2-M PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-THIRD FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



DR. SHERMAN. There is a little error in the subject. It should 

 have been "Muscatel Grapes" instead of "Grapes." 



MUSCATEL GRAPES. 



By Mrs. M. E. SHERMAN, of Fresno. 



The earliest of historical people had raisins, dates, and figs for food. 

 Man's inventive genius was not taxed by having to cure these fruits, 

 for in a dry, warm climate they dried on the vines and trees. The 

 simplicity of the foods of the ancients suggests the Garden of Eden, 

 where food was the product of plant life, secured to man without toil. 



In California, twenty years ago we had nearly perfect conditions. 

 Then there were no codling moth, no phylloxera, no pear blight, no white 

 fly, and no petty thieves. The rich people kindly took themselves off to 

 New York or Paris for their foolish display. We lived the simple life, for 

 none were over rich and none in dire poverty. Child-like we babbled of 

 our blessedness. Then came codling moth and pear blight. One-lungers 

 and remittance men followed, then tourists and Paris fashions. These 

 things we have assimilated. All the undesirable races of humanity 

 have found a resting place in our earthly Paradise, and when we dare 

 to object the whole United States is shocked at a lot of talk, until- it 

 fears a further attack of gastritis, arid we are silenced. 



The workers for social betterment are appalled at the increased 

 number of men who, with opportunity to earn money, refuse to work. 

 They loaf, living on the earnings of their wives, and (thank God, we 

 have no longer to add) " of their children." These helpless ones are 

 released, by the strong hand of law, from the weary hours that make a 

 day's work in the canneries and packing-houses. 



The first raisins made in the United States came from California. To 

 whom the credit is due I do not know. I am not here to throw that 

 apple of discord into our midst. They were made (and that is enough) 

 in the seventies, and along in the eighties became a commercial success. 

 The peculiar suitability of Fresno soil, the abundant water supply, the 

 long drying season, free from dew and fog, soon singled out Fresno 

 County as the raisin center of the State. 



The details of planting and laying put of a vineyard will be passed 

 over, as time is limited. The choice soil for raisin grape culture is of 

 small area, even in Fresno County's vast domain. The deltas of the 

 many wet-weather streams that rush down from the Sierras and sink 

 away into nothingness on the sandy plain carry the rich fine red 

 soil to make raisin land. This heavier soil is a little later, about ten 

 days, in maturing the grapes, but it makes the rich meaty raisin, one 

 that is a mass of tender jelly inclosed in a thin skin. 



