_Characteristics._--The Chile or Huasco raisin is one of the finest
raisins in the world, and in the opinion of the author superior to both
Spanish and California raisins. They excel in sweetness and aroma as
well as flavor; their skin is thin, and the seeds are small. The color
is entirely different from sun-dried California or Spanish raisins,
being yellowish amber with a fine and thin bluish bloom, indicating that
they have been dried in the shade or in partial shade without dipping in
lye or other solutions.
_Location._--The number of acres devoted to raisin culture in Chile is
not known. The grapes for this purpose are grown almost exclusively in
the valley of the Huasco, back of the port of Huasco in the province of
Atacama. There appear to be two distinct valleys of the same name, one
situated only twenty minutes’ ride from the port of Huasco on the
Pacific Ocean, the other farther inland about sixty miles from the
coast. In the former place, the culture of the raisin grape is very
limited, the whole valley and town only containing four hundred people,
of which not all are occupied with the raisin industry. The interior
valley is more extensive, and the largest quantity of the Huasco raisins
come from this place. The port of Huasco is situated in latitude
twenty-seven degrees, thirty minutes south, longitude seventy-one
degrees, sixteen minutes west.
[Illustration: Muscatel or Gordo Blanco Raisin Grape, Second Crop.
Two-thirds Natural Size.]
_Varieties._--The grape used for raisins is a variety of the Muscat,
very similar to the Muscat of Alexandria. Grapevines transplanted to
California resemble this variety very much, but, according to Professor
Hilgard, set their fruit better, and do not suffer so much from colure.
It is said that these grapes were imported to Chile long ago by the
Spanish conquerors, and it is supposed they grew the vines from seed
brought from Spain, and selected the best of the seedlings. In this way
the slight difference of the Huasco grape from the Muscat of Alexandria
can be accounted for.
_Soils._--The soil in the coast valley consists of a reddish, sandy
loam, which changes to a fine yellow sand, of great richness. This sand
covers the hills almost everywhere in the vicinity of the Huasco river,
the nature of the country being a rolling one.
_Climate._--The climate is notoriously dry, and rain falls only very
seldom between June and September, is of short duration and very scant.
In the interior valley, rain is said to be seldom known, and the climate
there can be called entirely rainless. Dew is abundant in the winter,
but the summers are warm and dry.
_Irrigation._--Near the coast no irrigation is required, but in the
interior valley the grapes are irrigated three times a year, first when
the buds begin to swell, second when they begin to blossom, and lastly
when the fruit is well advanced.
_The Vineyard._--The vines are planted six feet one way by eight feet
the other, and the intermediate space is often planted to alfalfa,
giving three crops of hay each year. The heads are kept low, the vines
are pruned heavily, and only two eyes left on each cane. Sometimes whole
branches are cut away, especially if they do not bear well. The vines
are grown both on hillsides and in the valleys on the bottom lands. Many
of the vineyards are surrounded by elevated arbors or trellises, over
which the vines are trained, to keep off the heavy spring winds which
otherwise would break the branches,--windbreaks, in fact. The
cultivation of the Huasco vines is of the most primitive kind. The land
is poorly cultivated, and the fact that alfalfa is grown between the
rows of the vines indicates that the industry is not highly developed.
On the other hand, it is not impossible that the crowding together of
various things on the land may help to give the grapes a certain flavor
or aroma.
There is said to be a great difference between the various Huasco
grapes, some being very superior to others. The inferior kinds are
called simply Muscats, while the better kinds are the Huascos. It is not
known if these varieties come from different kinds of grapes, but it is
likely that this is the case. Vines of the best variety transplanted to
other localities than the Huasco valley give invariably indifferent
results, and produce raisins inferior to the Huasco.
_Drying and Curing._--The poorer qualities are simply dried on boards or
on the roofs of the houses in the sun; but the fine and most valuable
raisins are dried in the shade. When ripe, the bunches are carefully
picked and taken to open sheds with thatched roofs, and there hung up to
dry. The raisins are turned at intervals, and when ready are packed in
twenty-five-pound boxes without any great care or skill. The best
Huasco raisin sells at fifty cents per pound in the local market, and is
decidedly the most high-priced raisin known. The best variety is scarce
even in Chile, and in Chilean statistics I could not find any quoted.
The following houses in Huasco are dealers in fruits and raisins: Juan
Quijada, Ramon F. Martinez, and José Manuel Balmaceda. The export from
the port of Huasco in 1885 amounted only to $685,853. How large a
portion of this was raisins is not known.
_CALIFORNIA RAISIN DISTRICTS._