350 
When grapes or other fruit get wet whilst drying, they turn 
dark brown and are discoloured, and to prevent this, in case of 
rain or heavy dew at night, the trays are piled over one another 
to a-height of three or four feet, and securely covered with a tar- 
paulin of roofing iron. When thus stacked, the thickness of the 
end cross-pieces prevents the fruit from getting erushed. After 
turning, the drying proceeds more rapidly, and the raisins should 
be watched to prevent them from becoming too dry. 
Where a fairly heavy crop is gathered it is usual to stack the 
pile of trays laden with grape-fruit in process of drying under cover 
of permanent sheds, which afford protection against damage from 
a passing storm. The stacks are built in single or double rows, and 
in that ease a passage way is provided between. The trays present 
over the racks the advantage of being movable, easy to load 
at the dipping tank, and to unload after drying, by the simple 
process of tipping upside down over a clean floor, or over spread 
canvas. 
When sufficiently dry the raisins are removed from the trays. 
A ready method of ascertaining this is to pick up a few average 
berries and roll them gently between the finger and thumb. If a 
drop of liquid exudes at the stem end, the raisins require further 
drying; but if jelly only shows, the raisins are dry enough. 
Stemming.—The next process consists in removing the stalks. 
These will be brittle if the raisins are taken up towards the after- 
noon, and will then break off easily. This ean easily be done over 
a quarter-inch sieve, which will also let through some of the rubbish. 
Winnowing—This done. and before the stalks get lmp, the 
loose berries are run through a winnowing machine, which separates 
a greater portion of the stalks and grades them in sizes. 
Sweat Boxr—The fruit must then be sweated for a fortnight 
or so before being packed and put away. Sweating is an operation 
whieh all dried fruit must undergo. 
If the raisins on the trays are examined, part will be found 
dry enough. while part may be too dry and some not sufficiently 
cured. At this stage the sweat-box is found useful for equalising 
the sample and making the stems tough and ready for packing. 
The sweat-boxes are 8in. to Yin. deep, and contain about 1 ewt. of 
raisins. The boxes are only about two-thirds filled with raisins, 
and they should be stirred about every now and again until suffi- 
ciently dried. They may be used at other times for carrying grapes 
from the vineyard and other purposes. 
Packing.—When the sweat-boxes are full they are put away, 
one on the top of another, for ten to twelve days, to sweat, after: 
which they are taken to the packing room, which is provided with 
tables, scales, presses, and neat boxes of different sizes, holding 
5lb., 10Ib., 15]b., and 201b., in layers of 5lb. each, 
