_Early History._--While the planting of raisin grapes and the production
of raisins in California dates back some thirty odd years, the raisin
industry cannot be said to be as yet twenty years old. Already, in 1851,
Col. Agoston Haraszthy grew Muscatel vines from seeds of Malaga raisins.
On the 25th of March, 1852, he imported the Muscat of Alexandria from
Malaga, and ten years later, during a visit to that place on September
27, 1861, he selected cuttings of the Gordo Blanco which afterwards were
grown and propagated on his San Diego county vineyard. The same year he
imported Sultana vines from Malaga, and white and red Corinth from
Crimea. Col. Haraszthy was thus the first one to introduce the
raisin-vines in this State. Another importation of the ovoid Muscat of
Alexandria was made in 1855 by A. Delmas and planted at San José,
according to a statement made by his son D. M. Delmas,[3] the prominent
San Francisco lawyer. G. G. Briggs of Davisville also imported Muscatel
grapes from Malaga in Spain; while R. B. Blowers of Woodland, Yolo
county, started his raisin vineyard in 1863 from Gordo Blanco cuttings
received from Col. Haraszthy. In 1876, W. S. Chapman, imported the best
Muscatels from Spain for his colonists in the Central California Colony
in Fresno, which proved in no way different from those already growing
there. Who produced the first raisins in California will probably never
be satisfactorily known. According to page 88 of the Report of the State
Agricultural Society of California, 1863, cured raisins were exhibited
by Dr. J. Strentzel at the State Fair in 1863.[4] The first successful
raisin vineyards in the State were those planted by G. G. Briggs at
Davisville in Solano county, and by R. B. Blowers at Woodland in Yolo
county. Both these gentlemen grew the raisin grapes on a large scale,
and shipped raisins extensively. The Briggs vineyard consisted mainly of
Muscats of Alexandria, while the Blowers vineyard contained the Gordo
Blanco. Both these vineyards produced raisins as early as 1867; but it
was not until 1873 that their raisins cut any conspicuous figure in the
market. That year six thousand boxes were produced in the State, the
majority by far coming from these two vineyards.
[3] See also Wickson’s “California Fruits,” page 357.
[4] _Same_, page 79.
_Later Planting._--In 1873, in the fall, the Muscat vines were first
brought to the Fresno raisin district, where twenty-five acres of Muscat
of Alexandria were planted in the Eisen vineyard. A few years later, or
in 1876 and 1877, T. C. White planted the Raisina Vineyard in the
Central California Colony near Fresno from Gordo Blanco Muscatels
brought from R. B. Blowers’ vineyard at Woodland. The following year, or
in 1877-78, Miss M. F. Austin began improving her Hedgerow Vineyard,
also in the same colony, with grapes of the same kind as Messrs. White
and Blowers. Robert Barton had also planted some twenty-five acres of
Muscat grapes, but did not make raisins until later. The year 1879 saw
the first planting of the A. B. Butler vineyard, now the largest
vineyard in the State. J. T. Goodman had begun improving his place at
the same time; while Col. William Forsyth entered upon raisin-grape
growing between 1881 and 1882, most of his grapes, however, being
planted a year or two later. From that time the raisin vineyards in
Fresno multiplied rapidly, and about 1886 and 1887 raisin production
became recognized as the principal industry of the district.
The history of the development of the raisin industry in the other
districts of the State runs very much the same. Riverside had entered
the field in 1873, when the founder of that colony, Judge John Wesley
North, planted there the first raisin-vines of the variety Muscat of
Alexandria. But raisin-grape growing did not become general until 1875
and 1876, when the largest vineyards in the colony were planted. In El
Cajon valley in San Diego county, the first raisin vines of the Muscat
of Alexandria variety were planted in 1873 by R. G. Clark; but the
raisin industry did not get a good start until some six or seven years
ago, while most of the vineyards were planted from 1884 to 1886. In
Orange county, raisin grapes were planted at the same time as in
Riverside and El Cajon by MacPherson Bros., near Orange, now called
MacPherson. The raisin industry developed rapidly, and Robert
MacPherson, the largest grower and packer in the district, and at one
time in the State, handled yearly over one hundred thousand boxes, while
the yearly crop of the district rose to one hundred and seventy thousand
boxes.
In Central California, the raisin industry is gradually spreading from
the original center around Fresno, the greater freedom from rain and the
better facilities for irrigation being great inducements for the
settlers to engage in the growing and curing of the raisin grapes. The
San Joaquin valley is especially adapted to the production of raisins,
the Fresno raisin district being by far the largest, and now producing
almost one-half of the raisin crop of the State. In San Bernardino
county and district, the raisins are also grown to great profit and with
great facility, and are of equal quality with those of the interior of
the State. But the raisin industry is here gradually giving way to the
culture of oranges and other citrus fruits, and the increase in the
raisin acreage has therefore not been so great as in the San Joaquin
valley. In El Cajon, irrigation is not used, and the raisins produced
there are very similar to the Malaga raisins, but through absence of
irrigation the crops are smaller than in any of the other districts in
the State. In Los Angeles and Orange county district, the raisin
industry has suffered immensely from the ravages of the vine plague, an
as yet entirely mysterious disease, and the output of raisins there has
dwindled down to almost nothing. But the farmers of the district are
ready to replant whenever there are any prospects that the vines will do
well again.
In the interior of California, north of Solano and Yolo counties, large
quantities of raisin grapes have been planted during the last few years,
both in the foothill valleys, out on the plains, and in the bottom lands
of the Sacramento, Yuba and Feather rivers, etc. Raisins of very good
quality have been produced in that part of the State for years in
limited quantities, but it is yet a question to what extent that section
can compete with the central and southern parts of the State. In Sutter
county around Yuba City the cultivation of a seedless raisin grape is
advancing rapidly, the raisins made from it being of excellent quality
and finding a ready market.
_Acreage and Crops._--The quantity of raisin-vines planted cannot be
estimated correctly; but it is certain that at least sixty-five thousand
acres of Muscat vines are now set out in the State, including grapes in
bearing, as well as vines lately set out.
California enjoys a climate peculiarly adapted to the culture and curing
of the raisin grape. The summers are warm and rainless, the winters
again moderately rainy. The interior is free from injurious fogs and
heavy dews, while the most southern coast is only visited by warm fogs,
which are not greatly harmful to the grapes. Irrigation is practiced
almost everywhere, except in El Cajon valley, and in some of the
northern districts of the State, but even there it is no doubt that
judicious irrigation would be beneficial and greatly increase the crop.
The demand for California raisins has kept pace with the improvements in
curing and packing, and has steadily increased from year to year. What
the future has in store only the future can tell, but it is almost
certain that first-class raisins will always be in demand, while
inferior grades may from time to time bring lower prices. The ruling
price of raisins in sweatboxes, as they may be had from those growers
who do not pack themselves, has been from four to five cents per pound.
Of late years, the tendency is developing to pay according to quality,
and from three to seven cents was the ruling price for unpacked raisins
in sweatboxes during last season (1889). This practice will greatly
promote the raisin industry and encourage growers to grow large grapes
and fine bunches, and to cure their raisins well. It will also benefit
the buyers, who will know what they pay for, and who will be able to
furnish better grades, and more of the best grades than formerly, when
good, bad and indifferent raisins brought five cents per pound.
The raisin crop of 1889 did not exceed one million boxes. Should we
venture upon a statement as to the distribution of the same among the
various counties or districts of the State, the following figures would
be found as near correct as it is possible to get them:
Fresno district 475,000 twenty-pound boxes.
Tulare 15,000 “ “ “
Kern 4,000 “ “ “
Yolo and Solano 120,000 “ “ “
Scattering 25,000 “ “ “
San Bernardino 265,000 “ “ “
Orange and Los Angeles 8,000 “ “ “
San Diego 75,000 “ “ “
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987,000 “ “ “