The morning call., 1890-09-01
AT HEALDSBURG.
The HOp-FieIds-Busy Scenes.
Fruit at The Canneries.

Hurrah! shouts the schoo!-boy, tossing
his hat in the air and rushing into the house
like cyclone. No school next Mo nday;
vacation for two weeks for hop picking!
His sister, although more quiet about it,
is equally as well pleased, for this is their
grand holiday Of the year. Then they be-
gin to speculate on about how much they
will be able to make, and what they will do
with their money.
Every one who asks for it is given work
You may pick fifty pounds. You are paid
70 cents. You may pick for an hour, or you
ay pick throughout the season. You may
sing, you may laugh, you may pray; all
have perfect liberty 10 do as they please,
within certain bounds, Of course. The
rights of every one are respected, and the
truth must be told, there IS very little tron-
Bile of any consequence IN the hop-ields OF
Healdsburg.
With the exception Of few Digger In
dams, white people exclusively are en-
plOyed. the Indians are very clean pick
ers." They do not pick the big hops and
leave the smaller ones on the vines, and
, their baskets are not half-ful Of trash.
Such is the case, sometimes, with the other
pickers | am sorry to say, but they are soon
spotted" and paid off. The Indians are very
peaceful and bidable, unless they get pos
session of the forbidden ''fire-water' then
lHtS dIG NUT dSElCSoA'O tON"AN SoNH NNHSA
than to any one else.
The hop-felds look unusually beautiful
this season, the graceful wreaths swaylng
in the gentle breeze sending out an Odor
agreeable and refreshing. The price that
Is offered for hops is refreshing too, the
hop-gr0wers say. They have been offered
80 cents per pound, but not many have con-
tracted for their hops even at that price.
Whole families, consisting of paren.s with
from four TO eight children, oftentmess
a nffn II
camp beside the hop-tields. Good water
and plenty of Grewood is freely furnished,
and they all, from father down 20 the little
tot OF years, work with will: and the
amount they earn Is no small sum. Up in
the morning at o'clock, the hOp-pickers
breakfast, take their lunches prepared the
night before and hurry tc the helds in
merry little groups.
They will receive TX cents for picking.
Last yearit was q cents per pound. While
TO the uninitiated the quarter OF cent
seems very tTifling to the hOp-plcker II gives
added encouragement. Nearly all the sulall
boys earn enough to buy their winter suit of
clothes, and have something besides to get a
six-bladed jack-knife, fishing tackle or any
other coveted treasure. One small boy OF
my acquaintance said with pleasant antici-
patton in his eyes, - Ii [ can only make
enough to buy Stanley's book, wont / be
happy" and SO it is each one has his cher
ished dreams. May they all be realized.
The canneries and driers are not nearly
through with their work. They are still
very busy with peaches, pears and plums,
ard grapes and apples yet to come.
Tie Magnolia Cannery has been running
day and night They have 100 employees
and their payroll last week was 1897. The
average wages of women and girls is 10
cents per hour. On piece work" they earn
more. One Ut the women employed SAID,
with cute little smile, "Oh they do not
give us piece work all the time, we would
make too much" They can easily make
rs to 81 or even more on piece work 1t
is not hard WORK and they are very con-
tented, cheerful workers. They put up all
KINDS of fruit and several kinds OF vegela-
bles. just think of the vast quantities oil
fruit that have been handled. This years
pack will amount to more than Go0oO
dozens.
Many fruit-growers prefer to dry their
fruit to selling it to the canneries. Bradford
Brothers, OF Upper Dry Creek, few miles
northwest Of Heald,burg, have about
twenty acres grown to fruit this year; they
have twenty-five men, women and children
working for them, paying them good wages.
Galway Brothers are equally busy, they
have not enough of their own and are buying
all the fruit they can get, paying the highest
market price. 1t would take several columns
OF The CALL to merely mention the many
small farmers who are making a big fortune
with their fruit, seconded by industry ana
common sense.
w. n. GLADDEN. is one of our Shining
lights" And while he is but one OF many, he
has done much 10 encourage the fruit industry
of this prolific valley. His home is one Of the
most delightful in Sonoma County, and he
has but sixty-fve acres; but every acre is
under the hi hest cultivation If he had re-
ceiyed the highest price offered for peaches
his crop would have brought him between
$4,000 to $4,000. For his crop of cherries,
half on acre, he re eived $500. Pointing to
his magnificent orchard of prunes, he said: l
expect to make $500 per acre from them. If
/ were to ask $500 per acre for the land, trees
ard all, they would think l was asking an ex-