Filling.
—The filling of the raisins is a trick to make them appear larger than they are. This filling was invented in Spain, and is used there especially on Dehesa boxes and where very expensive packing is required. It is done in the following manner. The raisin is first flattened out as much as possible, then the edges are bent, making the raisins slightly concave. In placing the concave side downwards, a smaller raisin is slipped underneath so as to cause the manipulated raisin to keep its shape. These filled raisins are used for facing only. The Spanish filled raisins have been handled to such an extent that all the bloom is lost, and the raisin looks anything but attractive. The California method of filling is a great improvement on the Spanish way. When the facing-plate is used, the raisin is first placed in a cavity on the plate, then worked out by a pressure with the finger, and when sufficiently concave another raisin is dropped in the hollow and pressed tightly. The faced raisin is thus filled, and when seen from the other side will appear much larger than otherwise. When, again, the top-up method of packing is used, a small block of wood may be employed. This block contains a single cavity of the size, that a raisin when pressed will fill it. The counterpart of this block is furnished with a convex protuberance, and when the two halves are placed together with a raisin between, and pressure is brought to bear, the raisin flattens out and becomes concave just enough to receive the filling.
In this way no handling with the fingers is done, and the raisin keeps its bloom undisturbed. Nothing is more attractive than a raisin with its bloom untouched; similarly the raisin that has lost its bloom always gives the buyer an idea that it has been fingered. Its appetizing quality is gone. Spanish Dehesas are generally both faced and filled. Some objection to this method is that it deceives, but as long as people not only are willing to be deceived but are actually anxious to pay for the deception, there is no reason why the filling should not be used. The deception, besides, is a very innocent one. It has also another excuse: A well faced and filled box is really a work of art; it will help to educate the people up to the appreciation of what fine raisins and fine packing should be. Filling and facing combined are practiced but little in California, and it is doubtful if filled facing will ever grow in much demand here.
Nailing and Trimming.
—The boxes are next moved to the nailing table. Two nails are put in the short sides and two in the long sides of the cover. The boxes when nailed are passed to the trimmer, who with a drawknife trims the edges and cuts off the comers diagonally. The latter prevents the boxes or covers from splitting. The best nails are French wire nails for the sides and ends, one and one-quarter inches long, and for tops and bottoms one inch long.
Labels.
—I cannot finish this part without adding some words about our labels. It is of importance that our labels and colored lithographs should be appropriate. The time has come when our raisins should stand upon their own merits, and should be designated with appropriate names. I should wish to see only California names used, California layers instead of London layers, California scenes instead of foreign scenes, which give no idea of our conditions, and which do not help to advertise our State and its resources. Whatever our labels may represent, they should be distinctly Californian. Another point which is but seldom observed on these labels is the shape and color of our raisin grapes. The latter are often represented on the labels, but their shape is seldom observed. Nowhere have we seen on them a true Gordo Blanco or a true Muscat of Alexandria represented, the grapes there pictured being impossible as raisin grapes, or even well-known wine or table grapes, out of which no raisins could be made. The packer has a right to protest against such misrepresentations of our fair grapes, especially as the lithographer could just as readily and just as cheaply have followed the originals. A beautiful label is well worth its price. As a work of art, it is seldom thrown away, but is carefully kept and made to adorn the walls of many a humble home, in which the name and fame of our State will soon be a household word. Let these labels go out by the million yearly to tell of our climate and of our soil, and of the land where the luscious raisins are produced, with the same care as apples or garden stuff in countries less favored by nature.