Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1886-07-06
COUNTY pomoLoGIcAL SOCIETY
Important Meeting st Apahein
praeeeafnas n nd Addreases.

County Pathological Society at Anaheim.
July !, 1886;
APPROACHING MATURITY.
Having now treated in very crude
and dispointed manner, Of the condi-
tons Of the vine previous 10 the ripen-
ing of the fruit, / will now touch briefly
upon the treatment Of the grape as 1t
approaches maturity. We have read
frequently that on the low.headed vines
OF Spain the growers dig the dirt away
from the stock that the fruit may hang
around it. This / have heard contra
dcted by what consider better author
iiy. Our present Superintendent. Mr..
4. b. Willis, spent considerable time
among the vineyards OF Spain, Waiting
the principal vineyards around Malaga,
Valencia, Denia, Alicante and through
out the Granada district. He says that
while there may be individual growers
who pursue this courss yet most n the
producers OF the best raisins raise the soil
in little mounds around the vine 10 sup
port the grapes. This preserves the
clusters in better shape and renders
them much less liable to injury in pack
ing. While we cannot afford TO expend
SO much labor on the growing crops OF
grapes as the Malaga people do, on &C.
count Of the great difference In the cost
OF labor tours costing four or i've times
as much as theirs) we can afford to pay
proper attention to few facts. When
we see one vine growing an unusual
amount Of fruit while its neighbor. eight
feet away, appears much stronger, grow
l.. 4 g xuA MN ~
RENT mber that the roots OF the stronger
vine are thrown out so as to take away
from the weaker one part OF its sup
port flor this Is common ground throw
out roots several times the distance al.
| lowed them) and we should relieve the
vine Of its surplus fruit, else it will not
mature properly. The growers Of
grapes at Malaga do much more than
this. They clip the imperfect fruit from
the stem while growing, and thus they
secure more perfect clusters. Our grapes
do not ripen as early as those Of Malaga,
hence those who loss any time after the
fruit is ripe lose great deal. for 1t re-
quires much more time and trouble to cure
raisins that ripen two weeks out OF sea
son. While twelve days will suffice for
curing early fruit, 1t often requires three
times that period to accomplish the
same result later. The later fruit will
often carry only 10 per cent. OF saccha-
rine matter. while rich, sweet, early
fruit contains as high as " per cent.
Our method OF drying by the use OF trays
Is very convenient, bui there is no ques-
ton at all but that the raisins can be
cured more perfectly upon the ground II
the place selected Is free from dust, II
the ground is used there Is need OF
protection OF some kind. In raisins
dried upon the ground we find none with
the skins perfectly smooth on one side
and the seeds settled down near 1t, hav.
ing the appearance OF rot, the air not
penetrating between the tray and the
skin so as to cure the fruit on all sides
equally.
Ii is unnecessary to give at
length any method of drying, as
we all understand that pretty
we'll now. The greatest difference
between US now is that we do not all
understand when the grape will do to
Law dowp, as we call it, do not know
| that can tell any one not experienced
what that time is. The grape should
| have taken on its amber color, the seed
its natural appearance and generally the
stem will show by its drying up near the
cane. and it should contain sugar
enough so that the sense OF taste VIII
| tell us; or if we have q saechrometer
aud the sugar is measured 1t should con
tain about % per cen or thereabout..
| Ii the fruit Is grown on ground not rich
enough to make this amount, that TACT
would inevitably show itself by the
raisin not being plump, the grooves
would be deep and few, the correspond
ing ridges sharp and the raisin would De
imperfect and acid. If the fruit IS over
ripe, then the raisin will be dark and
lose some OF its richness, but neverthe-
less will be sweet and will fill the re-
quirments Of a good products: the
grooves will be numerous and shallow;
the ridges correspondingly rounded and
the raisin will have a plump body. 1t
will be plant and ii pressed will to some
extent resume its shape: and when the
fruit is picked Just right it is more
amber and its flavor richer,
THE POINTS OF A GOOD RAisIN.
The character of the raisin is made up
of a number of points, which are about
as follows as regards importance; On
Layers-size, flavor, bloom. plumpness,
| thickness of skin, size Of seeds, prox-
imi of berries to each other on the
stem. and color of the stem. No fruit
is expected to possess the most favorable
side of all these characteristics, but no
grape can lay claim to superiority that
has few of them. Many localities can
produce raisins of good flavor, but the
large bloomy fruit with small seeds and
thin skin will outsell them, and that is
what determines which is superior.
Some of those points can be improved
upon, as: bloom is kept on by careful
handling, plumpness is secured by pick.
ing the fruit when fully ripe, size by cor
rect pruning, good cultivation and rrl'
Cation if necessary, favor by giving the
vine all it requires as the fruit is grow.
ing No raisin can attain to perfection
IT it lacks anything its nature calls for;
rs, for instance, climate suited to its
delicate power of resistance during its
growing period. Ii the climate is too
severe Il will adapt itself to such con-
dition by ckening the skin and grow
ing harder and more seeds. Ii any ma
| terial of the soil is too full and abund-
ant, either in vegetable or mineral mat
ter, the flavor is affected. Too much
moisture in the soil stimulates wood
growth and fills the fruit with water
that has to be dried away, leaving the
raisin thin and uninviting in appearance.
The method OF handling the grape
from the vine to the raisiu is too thor
! l.. L.. Y. tban a
passing mention. | have almost entire.
| " left that out of this paper, but Will
re fer briefly to the manner OF handling
| the fruit when taken from the drying
beds. The process called sweating is
simply evening the cured fruit 1t Is
not euualizing separate stems cured in
different degrees of perfection, but the
| fruit upon the same stem. II stem is
not cured it should be taken up from the
trap, or from the ground, but when
portion of the stem is wholly cured and
some part is not, then sweating is neces-
sary in order that one part OF cluster
may assist in curing the balance OF it,
which suggests that we do not know
how much curing is done by the escape
of moisture through the stems. IL the
weather in curing is not extra hot or
dry but little sweating is needed, but If
FASTENED on by extremely hot weather,
then the unevenness is greater and the
fruit will require more time to equalize.
II the fruit is taken up too green 1t may
sour--or sugar, as we call 1t. In early
times they used to tell us that our raj
sins we're not SO good as Others because
they did not sugar, but that complaint
is never heard now, as this sugaring is
only too frequently observed on account
of fruit being taken up too green.
Right here it may be mentioned that