Morning journal and courier., 1891-11-03
Hop Growing fin Washington

Correspondence Of the New Iork TlmeS.l
 There is no state in the union where hop-growing is carried on with more suc- cess than in Washington. The industry has passed beyond the experimental stage and is steadily gaining ground. The crop is large one this year, and well-informed men estimate the state's profit on it at about fifteen hundred thousand dollars. Hop culture began here in 1866, when Ja- cob R. Meeker, who lived in the Puyallup valley, between this city and Tacoma, planted peck of the roots. He harvested bale of hops, which he sold for eighty
 five cents pound. This success resulted in further planting, not only in the Puyal
 lup valley, but in all the rich alluvial val leys of the Puget sound basin and of east ern Washington. From that beginning
 sprang business that has brought into
 the state more than twenty million dollars,
 and now gives employment to fifteen thou
 sand persons annually. Each succeeding year has witnessed an increase in produc- tion, eliminating in crop of fifty thou sand bales, or nearly nine million pounds in 1890
 This remarkable increase has been due to unusually favorable conditions for the development of this branch of agricul- ture. A deep, moist, friable, rich soil, cool nights and long sunny days, and cer tainly of early summer rains, make the
 cost light, the yield large, the quality choice and the crop certain. From the
 Cascade mountains and the Olympics spring many streams forming valleys in which the soil is at least fifty and often one hundred feet deep. Into this the hop roots penetrate from four to eight feet
 and even in the dry season of July and August find constant moisture. The strength of the soil is shown by the fact that the oldest yard in the state, that of the Meekers at Puyallup, has yielded twen- ty-fve successive crops without failure In all quotations of prices the Washing ton hops stand in the front rank with those of New York. The profits are large While in New York and in England and Germany the average yield is not more than six hundred and fifty pounds to the acre. the average of Washington hops is
 sixteen hundred pounds to the acre. The greatest hop grower of the state, Ezra
 Meeker, of Puyallup, says: 'I have har- vested one hundred and sixty-eighty tons from one hundred and seventy acres, and in several instances coming under my per- sonal observation over four thousand pounds per acre have been harvested. Ac- CoAouS to tAAO bCou outuOIltlob, tll0 COSG Ol production in New York is not less than fifteen cents per pound, and in England an average of at least eighteen cents per pound is reached. In the state of Wash ington the average cost is less than ten
 cents per pound; so that Washington hop farmers frequently sell at a profit, while
 others producing at higher cost are sell ing at loss."
 Ezra Meeker, in a statement recently
 published over his own signature, de-
 olared: ''For years, from 1886 to 1890,
 inclusive, have kept accurate account of
 the production of one farm of sixty one
 acres which have in hops. During this
 time there were grown and marketed 574,- 602 pounds of hops, which sold at an av- craze of seventeen and three-ffth cents per pound, aggregating $101, ,129.95. The cost of production was nine cents per
 pound, $51, 714.18. The net profit, there fore, from the sixty-one acres for the five years was $49 ,415.77, an annual average of S9, ,883. .15, and a yearly average net profit per acre of $162.02." This statement seems almost extravagant, but any one spending three days there will discover that the hop raisers, as 8 class, are out of debt, wealthy and often money lenders.
 There has never been a better crop than