Imperial Valley press., 1917-03-14

l.
through the California Fruit Ex-
change, and has always received the
best net proceeds to the grower Of
any shipper in the Valley. Mr..
Erickson points out that it is hard
to get color on the grapes Of the Val
ley.
Superintendent w. E. Packard of
the University Experiment Station at
Meloland, and P. l. Dougherty, county
farm adviser, point out that the
relative failure of the hard lands for
fruit is due largely TO the fact that
they do not take water well, but run
together. They often contain an eX-
cess of alkali.
For drying purposes we were able
to find only few growers, and they
drying on rather small scale. NJ.
Manoogian of Mesquite Lake is the
most extensive raising drier, using
mostly Muscats for the purpose. He
dries some every year, but has to be
careful or they dry hard. The grapes
are left on paper trays in the sun six
to eight days and then rolled to fin
ish curing in the shade. They dry
moderately well on the vines, but if
left too long soon get hard. a. H.
Hevener, not far from Ell Centre,
makes a few fine Muscat raisins by
drying on tables with mosquito net
ting to partially shade them. He notes
that some days they will cook in the
sun.
Varieties-The Muscat is little
grown in the Valley because it is late
in ripening (about July 20 for Mr..
Manoogian) and they do not ship as
we'll as several earlier varieties. Two
or three strains of Muscats have
shown promise as shipping grapes for
Mr.. Heiny. The Muscat Albardiens
lis almost as good shipper as the
Maraville de Malaga which is men,
toned below. 1t has large, firm ber
ries, loose clusters, fine flavor and
color, bears quite heavily, and must
| be pruned long.
The Maraville de Malaga has shown
great Improvement over the common
Malaga, which is perhaps The most
extensively grown variety in the Val
ley. The Maraville according to
Mr.. Heiny, ripens early in July, is
tough for shipment, colors blush red
when real ripe better than Tokays
color, has large loose clusters which
pack well, but the flavor is not SUI
nerior. Mr.. Erickson tells of keep
ing half dozen varieties on a shelf
in San Diego two weeks. At the end
of this time the Maraville de Nal
agas were in fine condition with per-
feet color. He also says they are
more alkali-resistant than the COM
mon Malaga.
The common Spanish Malaga on
sandy land, according to Mr.. Erick-
son, ripens as soon as the Thompson
seedless, and the berries do not fall
off so badly in shipping, but the vine
is more sensitive to alkali. Nj.
Manoogian says it will stand more al
kali than the Muscat, and the ber-
ries do not dry so soon on the vines.
They ripen for Mr.. Hevener July /
to Is. Mr.. Heiny notes that the
Malaga makes lots of wood; but the
fruit on his places is less sugary,
does not color we'll, includes lots OF
waterberries, and is in compact
punches hard to pack.
Thompson Seedless seem next in
favor perhaps, though there is more
interest in some of the Persian vari-
cites. The Thompson grows on a
greater variety of soils than 'he
Malaga, according to Mr.. Heiny; but
he and Mr.. Erickson shipped Thomp-
sons and Malagas in the same car
that sold at so cents to 81 more pc
crate for the Malagas than the
Thompsons. This was a greater diff
ference than usual of course. The
Thompsons are sweeter.
Vaughn Azhderian, who is working
large vineyards Of Thompsons ano
Malagas at Meloland, finds the Thomp
sons three weeks earlier than th(
Malagas, because, as he says, the!
start earlier and the thin-skinned
smaller berries ripen first. BiggeI
Yield and better carrying is credite'
to Thompsons than Muscats by Mr.
Manoogian, though they must b
picked at the legal minimum Of suga
content or they will shatter off. The
are 10 to Is days earlier and ar
better colored than Muscats.
The earliest variety planted com
mercially is the Persian 2l, whicI
ripens 10 to IS days earlier than tn
Thompson, according to Mr.. Azhde1
ian. They look like Thompsons, bu
are softer, thinner-skinned, more wa
+ary and have seeds zone can ca