The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-07-21
ing we'll and growing r.pldly. white picker,

ing well and growing rapidly. White pickers
are most satisfactory to me.
j. w. Eeely-Feurteen acres find some lice,
but am not at all discouraged. The growing
crop looks well. Have done no spraying yet l
prefer Indians because they do cleaner work
and arc less bother.
EM Shuttlewell-Twsnty acres. We have
plenty of lice, but are having first-rate success
in destroying them with quassia "teca."
have stripped the vines for four feet at the base
/ find that we can reach nearly
all the foliage, though it Ii heavy.
/ believe we can soon save the crops AZ
moderate expense. There Is at present no cause
for encouragement. The crops never gave bet
ter promise.
Mr. sloy-(western farm.) Sixty-eight acres
Outlook not quite good as last year. Many
lice. Am spraying with the quassia prepare
tion Expect to beat the pests. Indians alto
gether it possible. Can tell nothing as to prices.
D. Mullen-Eighteen acres. Crops doing well.
Prefer Indians as pickers. win begin spraying
soon Believe the crop can be saved.
J. 7. Jones-Twenty-thres acres. Vines in
tested to q considerable extent Will begin
spraying a t once. Prefers Indians, but employ
both. Whites are inclined TO encourage strikes
Crop thrifty. Will be good barring the lice.
As q rule the hop yards all through this re-
gion are in fine state of cultivation. They are
clear of weeds and the vines were trained with
great care
Leaving the sly" out OF the question, there
has seldom been q better outlook for good av-
erage crop. New yards do not seem to be quite
as promising as in most years. Still they will all
yield something-possibly some OF them sufi-
Gent TO repay all that their setting and cultiva-
ton have cost.
The. plan of stripping the lower portion of the
vines, say from four to five feet, has been quite
generally adopted. This il done not only to let
in light and air, but to destroy many OF the lice
and to render spraying easier and more effect
ual.
While the most of the growers prefer Indian
pickers, many win have to look for such fami-
lies of whites as may wish to engage for the sea-
son, prepared to put up with the rough accom-
modations that can be given them, and to
endure the cool, wet mornings and the hot
mid-days that are pretty sure to prevail during
the hop-picking season. Usually the season be-
gins the second week in September, though
few start in about the first of the month. OBJ
seryation shows that the work will begin little
earlier than usual this year, because the season
is earlier and because the earlier the crop is
harvested the less time there is for the destruc-
tive hop louise to get in its work. Last season
the damage by these pests was almost entirely
done during the last week of picking
Few contracts for the product are being made
Buyers and producers alike are holding of. The
latter fear that If the price drops under the con-
any seeming defect in the appearance or charac-
ter of the hops, while buyers seem to hope for
lower rates consequent upon abundant crops
East and in Europe
Spraying with kerosene emulsion will be very
general, nearly all growers having provided
themselves with force pumps and material for
spraying. 1t is quite among the probabilities
that buyers will discriminate in favor of hops
from yards that have been sprayed.
In some cases the sheep have been turned into
the hop yards to do the work of stripping the
base of the vines. The plan is popular with
those who have tried it, and it will not be sur
prising il within few years, il the hop louise
stays here, that about every ranch will be the
home of fine flock of mutton sheep. It il the
exceedingly profitable.
Few hop ranchers are discouraged, though all
admit the gravity of the situation, and believe
that hop growing will have an additional ex-
pense attached to it in the future Hereafter
the cost of fighting the insect pest will be taken
into account. This expense is q mere trife,
however, if by it the crop is saved.
1t is too early for any man to predict the out
come of this pest invasion. Conditions may
arise by which it may be destroyed by wholesale
in natures own way.
No one is yet at all confident as to prices, but
growers are hopeful for a large return. They
are Keeping themselves posted to the condi-
tlon OF the mop crop In oregon, California ana
ths Eastern states and in Europe. The papers
are closely watched for any item relating to the
crop.
Regarding the rate of tare. there will gen
eral effort to enforce the legal rate of five pounds
per bale. 1t is believed that buyers will ac-
cede this instead of requiring seven pounds or
more, has been the case in some years.
Growers as q rule will have their supplies OF
sulphur, sacking, etc., on hand some time BE-
fore the driving and balinp season oDeus
The engagement of pickers is already in pro-
gress. Hundreds of Indians annually return to
the same yards, as regularly as birds of passage
return to their old haunts. They like the work,
and depend upon it for their spare change for
the year.