Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-06-02

surplus of raisins may be made into wine.
Six or seven years ago France made about
| eighteen million gallons of wine. The
yield now is so materially reduced that
| they Sent to Italy and Portugal for cheap
raisins with which to make wine. Cali.
fornis can step In and supply that def.
cheney of sixty million pounds of raisins
which were consumed by France in the
manufacture Of wine; or the same guam
| tity of raisins would make three and half
million boxes of raisins. There are only
about two million boxes OF raisins annually
| imported into the United States. We
have made only about one hundred aad ten
| thousand boxes of rsisins in our best year ;
SO you see California cuts but small fig
ure in the supply of the United States. Bat
small per cent. OF the raisins used in the
United States is produced in California.
II, however, the time should come-but it
will not in our day-when grape growing
becomes Improbable for raisin- growing,
we can feed them to our pork, and then
raisins will soon be in demand again.
Grapes will fatten pork faster than any
other k.sown food. Hogs fed upon this
food will increase from two to three pounds
per day.
The effort to make sngar from grapes
would, l am satisfied, result only in OBJ
tanning glucose. Not but that the raisin
grape is sweet enough for that purpose, for
the average grapes yield probably about %
per cent. of sugar. or 100 tons of grapes
would contain but % tons of saccharine
matter.
The question of irrigation for grapes is
one which depends upon the locality. The
greater portion of our northern grape
growers do not use irrigation at all. In
Sonoma and NApa valleys, and in the
Vacaville belt, they do not irrigate. Bat
in that part of the State where the annual
rainfall is small, say in Fresno and all the
great interior valleys, they have to resort
to irrigation.
The profits from grapes for rsisins-the
better class of wine grapes-I think can
safely say is not less than 500 per acre.
For the past six years the profits have
averaged over 500 per acre. When
vineyards have become five or six years old,
and are well cared for, they are always
profitable and valuable. Of course their
value depends upon the variety of raisins,
location of vineyard, facilities to railroads,
etc. There are vineyards you could not
buy for $500 per acre. For instance, l
have a neighbor who has five acres. He
has made as high as 81, 900 clear profit from
the five acres, and hired all his work done.
There are now approximately about l00,-
600 of grapes in this State, of which about
half are young vines. The greatest sue
cess in grape-raising appears to be with
small vineyards, well cared for. 1 think
this is the universal Judgment and expert
ence. We cannot expect to find any soil in
the world to yield well year after year
without fertilizing. The Seedless Sultana
has yielded me forty -four tons to the acre,
but it would be preposterous to expect to
keep that up without fertilizing the soil. If
the soil is properly fertilized the vines will
bear for 100 years. The problem of fungoid
growth now claiming the attention of vine.
yardists l do not regard as so serious, since
it can be combated successfully with the
proper remedies. l have one variety of
fungoid growth which yields readily to an
application of sulphate of iron. The more
permanent varieties of mildew yield read
lily to little sprinkling of sulphur applied
two or three times year.