The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-11-14
Hops And jam.
Names Two New Products.
Lewiston Journal.)

of themp The writer c0nfesSeS the sight or
the great hop fields of Aroostook county
were both novel and attractive, TO him. 1t
was in the midst of the harvest. when we
drove among the hop fields. The vines had
reached the tips of the tall sapling poles set
up for their support and were bending over
in luxuriant festoons. The blossoms are
white and many and make the hop field
blooming bower. In some fields, men wo-
men and girls were a-harvesting Let me
tell you about one scene. A hayrack had
been set in the field, and over one side of it
rugs and quilts had been thrown to form
barrier against the wind. Under the lee of
this curtain, women were picking hops
The men brought along the hop poles and
stripped them; the women plucked the bios
SONS and stuffed them into large and rapid
ly filling bags.
The hop is a new product for Maine and
Aroostook county. Six years years ago there
was not considerable hop-yard in the State.
Twenty-Five tons of hops will be picked in
Aroostook county, this year. The largest
harvest heretofore has been five tons. The
hop average is rapidly increasing at the pres
ent time. and the hop is apparently to be-
come one of Aroostook's leading products
The greater number of the hop-grewers have
had good success and are happy. 1t is no
wonder their "hearts are light and free" this
year.
The hop is az peculiar product. Unlike
grain or potatoes there is limited demand
for it. Ii is used almost wholly by brewers
of beer. When certain point has been
reached in the production nobody wants the
hops at.any price, for hops deteriorate rap
idly. In some years, there is no money in
hops, on account of the glut. Last year and
this year, hop-raising has been very profit
able. Outside or ops have been light and all
the stock ON hand has been used. there is
now bare and sharp market. The hop rails
ers are offered 40 cents per pound for their
hops, this season. In previous years they
have had to sell for 16 cents. The hop acre
age in the future will probably depend, to
certain extent, upon the market
The leading hop man of Aroostook is
Mr.. J. B. Ireland of Caribou. He was the
first man in the county to cultivate the crop.
He is a one-armed ex-soldier and has be-
come well-to-do farmer. Mr. Ireland was
interviewed.
ST have been in the hop business five
years." said he. II have 125 acres of land
and acres of it in hops. Five acres are
bearing; the others will bear next year.
ssPlease tell us about the proce SIS of hop
growing"
'sYou plant the roots the same as you
would plant potatoes. In Aroostoock, we
plant them with potatoes-first a hill of
pWbdlOCo anu luSl Il I'LL VI uOpS. we udT-
vest the potatoes the first year and the hops
bear the second year. You dress the land
as you would for any other crop. You
should keep the weeds down, of course
"What is the Yield, usually?"
"My vines havesyeilded 1000 pounds to
the acre. This year, they will not yield
more than 700 pounds. My total crop will
be about ton and quarter against two
tons and qnarter, last year. Last season,
made 81 200 clear profit from my hop field.
No; couldn't have done as well as that on
the same land with any other crop. have
to take my chances. Some years there's
very little money in hops, and some years
there's almost a fourtune. Last year and
this year there have been no old hops in
stock. Boston and New York buyers come
down here and buy up our crop. | have
sold mine for 40 cents piund delivered on
the cars at Caribou. Many of our hops are
exported"
'sWill you estimate the total crop in the
country, this year?''
SIT will not be less than $4,000 pounds. In
no previous year, has more than six tons
been harvested.
'sThere are fifty acres from which crop
will be taken. Thirty acres more were plant
ed. this spring and will be harvested next
year. Mr. Tabor of Washburn. has six acres
in hops mi. Chandler of Maysville, has five
acres and will get two tons; Mr.. Jenkins OF
Carbon, has tive acres; Mr.. Currier of
Maysville, has six acres; there is one 5-acre
field in Sherman beside large number of
smaller pieces"
What land is the best?''
High land, where the frost comes last.''
when do you usually commence harvest
ing?''
''About the tenth of September. 1t takes
me from six to ten days to get
in my crop. employ thirty girls and six
men. You can employ girls to pick hops
when they won't do anything else. TIE a.
greeable, open-ar work. There are so many
of them they have jolly time. The girls
earn twenty-five cents day besides their
board The men pull and carry the poles.
For poles we use saplings fifteen feet high
and we generally PIT two in a hill. every
hop-grower must have dry-house. The
blossoms will dry and be ready for market
in twelve hours. Hop vine will keep in
bearing for ten years.
The hop dry house is small wooden
building built over cemented stone ovens.
Numerous lines of stove funnel run through
the building and conduct the heat The
ovens have to be watched closely and kept
continually supplied with wood. 1t is some
like engineering a brick kiln. Since Mr.. Ire d.
land sold his crop, hops have doomed to
Slips per lb.
But hops are not Aroostook's only new
crop. There are hundreds of acres of half
cleared land which have become covered
with raspberry bushes. The fences along
many roads are nearly concealed with them.
In August, great fields are red with the ber-
ries. Aroostook has fairly swan in raspber-
ry preserves and become drunk with rasp-
berry pie, but hundreds of tons-we speak
advisedly-have annually gone to waste.
How to dispose of this great crop has been
connundrum which Aroostook has been nm
able to answer, on ascount of its great dis
lance from the market. This fall, the rasp-
berry jam factories came TO their relief You
know the trade in ready made jams aud pre-
serves in bulk has become very extensive
There is hardly provision store but ladies
out raspberry jam from bucket to its Gus
toners. The manufacturers have been al
most wholly supplied from Vermont in the
past. The Vermont crop was failure this
season. A Boston firm of jam-jammers en-
tered into correspondence with Mr.. Herbert
Goodhue, an enterprising young merchant
OF Fort Fairfield, with regard to utilizing the
immense Aroostook crop, He established
agencies for the buyers in several parts
of the county. They worked on commits
sion. They bought and shipped
from August 8th 70 September Sd, 1882,
over twenty tons of rassberries. With her
tons OF honey and tons of raspberry jam, it
seems in the power of Aroostook to sN eeten
acontinent. The berries were solidly packed
in tight half-barrels. The headquarters of
the buyers were in Fort Fairfield, Limestone,
Presque Isle and Caribou. The Limestone
agency, alone, shipped eleven tons. The
stump-land Of ''Letter F' plantation, which
we have before described, adjoins this town,
and has class of people who will pick ber-
ries if they will not till the soil. The picking
is chiefly done by women and children.
They are paid four cents pound. A quart
weighs pound and quarter The berries
are shipped by rail to Boston, and probably
DON'T need much more jamming. Twenty
tons of raspberries at four cents per pound
that's 81 800 for the waste-land of Aroos-
took.
Ihere was hand-painted sign in front of an
uptoWn grocery in Chicano which orininall,,