Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-04-09

factory has this proved that in some cases
the owner has simply sold his grapes on
the vine to the oriental and let him harvest
and market the crop. Digger Indians we're
used in former years by some vlneyardists,
but they were neither industrious nor nu-
merous enough to meet the demand.
After the raisius leave the ranch those
that are sold to the big raisin and fruit
packers, they are prepared for the market.
Def hands In these packing houses, EN-
ploying large numbers of women and girls,
sort and grade them and place them in
pretty packages or boxes while those that
are 'stemmed" are placed in sacks They
are the ''ioose and cheaper raisins you
buy. This stemming process corresponds
with threshing Of grain and a stemmer
looks like a big grain separator.
! There Is one kind OF raisin that does
grow up. or whose vine Is trained up on
sticks; that is the seedless raisin, which is
used as a substitute for currants. It is Of
! two varieties, chiefly in California-the
seedless sultana and the Thompson Seed
! less 1t Is smaller than the Muscat or
Muscatel and grows in very much larger
clusters It Is a very delicious fruit
There was a time in the early 'SOs when
wise men predicted that the bottom will
drop out Of this raisin business for about
| every rancher in the San joaquin valley
was setting out vines. One vineyard in
Kings county, what was then the western
part OF Tulare county, consisted of $40
acres 1t was known far and wide as the
Lucerne vineyard and was the largest in
the country. But the bottom is far from
dropping out. What was at first luxury
has by the force Of commercial ingenuity
world was younger and simpler, raisins,
industry today is stronger and better and
surer than ever. 1t ought to so on in
creasing in profit every year. II is sci
ence for the best brain Of the country has
been applied to It's care and culture
History of the Crop.
In the old days, the far days, when the
world was younger and simpler, rainins
figs and honey were the only sweets.
Sugar, even in Roman times, was a rare
drug, prescribed for medicine. Sweet foods
and drinks were made with honey and
raisins. The sweet wine, which the Roman
matrons were permitted to drink, in the
sober times Of the republic. was q sort Of
syrup Of raisins stepped in wine The
Greeks had a similar syrup, prepared some
, how with smoke In all the Mediterranean
/ countries, raisins were one OF the earliest
, and most universal articles of food. The
gift OF Abigail to David was 200 loaves and
! two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready
dressed, and five measures Of parched
corn and an hundred clusters of raisins
r and 200 cakes Of figs" When David, pur-
a suing the Amalekites came on a famished
, Egyptian slave, left behind, too weak tC
a talk, they gave him bread, and he die
eat; and they made him drink water; ant
they gave him a piece of a cake of figs
H.. i
= had eaten. his spirit came again to him,
= One of the prohibitions OF those who haC
3 taken the vow of a Nazarite, during tn,
u time Of their separation, was that the!
, should not "eat moist grapes, nor dried.
II During all the middle ages, raisins wer
q one OF the articles of commerce, acros
It Europe when almost all other commerc
: was stopped. Raisins were part Of tn
It food served by early Russian czars t
e their drujina, or followers. During tn
d darkest of the dark ages, some commerce
still survived, in the most precious things
pearls, silks, wine, women and raisins
England has been, for more than thou
: sand years, the principal raisin importe
= Of the world, deriving It's raislns fror
~ Spain, Smyrna Calabria, the Lipar is
Z .-nds the south of France, and, recently
y from Africa, Australia and South America
- processes BAeu IN EUROPE
:, The Oldest way of making raisins
: simply to leave them on the vines unit
the clusters are dried. Those are Shakes
. peare's "ralsins o. the sun" A quicke
y way is to cut the stalk part way through
- to hasten drying. More commonly, the
A. were cut and laid on the ground "DiT
50 ping has always been common-in Spai
4 and France. dipping In a I've solution 1
Asia Minor dipping in hot water on whic
o floated a film Of olive OIL The finest rails
II ms have always been served in clusters
3 the commoner sorts were always more G
q less separated from their stems.
s. These were the raisins which were tn
II worlds luxury until California produce
q for the first time clean raisins dried o
u wooden trays California first equalize
e the moisture and graded the size Of rails
ms. California first marketed stemme
= raisins really stemless, and finally seede
e raisns really seedless California first OF
y fered a surfeited world already coyed wit
Il sweets, raisins palatable to even it's Jade
. taste, And now California raisin day pull
ID lioity is teaching the world a hundred ne
ways to serve raisins. and q hundred me-
'e reasons for eating them.
y The only foods older or more univers,
than raisins are meat and bread. From tn
beginning OF time, raisins have marked III
,s center and the spread of civilization The
W were the first luxury. and have been tn
Ie chief delicaey OF mankind, OF all stapl
70 things. only wheat and beef surpass then
y Ana Of all staples, no others are so strict
IS limited in their field of production.
e, Omaha viii join in the movement I