72 



RAISIN GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 



is firm and glossy, and the seed showing at the surface 

 gives it character and makes it attractive. Sucker 

 State, which I planted alternately to fertilize the blos- 

 soms of Warfield No. 2, yielded a moderate crop of 

 nice, good-sized berries. It does fairly well in a matted 

 row two feet wide, but the Warfield must be cut down 

 to eight or ten inches, not to exceed a foot. It is an 

 early-blooming variety, and should have some such 

 variety as Belmont planted with it, at least in every 

 third row. 



Having had some experience in growing strawberries 

 in Florida, I will briefly give some of my observations. 

 To obtain an early maturing crop for northern markets, 



plants should be set before the close of the rainy sea- 

 son, say during the latter part of July or in the begin- 

 ning of August. The plants will then become estab- 

 lished, and in September cultivation can be given and 

 vacancies filled. Unlike at the north, these plants make 

 no runners till near the close of the fruiting sea- 

 son ; hence they are easily kept clean, and they grow 

 best in hills, forming large stools a foot or more in 

 diameter. The Neunan, Hoffman, "Wilson and Sharp- 

 less succeed there, and some of the newer varieties ma 

 be found adapted to the soil and climate. 



Madison Co., III. E. Holi.ister. 



RAISIN GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 



HE FACT has been mentioned 

 that a considerable number of 

 women have undertaken raisin 

 culture in this State. Some 

 with the necessary amount of 

 money and the needed execu- 

 tive abihty made a grand suc- 

 cess by personally overseeing 

 the practical work. Others, 

 with hired labor alone have planted hundreds of 

 acres of raisin grapes, and have made fine profits. 

 This could be done in the past, when the number 

 of Chinese in California made labor cheap and 

 abundant. Since the passage of the " Chinese Ex- 

 clusion Act " all this has been changed, and some 

 of our experienced raisin-growers believe that rai- 

 sin culture on a large scale can no longer be made 

 profitable. It is even feared that the older raisin- 

 growers will suffer loss this year from the scarcity 

 of labor. Raisin culture, for only three or four 

 months of the year requires a large number of ex- 

 tra hands ; and as all vineyards are short at the 

 same time they cannot always be obtained. There 

 has been very little trouble of this sort so far. 

 But the great vineyards will be confronted with the 

 labor question this season, and if such wild plant- 

 ings as are being made now continue, the raisin- 

 business will "be run into the ground." Labor 

 cannot live throughout the year on four months' 

 work. Yet raisin culture in California, with proper 

 soil and climate, is a very sure and profitable in- 

 dustry. 



Then what are we to do ? What is the proper remedy 

 for all this ? The answer is simply, small vineyards, from 

 5 to 20 acres in extent, for each family, the family 

 owning the land and doing all this work themselves. 



A man and his wife, with a fine lot of girls and boys — 

 and all good families should have a whole lot of such — 

 could, if they would all work, make a fine living and 

 save money besides. If twenty acres are being worked, 

 ten may be planted with Muscat grapes, with two or 

 three vines of a dozen other varieties for home use ; five 

 acres with other fruits, all very profitable ; and the 

 other five acres may be occupied by the house, farm 

 and garden. Raisin culture is one of the surest and 

 simplest of California's industries. A man of ordinary 

 intelligence can easily learn all the details from his 

 neighbors. But he must do his own work ; and in the 

 future the grower himself must gather and dry his 

 grapes, put them in the "sweat boxes," and then sell 

 them to the packer. j 



The great landholders of the San Joaquin Valley rea- 

 lize what profits can be made in the raisin industry, 

 and are dividing their sheep ranches into tracts of ten 

 or more acres. Though the prices asked per acre seem 

 too high to the Eastern man, nevertheless they are not, 

 for more money can be made on ten acres of this land, 

 under irrigation, than can be made on 160 acres in Illi- 

 nois or Iowa, and that with one-third the hard labor. 



In order to reduce these seemingly high prices, the 

 Southern Pacific Railroad Co. established a colony 

 agency, and bonded a large amount of land besides its 

 own immense holdings, and is now selling, to actual set- 

 tlers only, tracts of 20 or more acres on most favorable 

 terms as to time and contracts. If the settler will work 

 and improve, the company will help him in every reas- 

 onable way, and give him a chance to pay for his place 

 from his crops. The price of a 20-acre plot of care- 

 fully selected land is about $900. Fine colonies from 

 Holland, Sweden, England, and from the Eastern States, 

 have already been made, and they are all doing well, 

 showing that the labor question may be solved in this 

 manner, and that raisin culture is still and will almost 

 surely remain a very profitable industry. D. B. Wier. 



Sonoma Co., California. 



