ROEDING'S FRUIT GROWERS' GUIDE 



89 



prices for good fruit verifies fully the profits to be real- 

 ized by the grower who devotes proper attention to the 

 care of his vineyard and in the gathering of the fruit. 

 Recent laws which have been enacted not only regulate 

 the sugar content which table grapes must have, which 

 vary from seventeen per cent to nineteen per cent, de- 

 pending on the variety, but is also going to do much 

 toward standardizing the industry. Utter demoraliza- 

 tion was facing table-grape industry, due to the avari- 

 ciousness of unscrupulous shippers, who lost sight of the 

 future of this business and only considered their imme- 

 diate gains, entirely disregarding in many instances the 

 amount of sugar the fruit contained as well as the 

 quality of the grapes they were shipping. In picking 

 table grapes the bunches should be cut off with a knife 

 or shears and each bunch should be carefully laid in the 

 picking box stem up. It is a good plan to cut off 

 branches from the vines and place them in the boxes 

 before laying in the grapes. Never have the bunches 

 over one layer deep. Be sure to cover the top box 

 when taking to the roadway in the vineyard with 

 branches to prevent the bunches from being exposed 

 to the sun. The wagon on which the lug boxes are 

 hauled should be equipped with springs. The most 

 satisfactory lug box for table grapes is 5K inches deep, 

 17 inches wide inside measurement, and 24 inches long 

 outside. Never pick grapes when they are wet or cov- 

 ered with dew except for nearby markets. The grapes 

 are packed in veneer baskets four to the crate. All de- 

 fective berries are cut out and bunches which are too 

 compact have the berries removed to prevent bruising 

 when packing in the baskets. A good part of the late 

 table grapes, providing the berries are firm, are shipped 

 in kegs in redwood sawdust. The first essential to suc- 

 cess by this method of packing is to have the dust ab- 

 solutely dry. Logs are especially cut for the purpose 

 of manufacturing this dust, the grains of which must 

 be coarse in order to secure the best results in keeping 

 the grapes. The size of the kegs and drums (the latter 

 being made out of veneer lumber) have been standard- 

 ized thirty-two pounds of grapes are packed to the keg. 

 In packing the grapes an inch of dust is placed in the 

 bottom of the package, then several layers of grapes 

 followed by dust which is sifted through them by the 

 shaking of the keg and striking its sides in order to 

 make the sawdust fill up every interstice. In placing 

 the kegs in the refrigerator cars they are loaded so as 

 to permit of free circulation of air. After they are 

 received at their destination, if placed in a temperature 

 of thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit no difficulty is en- 

 countered in keeping them for several months in the 

 very best of condition. Thus far the varieties which 

 Lave been found the best adapted to this method of 

 packing are the Emperor, Almeria, and Cornichon. 



MAKING RAISINS 



They are sun dried. Bearing in mind that there are 

 one million tons of fresh grapes made into raisins an- 

 nually in California some idea is derived of the benefit 

 of the sun during the drying period in the great valleys 

 of California. There are several methods employed in 

 .making raisins and the following terms are applied to 



them: Naturals, Oil Bleached, and Sulphur Bleached. 

 As these methods have a rather important bearing on 

 the industry I deem it advisable to give information in 

 detail on the several drying processes employed. 



NATURALS 



Wooden trays holding according to size from twenty- 

 two to twenty-nine pounds of grapes are hauled to the 

 roadways in the vineyard. The gcapes are picked 

 directly from the vines on to the trays, which are placed 

 in every other row. In order to promote more rapid 

 drying of the grapes it is customary to throw the soil 

 up against the vines and run a smoother over this. The 

 trays should slope to the south to receive the full bene- 

 fit of the sun's rays. In picking, the grapes are placed 

 on the side of the tray which is cleated. To make first- 

 class raisins the grape should have not less than twenty- 

 four per cent sugar. Within a week or ten days' expo- 

 sure the surface of the grapes exposed to the sun 

 will be browned and wrinkled and when they reach this 

 point they should be turned on to another tray. This 

 is done by placing the uncleated side of a tray over the 

 one on which the raisins have been drying. By a dex- 

 terous movement of the hands, which is readily ac- 

 quired with a little experience, the raisins are turned 

 on to the other tray. It takes from two to three weeks 

 to complete the drying in the sun, depending on the 

 weather conditions. While the raisins are still soft the 

 trays are stacked and the drying from this point on pro- 

 ceeds in the stack. Careful attention should be given 

 not to allow the grapes to remain exposed to the sun 

 too long, for this not only toughens them but causes 

 quite a loss in weight, thus cutting heavily into the 

 grower's pocketbook. They remain on the trays until 

 they reach a point where, when taking them between 

 the hands and pressing them, no juice is expressed from 

 the individual berries and when they are dropped they 

 fall apart readily. 



OIL BLEACHED 



The raisins instead of being dark when handled in 

 this manner present a dark coppery hue. It is used 

 more for the purpose of hastening drying than for any 

 other reason. There is, however, a marked change in 

 the flavor of the raisins, which is very much appre- 

 ciated by a great many consumers. In order to carry 

 out this work it is necessary to have quite an equip- 

 ment. The grapes are all hauled to the drying ground, 

 which should be an open space centrally located in the 

 vineyard a piece of ground planted to alfalfa serving 

 the purpose better than anything else. The solution 

 in which the grapes are dipped has quite an important 

 bearing on the resultant product. This is prepared as 

 follows: take eight pounds of caustic soda, one gallon 

 of olive oil, three gallons of water. Place in a heavy 

 iron kettle and boil slowly for three hours, adding 

 water occasionally during the course of cooking. Then 

 take the emulsion and place in another kettle adding 

 enough water to make five gallons in all. Boil this 

 slowly for about an hour, or until it becomes a thick 

 jelly. The solubility of the emulsion is determined by 

 taking a spoonful of the jelly and placing it in cold 



