Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1882-11-14
noPs AND nor GROWING IN new
YORK.


msnts have been made in this direction.
The field for invention here is wide
one and well worth cultivating.
The principal gatsways to the hop re-
gion az present are the junction of the
Cooperstovn railroad with the Albany
and SusQuehanna and the city of Utica.
From these points hundreds of men,
women and children are now daily hur-
rying TO the hop fields. 1t requires a
good deal of skill and experience on the
part Of growers to manage these people
so as TO get the work done with as little
waste Of time and product as possible.
Strikes are not uncommon at the most
critical period of the hop picking season.
When these occur the grower is apt to
accede TO the terms of the pickers. for a
few days or a we ks delay may endan-
ger all the hops he has on the poles.
The hop picking season has cheerful
side also. The occupation is healthful,
and many go to the smaller and more
retired fields to pick for their health.
The open air, the pungent aroma of the
hops, and the useful exercise excite di-
gestion and give the picker an appetite
which he or she needs as requisite to
invigorated physical condition. Before
the picking season closes the young peo-
pie have their dances and their frolics,
which partake of the mixed character
Of country and city ways and manners.
WAGES.
The work of the pickers is done "by
the piece" the unit of wages being the
box. A field of good picksrs will aver
age two boxes day each. though some
h. ks,vv Sr,t ho nf he
yard and attend strictly to business may
fill three and even four boxes. The
four box picker is not highly esteemed
by the grower az slower one, for the
reason that he is apt to have his pick
ings too literally mixed with leaves and
stems. The pickers' pay averages fifty
cents box. The larger grower some
times offers as high as seventy-five cents,
in order to secure his crop before it can
be injured by frost or the equinoxial
storms. Except in the small yards that
are picked by help from the immediate
neighborhood, provision is made for
boarding and lodging the pickers on the
farm where they are employed. The
price of board is placed at the lowest
possible figure, and is deducted from the
pay on settling day. The picker's ac-
count is kept by checks, one being given
for bOx or a given number of boxes.
These are exchanged for larger ones,
and when the poles are all stripped the
checks are redeemed in cash. The boxes
are constructed in groups of four.
Each picker usually fills his own box,
but it is not uncommon for three or four
persons to join forces and to divide the
earnings. A mother and two children
are often found picking in one box.
Many women take their little children
to the field, receiving such assistance as
the older ones can render, while the
smaller ones play in the dirt till they
are tired and then 60 to s!esp ON the hop
sacks or under the shade of neighborlnR
bushes. Besides the pickers who are
paid by the box, tenders" are employed
by the day, whose business it is to pull
the poles, to strip off the vines, and to
deposit tho latter convenient to the
pickers hand.
USE OF MACHINERY.
Within a few years several expert
ments have been made in the southern
part Of Oneida county with hOp.pick-
ing machines, but no substantial success
has yet been achieved. An improved
machine, now at work in large yard
near this village, was observed by the
writer few days ago. 1t is a simple
cOntrivance, which the patentee, who
was operating it, acknowledged to be as
yet in an imperfect and experimental
state. It consists of a set of small roll
ers geared upon bearings which sepa-
rate or draw close together by means OF
spiral springs. The hop vine is cut from
the poles in pieces, and is fed between
the rollers butt end first. The vine and
leaves pass between the rollers, but the
hops break of in front of the rollers,
drop down upon receiver, and are car
ried to table where two persons are
kept busy picking out the leaves that
may follow the course of the hops. The
machine operates somewhat like the
common clothes wringer. the hops, be-
ing more bulky than the vines or leaves,
breaking of when they como to the roll
ers, as shirt button is torn from its
fastening while the shirt passes smooth
ly between the rollers which press the
moisture from it. Last year this hop
picking machine was operated by foot
power, the man who fed the vines also
plying foot treadle as a motive power.
The patentee has this year geared his
machine to power, which is operated by
a sheep. The power is the common
treadmill used by farmers who do their
by dog or sheep power. When
the writer saw this hop picking machine
in operation it was run by a medium
sized, mild-eyed eve, whose plaintive
bleat now and then pleaded to be re-
leased from the endless uphill journey.
Near BY two other wool bearers were
tethered waiting their turn on the tread
mill. BY thus changing sheep frequent
ly the three are able TO keep the picking
machine running throughout the day.
To operate the machine to its full capac-
ity requires two persons to fetch the
vines from the poles, one to feed, and
two to pick out the leaves that drop down
among the hops. The machine does its
work SO well that it promises to come
into general use as soon as it can be
made TO do more than it now does. The
five persons who are required to attend
it could pick nearly as many hops as the
machine does.
THIS YEARS CROP.
The crop this year il considerably be-
low that Of last year. In Otsego county
tuc ootitu6to II Two tuIIuSs WuIlo In Ief-
kimer, Oneida and Madison growers ex-
pect hree-fourths of last years yield.
The price, however, is 80 strong that
growers are feeling in the best of spirits.
No one thinks Of selling for less than
fifty cents, while the expectation is for
more than this. As it is
estimated that ten cents q pound il the
average cost of production, the hop
growers this year are in fair way to
make money.
General average for seventeen years
Nhc. nearly.
The total acreage Of hops in this coun-
Try in 1879 was 46,S4S, Of which this
State had S.072. OF the total produc-
ton Of a, 5S3.3l4 pounds, this State fur
nished 2i,e6s. lsl pounds. Wisconsin
produces l,966,427 pounds. Statistics
show that while the New York yield in
creased In ten years from 100000
pounds to n 600. 600, that of Wisconsin
decreased from 4,0O,000 to about 2,0OO,-
900.
The hop industry of this State, and in
fact of this country, is Of comparative
" recent origin. The first vines in
America were planted by James d. Cool
idGe, In the town Of Madison, Madison
seventy -four years ago. Forty
yeArs ago there were raised in this State
only 2,2S bales. The counties which