In Central, and in the larger part of Southern, California, the inland valleys are the most successful raisin-producing districts, while even in San Diego county, where the Muscats seem to thrive at the very seashore, the interior valleys alone afford the necessary heat and dry air for curing the grapes and transforming them into raisins. According to Consul G. H. Heap of Constantinople, the positions preferred for vineyards in Turkey are the slopes of elevated and sheltered undulating lands, or on the sunny hills that do not lie too near the coast, or are naturally protected from the cold winds and fogs of the sea. The Island of Cos or Zea is called the paradise of the Sultana grape, because Nature has given the cultivable land there the best possible protection from the direct influence of the fogs. In Malaga, according to Consul Marston, eighty per cent of the vineyards are situated on the hills and inland, ten per cent on the valley lands or plains, and ten per cent on the coast. With the exception of some of the San Diego vineyards, California cannot show any raisin vineyards as close to the coast as those found in Malaga. The main El Cajon vineyards are from ten to fifteen miles inland, while the former Santa Ana vineyards were situated from eight to twelve miles from the coast. The San Bernardino raisin vineyards are from twenty to thirty miles inland, while in the San Joaquin valley the raisin districts are more than a hundred miles from the coast, while the sea wind, before it reaches any of the vines, has been modified by passing over from two to three hundred miles of dry country. _Ideal Conditions of Climate._--There remains only to draw some conclusions from the above facts. We are often asked what are the ideal conditions, as far as climate is concerned, for the proper development of the raisin grape, and for the proper curing of the raisins. Could we select such an ideal spot, where all the requirements for the raisin industry could be found in their highest perfection, with as few of the drawbacks as possible, our choice would be as follows: A moderately dry air, a frostless spring, a rainy winter and a rainless autumn. The temperature in the summer should vary between ninety and one hundred degrees, the fall months should now and then be visited by drying winds, while the winter frosts should be heavy and regular, but not below twelve degrees. Some have suggested that absolute freedom from any rain would be very desirable, as then no interference would be experienced with the cultivation of the grapes, but I doubt if the soil in such districts would not be rapidly exhausted through the want of weeds, the plowing under of which enriches the ground and enables it better to preserve the moisture provided for it by irrigation. SOILS.