Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-12-25
NATIVE RAISINS.
California Dried Fruit Success
fully Competing with the Span

California Dried Fruit Success.
fully Competing with the Span,
ish.
N. Y. Mail and Express, Dec. Ill
| Grocers in New York has been mucI
surprised this season by the remarkabl,
inroad which has been made by the Cal
ifornia raisins into the trade of imported
dried fruit. AT Christmas time there i,
always an increased demand for this
class of groceries. Heretofore it has
been necessary to depend upon importa.
tions for some of the materials required
in making the customary Christmas or
plum pudding. This is no longer a
necessity, as this country cannot only
supply the -four and eggs, but also the
fruit. When California first produced q
surplus of grapes, the thought of cultiva.
tors naturally turned to the making of
wine as means for the disposal in
profitable way of the superabundant
harvest. As time wore ON and the pro.
duction increased, while the making of
wine failed to utilize all the extra crop,
attention was given to the drying of the
fruit, better known by the designation
of the curing of raisins. For long
while this new source of American in
dustry failed to realize the desired re.
suit. The art of curing raisins for the
general market was in its infancy, and
had not been perfected. Despite all
efforts the product did not equal in any
way that of Spain, either in beauty or
quality. Consequently there was
very little demand for native fruit.
Even in the State where the
grapes were grown there was no market
for the native raisins, much less in those
cities along the Atlantic seaboard into
which the foreign fruit was brought.
Time and experience have, however,
taught the cultivators of the California
vineyards, and those associated with
them, wherein they were lacking. Great
improvements have been the result. So
advanced have they become in the art of
curing raisins that this season they have
been enabled to introduce in the New
York markets native raisins which are
claimed to be not only equal to the or
dinary class of goods imported from
Spain but seem superior.
In many districts of the United States
the California raisin is said to be pre-
ferred to the Spanish Malaga fruit. This
is not on account of cheaper price, for
the native product rates as high in the
market as the imported. In point of
fact the price of the former is graded by
that of the latter. No attempt is made
here to undersell the market rate. The
dealers say there is no necessity for SO
doing, as the native fruit will maintain
its own position by its beauty and quail
ity. Yet despite this fact the wholesale
dealers here in this class of Californian
fruit assert that the sales of both native
and foreign raisins run about equal;
that they sell box for box with each
other at the same price. Certain classes
of the larger Muscatel raisins in bunches,
brought from California during the pres.
emf season exhibit as pretty an appear
ance as any imported from Spain. With
out the ornamental packing to set them
off they are generally quite as attractive
to purchasers of choice fruit. 1t is true
that many give preference to the Spanish
because it is foreign, while others think
there is yet something lacking toward
perfection in the curing of the American.
Phey consider the native raisin not so
lasting as the imported. Even those
grocers who raise this objection admit |
that it will only be short time when |
this difficulty will be overcome. Then |
all obstacles to the California raisin COM
manding the American market will be
removed. The strides which have been
made during the past two years in the
production of this class of dried fruit |
are universally admitted. As the time and
cost of transportation have been greatly |
reduced there seems to be scarcely any
reason why the native raisin cannot, in
the not far distant future, be laid down
in this market fresher, cheaper and bet
ter than those of Europe. Should this
prove to be the case, it will afford an
other opportunity for increasing the
productions of the soil, advancing Amer
lean industry and making the country
more independent of the Old World in
the matter of food supply. Some of the
dealers in the California ralsin believe
that the time is not very remote
when the expectation of the American
dried fruit will be as large as the
importations now are. This, they think,
will be especially the case when the
quality of the American raisin becomes
more generally known. They point to
the great export trade which is now be-
ing carried on in American leather-the |
result of an experiment to get rid OF an |
overproduction-as an example OF what
may be accomplished in other products. |
They also predict that it will not be long
before the United States will rank with
any country in the world in the matter
of expectations, instead of being, as
formerly, dependent on foreign countries
for it's supplies.