proportion of about one pound to twelve gallons of water. The ripe grapes are now brought to the table and emptied in the buckets. A bucket is then hung on the beam, the latter swung and the bucket for a second lowered first in the pure water and then in the boiling potash; but it is immediately withdrawn and immersed in the water-trough. When rinsed for a few seconds, the grapes are taken out and spread on common raisin trays. If the weather is warm, the trays are stacked one on top of the other, and the grapes thus prepared are dried in the shade. The rinsing of the fruit before drying is of great importance, and by far not sufficiently understood. In Valencia the finest raisins are treated that way and thoroughly rinsed before being dipped in the lye. But nowhere in Spain are the grapes rinsed in water afterwards, and it is yet an undecided question if this rinsing improves or injures the raisins. It is certain that the washing cleanses the berries, as the water in the kettle is sometimes dark and dirty; but if it is an advantage to deprive the berries of the lye which more or less sticks to them is very doubtful. It is well known here that lye-dipped raisins are apt to mold if the rains set in while the drying lasts, while we are told that in Spain the dipped raisins do not spoil even if subjected to several showers of rain. From this it will seem as if rinsing after dipping is not necessary or perhaps even injurious, but that, on the contrary, rinsing before dipping is of the utmost importance. It may be possible that the lye which adheres to the grapes will, in a great measure, prevent them from molding.