Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-11-20

RA1s1N RA1s1Na.-A strip Of land border
ing the Mediterranean, somewhat less than
100 miles in length, and in width not exceed
ing five or six, is the raisin.producing terrific
ry of Spain. Beyond these boundaries the
Muscatel grape, from which the raisin is
principally produced, may grow and thrive
abundant1y, but the fruit must 60 the mar
ket or the wine-press. When the grapes be-
gin to ripen in August, the farmer carefully
inspects the fruit as it lies on the warm dry
soil, and one by one clips the clusters as they
reach perfection. In almost all vineyards
slants of masonry are prepared, looking like
unglazed hot-beds, and covered with fine peb-
bles, on which the fruit is exposed to dry.
But the small proprietor prefers not to carry
his grapes so far. 1t is better, he thinks, to
deposit them nearer at hand, where there is
less danger of bruising and where the bees
and wasps are less likely to find them. Day
by day the cut branches are examined and
turned till they are sufficiently red to be
borne to the house, usually on the hilltop,
and there deposited in the empty wine-press
till enough had been collected for the trim
mers and packers to begin their work. At
this stage great piles of rough, dried raisins
are brought forth from the wine press and
heaped upon boards. One by one the bunch
es are carefully inspected, those Of the first
quality being trimmed Of all irregularities,
and imperfect berries deposited in piles BY.
themselves; so in turn are treated those Of
the second quality, while the clippings and
inferior fruit are received into baskets at
the feet of the trimmers, and reserved for
home consumption. A quantity Of small
wooden trays are now brought forward, just
the size of common rasin box, and about
an inch deep. In these, papers are neatly
laid, so as to lap over and cover the raisins
evenly deposited in the trays, which are then
subjected to heavy pressure in rude press.
After pressing, the raisins are dropped into
boxes for market.
The ARABIAN N1eHTs. The original au-
thor or authors of the ARABIAN Nights" are
unknown; nor is it known with any certainty
when and where the tales were written. Its
believed, however, that many of them, as well
as the plan of the work, we're borrowed from
q collection of Persian tales, written few
years after the Hegira. The majority of them
were written, beyond doubt, either in Persia
or Syria, in about 1854. That they were not
composed previous to that time, is evident
from the facts that coffee is mentioned through
out them but three times, and tobacco but
once-and these references are presumed to be
interpretations Had these luxuries then been
in use, they would most certainly have been
made feature in, every tale. To Antoine
Galland, Frenchman, is the world indebted
for the first translation Of the arabian,
Nights" into European language. He was
born in 1916. s
Having acquainted himself with the Orien-
tai language, he accompanied the French
minister to Constantinople, and then visited
the Holy Land. In 1865 he returned to Par
is, with SO many rare medals and antiquities,
that he was despatched to that country again
to collect manuscripts for the celebrated Col
bert. This was in 1879, and it was during
this tour that he probably came in possession
of the "Arabian Nights Entertainments.
In 1852 the tales were translated into French,
and were soon read in almost every language.
The original collection is called the stories of
q Thousand and One Nights" but thus far
only FIVE hundred and sixty-eight have been
discovered, and only portion of these trans
lated.