Like oranges, grapes are cut from the vines and not picked. We saw great companies of Chinamen going through the vineyards cutting off the beautiful clusters. These they placed on shallow, wooden trays to dry. In a week or two, when the upper side of the clusters is pretty well dried, the grapes are turned. We saw the workmen place an empty tray, upside down, over the filled one. Then, holding the two together, they turned them over, and the grapes dropped into the tray that had been placed on top. [Illustration: FIG. 58.--Picking Grapes.--Notice the Mountains in the Background.] [Illustration: FIG. 59.--Drying Raisin Grapes.] During this drying time the people watch the reports of the Weather Bureau. In some places flags are displayed when rain is expected. As a rule the grape season is over before the rains begin. When the grapes are taken from the trays, they are placed in boxes holding about one hundred pounds each. These are called _sweat boxes_. Here the driest grapes absorb some of the moisture from the others, and the mass becomes more uniform. [Illustration: FIG. 60.--A Vineyard after being Pruned.] After the drying process has been finished, the stems are rather brittle. To make them softer and easier to handle, the grapes are next placed in a cool room and left there for a time. After visiting some of the vineyards, we drove to one of the great packing establishments in Fresno. These packing houses are nearly always in the cities and towns, because there help can be easily obtained. The packing house that we visited employs four hundred people, mostly girls and women. The raisins are first placed on wooden or metal frames the size of a raisin box. These are called _forms_, and the packers are paid according to the number of forms filled. When these are filled, the raisins are carefully transferred to the boxes. A box of raisins weighs twenty pounds, but there are half boxes and quarter boxes put up also. A paper is placed on the bottom of each box, and over the raisins another is placed. On top of this there is a fancy paper on which the name of the packer is stamped. In most establishments there are three grades of raisins, Imperial Clusters, London Layers, and the loose and imperfect stems. Sometimes a second crop of grapes is gathered a little later in the fall. Of course these do not dry so well because the days are shorter, it is cooler, and rains sometimes occur. On this account they are dipped in lye and then rinsed in water. The lye cracks the skin, and so the juice evaporates more quickly. These are called Valencia raisins. There is not a very good market for these, so that people do not dip them so commonly now as they used to.