330 USES OF SWEET GRAPE*. 



Malaga, the black and white Hamburgh, and a great number 

 of other excellent grapes, have likewise thick skins, and are 

 calculated for this object. 



The weight of a berry depends not only on its size, but on 

 the thickness of its skin, and texture of the flesh, the lightest 

 being the thin skinned and juicy sorts, as the Muscadine, Chas- 

 selas, &c. and berries that are considered large of these kinds 

 will weigh from five to seven pennyweights, and measure about 

 an inch and a half in girth. A bunch of good size of the 

 same sorts, may weigh one and a quarter, to one and a half 

 pounds, and of the very largest size two pounds, but the aver- 

 age of fair sized bunches is one, to one and a quarter pounds ; 

 a bunch of the Black Hamburgh of good size will weigh nearly 

 or quite two pounds, and bunches of the very large varieties 

 of grapes will weigh three and four to six pounds. 



Another use made of sweet grapes is for the purpose of dry- 

 ing, and thereby forming raisins and currants. Laborde in 

 his account of Spain, gives the following description of the 

 mode of drying raisins : In the province of Valencia, they 

 make a kind of ley with the ashes of rosemary and vine 

 branches, to which they add a quart of slaked lime ; this ley 

 is heated, and a vessel full of holes containing the grapes is 

 put into it. When the bunches are in the state desired, they 

 are carried to the naked rocks, where they are spread on beds 

 of the field artemesia, and are turned every two or three days 

 till they are dry. In the province of Grenada, particularly 

 towards Malaga, the grapes are simply dried in the sun with- 

 out any other preparation. The former have a more pleasant 

 rind or skin, but a less mellow substance ; the skins of the 

 latter are not so sugary, but their pulp has a much greater 

 relish ; therefore the raisins of Malaga are preferred by 

 foreigners, and are sold at a higher price. To this their 

 natural qualities may likewise contribute, they being larger 

 and more delicate than those of Valencia. 



Having now gone through the subject matter proposed, for 

 for the present volume, I shall conclude by transcribing the 

 opinions of an enlightened cultivator of our own country 



