Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-04-19
Seedless Grapes.
Yuma Times.l

lowing article to the Californian of March 22nd. In a private letter to a resident of Yuma county he also es- pecially recommends the Seedless Sultana for planting in this section, on account of its requiring a longer season than is generally in Fresno. It will also be noticed that it will stand the heat better than the Mus catels. Ths average market price of the Sultana is about the same as that of the Muscatel in the sweat box, viz :: five to six cents per pound. The strong bottom soils, on the Gila river, should produce large crops of Sul- | tanas:
 "The present tendency of all raisin producers to plant only Muscat grapes is not a commendable one. They would act wisely in first studying the market and to ascertain the taste of the consumers. Both in England and | the United States the taste is largely developing for seedless raisins, especi- ally Sultanas, every season shows this distinctly. Why then the impulsive work of tearing up the Sultana vines or of grating them into Muscat. And still this is what is being done both in and out in the San Joaquin valley by many growers, who follow the rest of the multitude without pausing to look around them. To my knowledge, hundreds of acres of Sul- tanas are being destroyed in Fresno county alone, principally by smaller growers or by those whose raisin crop has not figured largely in the market, or who have had no great personal experience, but who judge of what is best to do only from what their neighbors say. While thus such growers root up their vines of graft them over to Muscats, some of our large growers, such as A. B. Butler and others, do all they can to increase their Sultana yield. The last named gentleman, than whom no one has any better knowledge of the future of the raisin industry, acknowledges that he yearly realizes $10O per acre net from his Sultana grapes and that he expects to improve upon this every year. The use of the seedless raisins
 
 or two more it must be about double what it is now This then will be the time when seedless raisins will com mand higher price than the Mus cats. MT. Butler does not dip his Sultanas, he simple dries them upon trays exposed to the sun. Another Fresno grower, George Freeman, who takes as much interest in his Sultana as he does in his Muscat raisins, dips them into lye before drying and pro- cures thus a very superior article equal to the fine imported Smyrnas, which, with their amber color and thin skin, are in such a great demand at fancy prices. MT. Freeman sells his Sultanas at ' cents per bound or about cents more than what is generally paid for Muscats. The above two instances could be multiplied. Intelligent growers everywhere make the growing of Sultanas profitable and | find ready market for whatever they can raise; whether the raisins are cured by sun alone or by dipping ap- pears to make no great difference as to their selling quality, the latter kind however brings the better prices. Under such circumstances 1t would be injudicious to either root up or graft over Sultanas, with the intention to replace them with Muscats.
 But regardless of the price they bring and the readiness with which they are sold, Sultana grapes have other advantages which should not be lost sight of. Advantages which in many localities will make them the favorite crop. The Sultana grape is a better bearer than any other raisin grape, excepting, perhaps, the new Thompson seedless, which however, is not sufficiently tried. Ten to twelve tons to the acre of green Sultana grapes is not an unusal yield, while I have seen as high as sixteen tons being harvested and heard of even higher yield. But besides good bear ing qualities there are yet others The Sultana grape is much less apt to sunburn than the Muscatel and adapts itself readily to localities where on account of the heat the Muscat would have great difficulties to over come. We can add to these good points that the Sultana does not suffer from color or the dropping of the grapes while setting, and bring on that account surer crop. On account o its comparatively early ripening, il could be grown with advantage ir places with early springs where the grapes ripen early, but where the heat of the summer would injure the Mus cat both on the vine and on the tray Sultanas when dipped before drying would not cook on the trays, anC could with more propriety be dried en tirely in the shade furnished wher one tray is stacked over the other The Sultana vine has only one draw back, that of requiring to be staked 1T order to yield profitably, but outside of this fault its usefulness is greater than that of any other raisin grape To-day the world at large consume, about twice as many Sultana raisin: as Muscatels, Smyrna in Asia Minor being their principal place of produc tion."
 The yearly increasing numbers o