of Californians to devise and 

 create machinery which would not only quicken the packing 

 of raisins, but would at the same time reduce the cost. The 

 result of this is that in California machinery is about to be 

 used and run by steam power, for the steming, grading, fac- 

 ing, and packing in the boxes of the fruit as it is received 

 from the grader. Machinery of this kind is almost human in 

 its action, but is calculated to expedite and cheapen packing, 

 and in a short time the cheap labor of Spain will be entirely 

 counteracted by the ingenuity of the California Yankee. 



"All over the State this year there has been a great im- 

 provement in packing, and many of the brands produced 

 here rank equal or superior to the best Malaga fruit. A 

 proof of this fact is that such markets as New York, Boston, 

 Philadelphia and other large Eastern cities have taken the 

 finest brands of our raisins at prices equal to, if not superior 

 to, the Spanish goods. Different sections of the State natur- 

 ally claim the best raisins, but very much depends on the 

 care taken in packing, sweating and properly preparing them 

 for market. % Nearly all the various raisin sections of Califor- 

 nia can and do produce excellent raisins, and there are many 

 as yet undeveloped sections which can produce raisins equal 

 to any yet turned out. As a general proposition, it will pay 

 all producers to sell their fruit in the sweat boxes to some reg- 

 ular and reliable packer, who will maintain standard grades 

 from their section of the country. The policy now in use to 

 some extent, of small producers packing on their own account, 

 only produces irregular and uneven grades, and is not calcu- 

 lated to lead to any permanent benefit of the industry. We 

 can repeat our suggestions of last year, that some different 

 branding should be used for California raisins. As it is now, 

 we simply imitate the Spanish brands, when something dis- 

 tinctly Californian should be used. 



