Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1891-02-19

tainlv this may be truly said of the valley
of the Puyallup river, which is within
stones throw OF either Tacoma or Seattle.
Here are raised crops which in quality
and quantity cannot be equalled; and
there are broad valleys in the western
part OF the state which are almost as pro-
ductive. The average yield OF hops,
was told by Mr.. Stewart, Of Puyallup,
who has been raising them for years, is
from 800 to 1000 pounds per acre, and
1000 pounds have been grown on single
acre. Contrast such yields with the 800
pounds per acre with which the hop
farmers OF New England or New York are
satisfied. In 1864 one bale Of 1874 pounds
Of hops was the entire crop Of Washing
ton: III 1855 it amount to $4,000 bales,
or 1850 1906 pounds. The same soil pro-
duces vegetables and small fruits, max
ing markets gardening most profitable
industry. Black berries and raspberries
grow almost without care. In one year a
farmer sold five thousand dollars worth
Of fruit and vegetable, the product OF
twenty acres of leased land. Five hum
dred bushels of potatoes and thirty tons
of cabbage per acre are reported by many
truckers; and there is next-door mar
ket for all that can be raised. Pears of
all varieties thrive; prune trees yield a
net income of six hundred dollars an
acre, and cherry trees twenty-five to forty
five dollars a tree. The hay crop is
enormous, and its quality of the best.
Hay lands are grazed until about the
middle of April, when the stock is taken
off, to allow the hay to mature and be
harvested, after which the stock is
turned in again and allowed to Craze un-
til the following spring. A single acre is
known to have produced in a single year
900 bushels OF potatoes, $500 pounds of
hops, 10 tons of clover, 35 tons Of sugar
beets, 125 bushels of oats, 80 bushels of
barley, and six crops Of vegetables.
The timber product Of Washington is
matter of worldwide celebrity. The
country has virgin forests of pine, fir and
cypress. 1t is common to e fir rising
one hundred and fifty feet from the
ground to the first limb, which is &C.
counted great advantage, as it leaves
the lumber free from knots Many trees
are three hundred feet in length and as
straight as an arrow. Twenty million
acres Of land are6o heavily covered with
timber that the average yield of lumber
per acre is estimated at $4,000 feet. The
Hon. Henry B. Clifford says that "there
are many acres which will average over
100000 feet, and We have trees which will
cut 80 900 ieet each; but even at $4,000
feet to. the acres it aggregates 60,000,-
OOO,O 900 feet, which is sufficient to supply
America for. generations" Washington
timber may be found today all over the
globe, and it is accounted the best that
grows. Last year over $1,000, 900 feet Of
the yield found its way to foreign lands.
Puget sound is building its own ships in
great numbers; and it is the beast Of
Washington that it can produce from it's
own soil everything that ship requires,
from keel to anchor. The cities Of the
Atlantic seaboard send to Washington
for spars and masts, and the whole coun-
try draws upon the shores of Puget sound
for bridge timber. So much for fir and
pine. OF cypress there is enough to
single every roof-tree in the United
States. Assistant Postmaster General
Clarkson reports seeing many trains
loading with shingles in Tacoma and
Seattle for the interior west and the mid
die states, and one train Of fourteen car
loads on it's way to Massachusetts. Cedar
for all kinds of wooden ware awaits the
manufacturer. Bird's-eye maple, cherry,
and alder, which when stained, can
scarcely be told from cherry, all good for
furniture and furnishing, are going to
waste. There is a great field in Wash
ington for furniture factories.
The tide waters of Washington and
nearly all of its rivers TEEN with fish
which will not only supply millions of it's
own inhabitants in the future with food,
but must reinforce the markets of the
world and bring back money of untold
amount. Already the fisheries, employ
ing three thousand men, have a product
of million dollars in value. Salmon,
hallbut, cod, and smelt are the chief
varieties. Salmon is the staple product,
but the best of the ocean fish is the black
cod, which is at present taken in limited
quantities and only in very deep water.
Salmon and halibut are sometimes sailed,
dried, packed, and shipped in this form,
and sometimes fresh and packed in ice in
refrigerator ears With improved and
cheaper transportation facilities this bust
ness must grow immensely; but even
now MASSACHUSETTS, fishermen have found
it worth while to come around Cape
Horn and engage in the development of
the fisheries on the North Pacific ocean