The Ball Vineyard adjoins the town of Fresno, and is situated in the rich red lands, the sink of old creeks. The one hundred and twenty acres in Muscatels are among the best cared for in the district. Mr. Ball possesses the faculty of doing the necessary work at the right time and doing it thoroughly. The crop is annually sold in the sweatboxes to packers in Fresno City, no raisins being packed on the vineyard. Mr. Ball is the author of an excellent essay on raisin-grape growing and curing, published in the California for July, 1890. His methods of culture and curing are the best, and the raisins produced by them are not surpassed by any in the State. Mr. Ball is one of our most successful raisin-men.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY RAISIN PACKERS, 1889.
| NAME. | LOCATION. | BRANDS. | LOCAL AGENTS AND ADDRESSES. | EASTERN AGENTS AND ADDRESSES. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Raisin Co. | Fresno. | Eagle, Star. | Noble Bros., Fresno. | Delafield, McGovern & Co., Chicago. |
| Barling, A. D. | Fresno. | El Modelo, Golden Gate. | Townsend, McGovern & Co., San Francisco. | Delafield, McGovern & Co., Chicago, New York and St. Louis. |
| Barton Estate Co. | Fresno. | Peacock. | ||
| Butler, A. B. | Fresno. | Butler’s Cluster. | H. M. Newhall & Co., S. F. | J. K. Armsby Co., Chicago, etc. |
| Cal. Raisin and Fruit Co. | Fresno. | Seal, Eclipse. | Williams, Brown & Co., S. F. | C. M. Webber & Co., Chicago. |
| Camp, G. W. | Armona. | |||
| Cook & Langley. | Fresno. | Horseshoe, Lily, Eureka. | Cook & Langley, Los Angeles. | Ariel Meinrath, Kansas Cy. & Chicago. |
| Cook, H. E. | Fresno. | Cook’s. | S. L. Jones & Co., S. F. | |
| Curtis Fruit Co. | Oleander. | Greyhound, San Joaquin. | H. M. Newhall & Co., S. F. | J. K. Armsby Co., Chicago, etc. |
| Forsyth, William | Fresno. | Imperial, Tiger, Forget-me-not. | Townsend, McGovern & Co., San Francisco. | Delafield, McGovern & Co., Chicago, New York and St. Louis. |
| Fowler Fruit and Raisin Packing Co. | Fowler. | Pride of Cal., Comet. | Brown & May, Fresno. | |
| Fresno Fruit & Raisin Co. | Fresno. | Lion, Golden Gate. | Schacht, Lemcke & Steiner, S. F. | Rossiter & Skidmore, New York. |
| Fresno Raisin Co. | Oleander. | American Flag. | Brown, May & Co., Fresno. | |
| Gould, E. H. | Malaga. | Olivet, El Monte. | D. L. Beck & Son, S. F. | U. H. Dudley & Co., New York. |
| Griffin & Skelley. | Fresno. | Griffin & Skelley’s. | Griffin & Skelley, S. F. | Delafield, McGovern & Co., New York. |
| Holton, S. B. | Selma. | Golden West. | Townsend, McGovern & Co., San Francisco. | Delafield, McGovern & Co., Chicago, New York and St. Louis. |
| Leslie, Chas. | Fresno. | Liberty, Royal. | Geo. & John H. Leslie, Fresno. | Geo. & John H. Leslie, Chicago. |
| Mau, Sadler & Co. | Fresno. | Sierra Park, Parrot. | ||
| Miller, James. | Fresno. | |||
| Paige & Morton. | Tulare. | P. & M., Brown & Co. | Paige & Morton, S. F. | |
| Reese, J. W. | Fresno. | Cartoons. | ||
| Rodda & Nobmann. | Fowler. | Maple Park. | Townsend, McGovern & Co., San Francisco. | Delafield, McGovern & Co., Chicago, New York and St. Louis. |
| Viau, N. | Malaga. | Viau’s. | ||
| Viau, S. P. | Malaga. |
LITERATURE.
The literature of the raisin industry is a very scant one, and as far as I have been able to ascertain not a single work especially devoted to this industry has appeared in any language. The various cyclopedias contain articles on raisins, but they are all more or less confused and unreliable, and of no great use to any one who wishes only reliable information, and who must depend upon the same for practical purposes. As regards California, much information has been given about raisin growing and curing in almost every newspaper published in the State. To mention them all would be to enumerate all the papers of the Pacific Coast. I can here refer only to a few of the principal ones, where the student who has time and inclination to follow up the subject may find material for a more detailed history of the raisin industry than the one I have written.
First among these papers I must mention the Pacific Rural Press, edited by that distinguished horticulturist, Professor E. J. Wickson, and published by Messrs. Dewey & Co. of San Francisco. In the files of this weekly, from 1873 to the present time, 1890, may be found scattered many interesting articles referring to our subject. A paper contemporaneous with it was the San Francisco Merchant, which contained many interesting articles on raisins and raisin grapes, especially during the period from 1881 to 1887. In the issues of the Press and Horticulturist of Riverside, San Bernardino county, California, we find during a series of years occasional notes and articles referring to the raisin industry of that section of the country. As regards the Santa Ana and Orange county district, the Anaheim Gazette will prove the most reliable guide, as recording the rise and decline, and, as we believe, also the revival, of the raisin industry of that section. The Yolo Democrat and the Woodland Mail published at Woodland, Yolo county, have devoted much space to the raisin industry of that section. In Fresno county the Fresno Republican, between the years 1882 and 1887, contained weekly a separate department for viticulture and horticulture edited by the author of this book, and that paper has ever afterwards devoted much space to recording the progress of the raisin industry of the country. The Fresno Expositor, the oldest paper in Fresno county, has contained much information about raisin grapes and vineyards since 1873, when the first raisin-vines were planted in the county. During the period from 1888 to 1890, this paper contained almost daily editorials upon the raisin industry, mostly contributed by this author.
The California Fruit Grower, a weekly horticultural paper mentioned below, has since its beginning a few years ago made dried fruit its specialty, and has contained many important articles on our industry, and in its columns may be found the most reliable raisin statistics published in this State. The San Francisco Examiner contained in 1888 a series of articles on raisins, contributed by this author. The San Francisco Chronicle has from time to time given much space to the raisin industry, and its horticultural editor, George F. Weeks, has most ably contributed to the dissemination of knowledge about our California raisins. A special raisin edition of this paper appeared February 2, 1890. Another San Francisco paper, the Journal of Commerce, contains much information as regards raisin statistics and the progress of the raisin industry generally, and its files may be consulted with much interest and profit. Among Eastern journals I wish only to call attention to the Fruit Trade Journal published at New York up to date (June, 1890); it contains weekly statistics of raisin sales, etc., all of great interest to the grower and packer. An important contribution to the history of the raisin industry is the work by Professor E. J. Wickson,—“California Fruits, and How to Grow Them.” It contains several chapters on grapes, most conscientiously written and very reliable. This book will always remain as a standard work of reference upon the subject. Professor E. W. Hilgard has during a number of years published essays upon topics related to our industry, all most valuable to the practical grower. They are enumerated below.
I may also mention the Rural Californian, published in Los Angeles. It devotes from time to time some space to the raisin industry of the southern part of the State. In the Reports of the State Board of Horticultural Commissioners will be found several papers upon the raisin industry, all mentioned below. Similarly the Reports of the State Board of Viticultural Commissioners contain several important and very interesting essays on raisins, etc., which are duly mentioned below. In these reports we find articles by T. C. White and W. B. West and others, as well as interesting discussions by growers. The California, a journal of rural industry, which commenced publication this year (1890), and is issued weekly and monthly, makes the raisin industry a specialty. It has already contained many articles contributed by our most successful growers, such as A. D. Barling, T. C. White, A. B. Butler, Frank Ball, Wm. Forsyth, etc., and also by this author. In the way of illustrations, California is fortunate to possess a most exquisite work on grapes. We refer to the very fine colored prints of California grape varieties published by Edward Bosqui. Among the number are our Muscat of Alexandria and Seedless Sultana. Each one of these plates is a work of art, than which there is nothing superior produced anywhere.
Below follows an enumeration of books, which to a greater or less degree refer to the raisin industry. For access to many of them I am indebted to the kindness of the proprietor of the Sutro Library, Mr. Adolph Sutro, of San Francisco, and to his librarian, Mr. George Moss.