JOSEPH T. GOODMAN.
The owner of the Floreal vineyard arrived in Fresno in 1879, and purchased a then already started plantation, which, however, he soon greatly remodeled, enlarged and improved. Mr. Goodman, formerly one of the brilliant newspaper men and literary writers of this coast, and publisher of the Territorial Enterprise of Virginia City, Nevada, has probably more than any other man studied the characteristics and requirements of the raisin grapes. His vineyard, while not the largest, is in our opinion the best cared for in the State, and newcomers could perhaps not do better than learn from it. It now comprises one hundred and twenty acres, mostly in Gordo Blanco. For the curing of the grapes, thirty thousand trays or more are needed, while a separate packing-house and tray-shed are prominent features of the vineyard. The land was all leveled with great care before planting, and every check can be flooded if necessary. The soil is the very richest, being the chocolate-colored loam, which in Fresno is considered the best and strongest soil for Muscat grapes. The location of the vineyard is the old sink of Red Bank creek, in the same district where Forsyth’s and Butler’s vineyards are situated. As regards planting, pruning, sulphuring, topping and other vineyard operations, Mr. J. T. Goodman is an authority from whose verdict there is no appeal. The Floreal vineyard always bears good crops, which must be exclusively attributed to the care given the vineyard and to the judgment with which all operations there are conducted. Mr. Goodman has invented several appliances for facilitating the vineyard work, most prominent among which I may mention the vineyard truck, by the means of which the expenses of harvesting and some other vineyard labors are greatly reduced. He also suggested the facing-plate independently of T. C. White.