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.