New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-11-08

feet HIGH stand so thickly together that when n ~
leaf they form solid wall Of green. The y,nev.s.
which Is mle square, is also surrounded BY .,.'.
row Of these superb poplars.
visit TO one OF the great rssn vneyards ~.
Fresno IS revelation in regard to the system thai .
necessary in handling large quantities OF grapes IA
| largest raisn vineyard Ia the State II not IN Ia
| world Is that OF A. Is. Butler. ID comprise. sIn
acres of which trife 600 Is planted N a.
best rais!n grapes Butler was Texas cowboy a,r
came TO Fresno with very little capital. lie secur,d
posses ion OF a section Of land, planted II b. grppes
lie read everything he could buy rasln.makins
but found little in the books that OF any value
SO he made TIP to spain, and inspected all the uro
cesses In tho Malaga district He gathered many nav
IDEAS One OF the most valuable suggestions was IN
regard 20 prunngs and keeping the vine free from n.
suckers that sap It's vitality When he returned from
tbs trim and passed through Los Angeles County h
saw that the strange disease which was killing many
hundred OF vines nothing else than the rcsa
| of faulty prunings-the retention Of suckers ant
they gaIned such usty growth that their removal
proved fatal TO the vine. His vineyard Is free from
| weeds and grass as corner Of well kept kitchen
| garden. The vine leaves have that deep glossy Lot
| which betrays perfect health. When my visit wa
made the whole crop was on trays spread out In Tie
| vineyard These trays had been piled up In hyea
| OF a dozen-wiat is technically known as boxei-
| as a shower had fallen the previous night and NJ
| RutIer was uncertain whether he would have cr1
OF the choicest raisins. or whether he would have
put his dried grapes in bags, and cell them for che
+, third Of the top price. Fortunately the rain clud
| cleared away The crop saved and the extrems
hot weather that followed made the second crop alca
| as valuable as the first
| The method of drying and packing the rsisin
peculiar and well worth brief description. Wien tie
grape reaches certain degree Of rpeness and develops
The requisite amount Of saccharine matter large fore
is put into the vineyard and the picking begins. Tie
punches OF ripe grapes are placed carefully on wooden
trays and are left in the field to cure. The process
requires from seven days to three weeks according
the amount Of sunshine. This climate IS entirey
free from dew night that there is danger Of must
The rape cures perfectly in this way and makes q,
sweeer raisn than when dried by artificial heat. whe
the grapes are dried sufficiently the trays are gathe
and stacked I'm piles about as high as mans van
Then begins the tedious but necessary process Of sorting
into the sweat boxes. These boxes are about digit
| inches deep and hold 125 pounds Of grapes. ArouA
the sorter are three sweat boxes for the three grades
grapes. In each box three layers Of MANILA paper
which are used at equal intervals to prevent the
stems OF the grapes from becoming en,angled thus
breaking the fine large punches when removed. The
sorter must be expert. He takes the punches BY
the stem, placing the largest and finest In the rstgs
box those which medium-azed in the second grade
and all broken and ragged punches in the third class
When the boxes filed they hauled to the brick
building known as the equalizer. This Is constructs
SO as to permit ventilation 1T the top. but to excuds
light and air as much possible from the grapes. The
boxes are piled I'm tiers in this house and allowed 70
remain in darkness for from ten 10 twenty days Here
they undergo a sweating process, which flfusei
moisture equally throughout the contents Of each box
This prevents some grapes from retaining undue moist
ure and it also softens the stems and makes them
pliable.
From the equalizng room the sweat boxes are taken
TO the packing room. Here they arc first weighed
The first and second grades passed 70 the sorcr
while the third grade mlslDs placed in biz ns
chine that strips OFF the stems and grades the loose
rasins in three four sizes. These placed ia
sacks and sold as loose raslns. The higher grades IN
carefully sorted into first and second class clIS'eS
After this sorting the boxes passed TO women Al
girls, who arrange the clusters neatly IN small I'VE
pound boxes with movable bottoms. These boxes sr
placed under slight pressure and four Of them III ons
OF the regular twenty-pound boxes OF commerce. The
work Of placing the raisns In the small boxes rqars
much practice, but women arc found to BE- much
swfter than men Mt This labor, and as they arc paid
by the box, the silful earn from . to q cay
1t is light pleasant work, the room Is large. cool
and we'll ventilated, and there is no mixing Of The
sexes, such may be found in many Of the san Fan
cisco canneTies. For this reason the work attracts
nice nice SrIs, ana one may see many sa 9 lee Ss
sh0uldered, masculine looking German woman, who.
however: had long slender fingers, was pointed out as
the swftest sorter in the room. she made reg
| ulnrly SO day. The assurance OF steady work Of
this kind for three months draws many people 20
Fresno and the regular disbursement Of arge sun
wages every week goes far TO explain the thrift and
| comfort seen on every hand.
pressing machine where four Of them are deity trsns
ferred to twenty pound box. The two h ,l
1t has always been the ambition OF CALIFORNIA; aisn
makers 10 produce the Dehesa brand. They know tss
their best Iasins equal in size and quality % TIE
best Spanish rasns but heretofore they have found ne
cost Of preparing the top LAYER N the spanish syn
very costly, the raislns had TO be eatsned out o'
where women work for 90 cents day. this bend ihs
cuts no figure in the of production but here with
likely to overcome this handicap OF high wages r C.
White, old Tasin grower, has invented pacEns
plate OF metal with depresslons at regular Intervals
Just the size Of big raIsn. This plate Is pa az as
work OF packing is complete the box IS reversed ana
the top layer pressed into the depresslons Of The Re'
bears every mark Of the most careful hand ushpmlS
ton Mr.. Butler used this plate for The first time ns
season, and found il success and there no aaeson
this depends much Of their marketabe vaiue ne
large packing houses have done good work in enforcing
tlis rule, and the chief sinners who still indulge "
careless packing are small growers win poor ot,s
in the number ard size OF the packing houses WIZ
viii prepare and market most Of Fresnos raisin or
The growers also will avail themselves oil the cow.
alive plan for which the colony system oners peeu1
advantages AZ,
oieometrical progression is the only thing vasa
equals the increase OF Fresno's raisn product. Eehe
years ago 1t was less than 5000 boxes. Last year
Amounted to 100000 boxes. while this wear M
product cannot fall below 100000 boxes. Nss
vineyards coming into bearing every year ana "
season has seen a larger planting Of rev Viness
than before This was due mainly TO the snl
illus and announcement OF the Mckinley BILL wn..
was worth an incalculabe sum To those VINO arr
velopng The rsisn industry in California: besuy
raisins, Fresno produced last year 25OOOoO galors
wine a large part OF which shipped TO the 49,
The railroad figures show the wealth that Is proo.nss
here every year from these old wheat fields. I'M ~
fruit crop fast year valued a, $li23 32o Is,''
81 ,24b, 76S, and the total exports SsD3fe
The largest bearing rasin vineyard in Fresno - -
Of A. Il. Butler, who has 900 In eshtesso
old vines. The pack this year will be fully isy'S
boxes As each box sells for average 81 81 80, "a
revenue from ibis vineyard will not fall far beD, hs
county H. Calanai Enrsythc,s N,ncxari: ~.