f late years the raisin industry has been prominently before the horticulturists of California. Many people now make their living and acquire wealth by the cultivation of the raisin grapes, and many are now studying the methods of cultivation, pruning, curing and packing while waiting for their vines to bear. The literature of the raisin industry is a very scant one, and, with the exception of a few notices in works of travel, or in treatises on general fruit culture, we find not a single book in which this important and interesting industry is made the special subject of study and discussion. A book on the raisin industry may, therefore, be considered timely. I have endeavored to so write it that it would contain something of interest to all those connected with the growing and curing of the raisin grapes, to those who have already succeeded in building up fame and fortune, as well as to those who have just begun the cultivation of the vine, and who have as yet only realized the pleasures, but not the profits, of the industry. The historical part of the book will principally interest the former; for the latter the practical part on cultivation, pruning, curing and packing is intended.

As our climate and other conditions differ from those of any other country in the world, so must our methods of cultivation and curing differ from those practiced elsewhere. Foreign methods, while interesting and, in some respects, of great importance to us, had to be greatly modified and improved upon before our growers succeeded in producing raisins equaling the best from the raisin districts of the Old World. It has cost years of experimenting and study to attain success, as well as much money and disappointment to many who had nothing to guide them when they commenced.

These processes by which success was achieved can now become the property of all, and a safe guide to even the most inexperienced beginners. The methods advocated here are the result of practical experience of the author, as well as of the most successful raisin-growers of this State.

For the benefit of those of our readers who now study the raisin industry at a distance, but whose steps may in the future be directed to this Coast, a descriptive tour through the raisin districts of our State has been added in order that they may see what our country is like,—the country of the raisin and the fig; the country of almonds, olives, oranges and prunes; the country where health, profit and enjoyment are more than anywhere else derived from horticultural pursuits. It is for these prospective readers, that the short biographical sketches of our principal raisin-men are intended,—short records of the pioneers of the raisin industry,—men who have broken the way which is now easy to travel, and through whose experience and perseverance others are now being benefited.

GUSTAV EISEN.

San Francisco, Cal., October, 1890.