As soon as a perfectly dried sweatbox of third-grade or loose raisins enters the packing-house, it should be taken to the stemmer. Any delay in this is injurious to the raisins, as they will rapidly undergo a sweating or equalizing, causing the stems to soften and to lose their brittleness. It will, therefore, be seen that loose raisins must on no account be sweated or equalized before they have been stemmed. Besides, if the raisins are in any way moist, they will not shed the dust and dirt when being passed through the stemmer. It is therefore to every raisin-grower’s interest to so hasten the drying of the loose raisins that as many of them as possible can be out of the way when the layers, which take longer to dry, come in. This, as we have shown before, can only be done by assorting the raisins while green, and at the moment they are being picked from the vines. The different size bunches dry at different times, and the loose can then be partially disposed of when the layers are ready. The stemmer and grader should separate the raisins in at least three grades: Number one, large loose; number two, smaller loose; number three, smallest seedless, to which may be added a number four, or rubbish. The large loose bring always a good price, and great care should be taken with them. After having passed through the stemmer and assorter once, they should be passed through a second or third time, in order that all the inferior or smaller raisins may be eliminated. In this way, a fine, large number one is had, which is sure to give satisfaction. Number two loose may be passed through a second time if the stemmer has not done its full duty, and the same may also be done with number three seedless. It always pays to do a thing well, and this holds good with raisins as with everything else. Colonel Forsyth, who has acquired a high reputation for his loose raisins, advocates and practices this repeated assorting, especially of the number one grade, in order that it may be entirely uniform. Too many poor raisins are generally found among the small seedless, and if they are to be made to partially replace the seedless Sultanas or the Currants in the same manner as the number two is expected to replace the imported Valencias, they must be made clean from all rubbish. Only by producing a superior article can we hope to replace the imported dipped raisins by our loose Muscatels.
Packing and Cleaning.
—The number one and two loose are always put up in whole boxes of twenty pounds each, never in quarter boxes, but sometimes in cartoons, to be used as samples or as holiday gifts. In packing whole boxes, they may either be faced or not. If not faced, the work is very simple. The raisins are first brought to a large separate table with a guard all around its edges, so as to prevent the raisins from falling to the floor. On each such table are one or more small scales. The workmen gather the raisins with small shovels, and place them in quantities of twenty pounds each in tin trays, with the guards slanting at one end, in order that the raisins may fall out readily. These trays are then immediately carried by other hands to the packing-table close by. Here the proper papers are being placed in regular whole raisin boxes, the loose raisins are poured in from the trays, and from time to time looked over and cleaned. All poor or inferior raisins should be carefully eliminated, and only good ones allowed to be boxed. Finally the paper leaves are folded over, and the boxes are taken away to be nailed up. Number two undergoes the very same process when packed in boxes.
Raisin Truck for Packing-house.
Sacking.
—A very large trade is springing up in sacked raisins, and the demand for them is increasing every year. Both numbers two and three grades loose are now exported this way either in cotton sacks, or in jute sacks lined inside with paper. The jute sacks are by many preferred on account of their showing the dirt less, the cotton sacks generally arriving soiled at their destination. If cotton sacks are used for shipment East, they should be first placed in common burlap sacks, in order to arrive clean and attractive. The extra expense is not great, as the cheapest kind can be used for this purpose.
Facing, Top-up Method.
—The facing is quickly done with the aid of White’s facing-plate, but it can also be accomplished without it if the packer may so desire. The facing-plate, however, is greatly to be preferred, as we shall show directly. If no plate is used, the operation is as follows: At the filling table, fifteen pounds of loose raisins are weighed off directly in the twenty-pound boxes. Then five pounds loose are weighed separately in a tin tray. The whole boxes are taken to the packing-table and placed close to the press, one on top of the other, the smaller trays, with five pounds each, are brought to the facer, who now takes one of the loose wooden frames with a sliding bottom and places in it the necessary papers. He then fills in the five pounds of loose raisins, smooths and spreads them out, and sees that no bad berries are among the good ones. This operation may also be performed by different hands, so as to divide up the work. This is probably the best and most economical way. The next step is to take the tray to the press and subject it to a certain pressure, so as to get a smooth upper surface on which to face or place the raisins in rows. When this is done the tray is taken to the facer. The facer now has in front of him a tray filled with the ornamental papers and the five pounds of raisins. The surface of the raisins is smooth and even. The next operation is to place large raisins in rows on the top surface. A small box with loose, large raisins should be at the side of the facer, who in taking each one of them at first presses it towards the table with the thumb of either hand, thus flattening out the raisin in order to make it appear large. When the tray is faced, it may again be subjected to slight pressure, but generally this is not needed. The contents of the tray are now transferred to the twenty-pound box, which already contains fifteen pounds of loose. These loose raisins, which will be on the bottom of the box, are not generally wrapped in paper, although such would very much improve their appearance. The box is now ready for nailing. This top-up method is very inferior to the top-down method, as will be described further on. In packing with this method, only the wooden frame with the sliding bottom is used. The drop-bottom frame is only used for the top-down method.