ss 



Now there is one other thing I wish to refer to, and which I deem of 

 great importance, and that is thinning out the fruit on fruit trees. No 

 fruit should be allowed to grow nearer than three inches to each other, and 

 all small and defective fruit should be picked from the tree. 



THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 



Let us now glance at the raisin industry, as being one of great importance 

 and which has perhaps the greatest outlook for the future of any other. 

 The possibilities of this industry are beyond anything we can conceive of. 

 Some twelve years ago there was an attempt to make raisins, but it was 

 not a success, as is usual in all new enterprises. There were many discour- 

 agements met with by those who were interested in this enterprise. There 

 was a prejudice, not only in the East, but at home, but there has been a 

 steady increase in flavor and output, and California raisin makers have 

 used every precaution to make their raisins palatable as well as attractive 

 to the eye. Wrapping, packing, and boxing, and in fact everything con- 

 nected with this industry is well done. The many difficulties encountered 

 have been boldly met and overcome. We have a climate preferable to that 

 of Spain, and in the near future we will supply the demand for first class 

 raisins. If California raisin makers will keep on in the same ratio in the 

 future as in the past, making improvements in flavor as well as general 

 attractiveness, they will be able to successfully compete with any raisin 

 made in Spain or elsewhere. 



Small grape growers find it to their advantage to sell their raisins in the 

 sweat boxes to those who have made a reputation for their brand. We per- 

 ceive that the output for raisins has steadily increased. In 1881, ninety 

 thousand boxes; 1882, one hundred and fifteen thousand; 1883, one hun- 

 dred and twenty-five thousand; 1884, one hundred and seventy-five thou- 

 sand; 1885, four hundred and seventy-five thousand; 1886, seven hundred 

 and three thousand. We have the following brands, and most of them are 

 very fine: The Forsythe, the Coleman Flag, Riverside Packing Company, 

 McPherson Bros., the Austin brand, and George W. Meade, the Lion brand. 

 These different brands have sold side by side in New York, Boston, and 

 Philadelphia, with the imported raisins from Malaga, and compared very 

 favorably, and the merchants were loud in their praise of the California 

 raisins. There is another advantage that California has in her raisins, that 

 they do not deteriorate after the first of April. The Malaga profits in pro- 

 ducing and making raisins are sufficient to satisfy almost any one. One 

 hundred to two hundred dollars per acre ought to be sufficiently remuner- 

 ative to the raisin maker. The variety of grapes used are mostly Muscat 

 and a few Malagas; some Sultanas are used, a seedless grape. 



In 1884 there were imported to the United States over fifty-three million 

 pounds of raisins. Now, we will notice briefly that the Malaga raisins 

 come from Malaga, a small province of Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. 

 It has an area of four thousand seven hundred and twenty-nine square 

 miles, and its surface is mountainous, being traversed by the range of Sierra 

 Nevada, and only a part of Malaga is used to produce the Malaga raisins. 

 A part of the grapes are used for wine making. Let us see what they pay 

 laborers for making raisins. For men, 25 to 30 cents per day and board; 

 women, from 12^ to 20 cents and food furnished. In packing, men get 50 

 cents per day, and women, 25 to 30 cents, and furnish their own food. One 

 American would do more in one day than these would do in three. Now, 

 we will contrast the yield of our vineyards with those of Malaga. Our vine- 

 yards, in full bearing, yield from eight to ten tons per acre, and in Malaga 



