Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1876-12-23

also have less percentage OF ash.
These fields will be forthwith
opened AMI q railroad twenty-five
miles in length is being constructed
from Tacoma to the mines.
During the past summer, addi-
tional and important coal discoveries
have been made in the Territory.
James Longmire, among the most
reliable of our citizens, has but re-
Gently returned from a prospecting
tour to the head-waters of the Mes
qually river. Implicit confidence
may be reposed in his statements,
that veins of coal strongly resembling
anthracite, of almost endless extent
and of great depth, can be reached
from the shore of Puget Sound by a
road over very easy grade, not to OK
coed thirty-five miles in length. The
specimens produced warrant the be-
lief that this coal is superior to any
of the Goals yet found in this region.
Other veins, other discoveries might
be referred to, but enough has al
ready been said to Justify the state
ment that the supply of good coal in
Washington Territory is inexhausti-
BILE.
Hop.Culturc.
The soil best adapted for the cul-
tivation of hops is a deep, alluvial,
sandy loan, rich but friable, allow
ing the roots to strike deep without
obstruction. Such is afforded by the
bottom lands and valleys of Wash
ington Territory. Several years sue
cessful cultivation justifies the asser-
ton that the climate of Puget Sound
seems peculiarly favorable. Ezra
Meeker, an old settler, who has
written much and we'll on the re-
sources of the Territory, himself the
pioneer of hop culture in the Puy-
allup Valley, and now largely iden-
tilted with this. industry, under
date of April Sth, 1876, thus writes:
"In the spring of 1864, about one
half acre of hops were planted in
Puyallup Valley, in the orchard of
the late Jacob Meeker. This was
the introduction of hop culture in
that valley. The yield that year was
nearly 200 pounds, which sold for
IS cents per pound. Three varieties
have been tried in the valley, but all
are discarded but the English
Cluster" From this beginning, there
has been an increase every year, I'M
til there are forty-seven hop-yards in
the valley, aggregating to nearly 400
acres, some $4,000 capital invested,
giving employment the year round
to about one hundred hands, neces-
stating during the harvest season,
say one month, commencing early in
September, 1900 pickers and $50 adj
ditional helpers"
The crop of 1873 is estimated at
ninety thousand pounds; that of
1874 at quarter of a million pounds.
The crop of 1875, amounted to
four hundred and twenty-five thou
sand pounds, and sold for an average
of eleven cents per pound, the lowest
average price received since the bust
mess was first inaugurated.
The crop of 1876 is estimated at
six hundred thousand pounds, and is
more likely to go over than under
that figure. The average price for
hops for ten years has been, for
all engaged, twenty-one cents per
pound.
The reasons that the culture of
hops have been as much encouraged
are:
LIST. The certainty of the crop,
never having been failure or any
casualty effecting the crop during
our experience of twelve years.
I'd. Their early bearing when
compared with other hop districts.
My own experience for first years
planting, has been an average of
over one thousand pounds per acre,
usually planted in March and harvest
ed.in September, and this extending
over period Of nine years. har-
vested from few acres of new
planting last year one thousand seven
hundred pounds per acre.
Sd. The wonderful yield. I esti-
mate the average has been, for the
whole period named, nearly one ton
of dry hops per acre. Three thou
sand pounds per acre to be harvested,
have been known, the second year
from planting, from one yard Of six
acres; and some yards have averaged
two thousand Eve hundred pounds
| per acre after the first year, for q
series Of years. These crops are