Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1886-08-26

the local demand for hops, and cargocs
of hops of last summers growth sent
to England have been ordered back.
Ii Ii understood that they will be made
to pay an import duty of cents per
pound. Some wealthy growers who
have held the hops they raised last
year will doubtless realize high prices
for them. Many dealers who have car
ried large stocks will make fortunes.
The hop extract company expects to
make money enough to enrich all ITS
stockholders. For more than six
months its establishment has been rum
ming night and day, making up all the
hops that could be obtained at the low
prices that have long prevailed. 1t
still has five thousand bales on hand
that it will use in making extract.
Several of the principal hop-growing
towns in the vicinity of Utica have re-
Gently been visited by an intelligent re-
porter of The Herald, of that city, and
in his opinion no attempt will be made
to harvest q crop in most places. Up
to the middle of last month the pros
pect for large and excellent crop was
remarkably good. The vines had made
good growth, and were strong
Soon lice appeared in numbers never
seen before. 1t was generally believed
that a change in the weather would
have an unfavorable effect on them.
But though the weather has changed
from hot to cold, and from wet to dry,
the lice have continued to increase
and multiply" They cover the vines,
foliage and blossoms. They are as
voracious as locusts and far more nu-
merous. Some of the hop-felds that
look well from a distance are found on
examination to be absolutely ruined.
Many of the vines look as If they had
been scorched by flame. Others are
covered by sticky substance rarely
seen i'm large quantities before. In many
fields the leaves are yellow, and appear
to be ready to drop Off All attempts to
destroy the lice by the use of poisonous
substances appears to be of little or no
use. This reporter in giving an ac-
count of the fields at Waterville. writes:
In the first place it may be stated as
general fact that there are no yards
in this part of the country that are not
affected by lice and honey dew. The
hill yards, that lie where they get a
good circulation of air, show less ver-
min as vet than others. but they are
only in the same conditio that those
which are more seriously affected were
| in about two weeks ago. There has
| never before been time in this coun-
try when yards could not be found that
were comparatively free from vermin,
even in what was considered bad
wear. But this season there are no ex-
ceptions. Everywhere the vines are
covered with substance that glitters
in the sun like varnish. and slowly
drips to the ground, discoloring the
stones that lie about. Some growers
assert that this honey dew made its APP
pearance some time before the lice be-
came noticeable, and in such quantity
as it would be utterly impossible for
the few lice then in existence to pro-
duce. For this reason they regard it
as something different from the exuda-
ton of the vermia, as perhaps adeposit
from the atmosphere, appearing, as it
does, everywhere, and on the upper
sides of the leaves. while the lice lie on
the under sides. But whatever may be
its cause, il is believed to be poisonous
to the plant aud to cooperate with the
vermin in the work of destruction. AS
for the vermin themselves, nothing like
their numbers and universal prevalence
was ever known before in this country.
1t is thought that the situation must be
the same as it was in England in the
year of the high prices. In all yards
there are more vermin than has been
known at the worst in ordinary years.
while in those that are affect
ed worst they lie clustered around the
vine at the basis of the leaf-stalks ex-
actly like a swarm of bees, two inches
long and an half inch deep. In yards
where the vine is just coming into blow
the small leaves at the growing end of
the shoot are plastered with vermin,
apparently waiting for the burr to be
formed so that they can crawl into it.
In years when they appear later in the
season they are found mostly on the
young and tender leaves, their presence
not being suspected from mere ex-
animation of the lower part Of the vine.
But this year they came so early that
the large leaves of the vine itself are
the chief sufferers, and that is why the
plant is going to pieces so rapidly.
The loss Of the hop crop will have a
very seTiOuS chcCt VII tnc prosperity Va
numerous classes in central New York.
Many of the small farmers have mort
gagged their places to obtain money to
enable them to obtain hop vines and
to cultivate them till they were of an
age to bear. They have also raised
money for the purpose of buying poles
and erecting drying-houses. They are
in no condition to stand the loss of a
crop to which they have given their en-
tire attention. In all the large towns
in the hoo-growing districts there are
hundreds of families that have been ac-
customed to work at hop-picking for
several weeks every year. When the
men, women, and children all worked
in the field during the hop harvest,
they earned money enough to supply
them with the necessities of life during
the winter. They will suffer from the
loss of the hop crop almost as much as
the owners of fields.