AND WINE MAKING. 339 



yards come into bearing and produce full crops, it is dif- 

 ficult to see how prices could be maintained sufficient to 

 cover the cost of production. 



The culture of the Muscat and the process of drying 

 into raisins, as pursued in California, are very simple. 

 The vine is, perhaps, the most dwarfish of all varieties 

 and is grown with very low heads, only about one foot 

 high, which when once formed are cut back to spurs, as 

 heretofore described in stool or goblet pruning. Thus 

 the bunches of the first crop hang around the head, or 

 stool, sometimes resting on the ground. In that dry, 

 sandy soil the vines are generally irrigated once or twice 

 during the summer, for which purpose the soil must 

 have been leveled and ditched before planting. The 

 Muscat has a strong tendency to bear a second crop from 

 -the laterals — sometimes as heavy as the first, but ripen- 

 ing much later. The first crop is ordinarily ripe about 

 the middle or last of August. The process of curing 

 them is thus described by the late R. B. Blowers, one of 

 the veterans in the business : 



" The grapes should be allowed to re main on th e vine 

 until quite ripe, showing a yellowish or golde n color, a nd 

 becoming quite translucent. Then they should be care- 

 fuUy picked and placed upon a drying t ray, usually two 

 by three feet in size, made of light lattice work, and 

 exposed with an inclination toward the sun, between the 

 rows of the vineyard. After being sufficiently exposed 

 to become about half dry they are turned by two men, 

 who take an empty tray, place it on a full one, holding 

 them together firmly, and with a swinging motion turn 

 them over, replacing iSie turned grapes in their former 

 position. This should be done in the morning, before 

 the dew is quite dried off ; then, when they have become 

 so dry as to lose their ashy appearance, some being a 

 little too green and others quite dry enough, they are, 

 after removing those that are entirely too green, slid 



