RETURN FROM GRAPE-PICKING, MALAGA
What quantities of grapes we see here! Baskets, barrels and the panniers on the little burro are filled. These people have just come from the vineyards about Malaga, in Spain.
Malaga is at the foot of a large range of mountains the sides of which are covered with vineyards. You know that those delicious white grapes that we get in the markets come from Malaga. Do you know how they grow? The vineyards on the sides of hills or mountains are planted row after row, only a few feet apart, and each row a little higher than the one before it. Every vine is like a little tree by itself, with a trench dug around it to catch the water when it rains. The soil of the vineyards is red. After the grapes are picked, they are packed in cork dust and sent to other parts of Europe and to America.
Raisins and wine also come from Malaga in large quantities. They are both made from grapes—raisins by drying the grapes in the sun, and wine from the juice of grapes; so you see how many must be picked every year. Figs and almonds grow in Malaga, and olives. All these things, you know, grow only where it is very warm and sunny. If we went to Spain we should see many olive trees. They look something like plum trees, but are knotty and gnarled and the leaves are a darker green. When the olives are ripe they are a dark glossy purple.
Return from the Grape-picking, Malaga, Spain
From Stereograph, copyright by Underwood & Underwood, New York