The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1892-05-05

HlQAlGtA ~ NNlNDg NAN@AAAANaNIs az AaAH
heen rewarded by finding an abundance
u water 10 two instances. One Of tn
flowing wells Is Sl4 feet deep; the other
$40 feet deep. They are within $40 ieei
Of each other, and when water was found
in the second very little difference was
aeen In the flow Of the other. A remark
able fact is that the temperature Of the
Aater In each Of them Is "a degrees. The
combined flow Of the two amounts to
I,Ol5,sOO gallons every twenty-fOuT hours,
and this Is enough water, Mr.. ScuddeT
.ays, to irriRate 500 acres Of land.
Now, something rs 10 the results Of ir-
riHation in the Yakima country. These
are seen perhaps TO the best advantage in
the Ahtanum valley, which runs off to
the southwest from North Yakima to-
wards Mount Adams Of the Cascades. 1t
was here that irrigation was first and
most extensively adopted by the farmers.
and 1t IL here that one can see the nat
nTal and inevitable tendencies in an irri-
<ht0u COuuHy' EIotu al 1ieNhtOu Poahs
[ could see all the way from one end Of
the valley to the other, and the picture
presented was one Of great thrift and
beauty. Hundreds Of neat farmhouses
dotted the great plain. Every acre Of
The valley seemed to be under culture.
Bunches Of tall poplars here and there
save picturesqueness and variety to the
landscape. The farmers were busy in
their fields and the song Of industry was
in the air. The fields were divided of
INTO lots Of ten, twenty and forty acres.
Very few were larger, and with each field
was a farmers house. The population
Ieemed to be as dense as the farming dis
tricts Of France or England, and were
similar in appearance. There were no
broad acres Of. wheat like we see in the
Palouse country, but patches Of beauti-
fully. green alfalfa, hop yards and or
hards. The apple trees of the orchards
were just in bloom and the air was laden
with the perfume Of these delicious bios
sons. On the whole, 1t looked more like
garden than farming district.
Five miles east Of the city in the Mckee
salley Is the celebrated Mckee farm.
Here Is shown what can be done by a
rich company with q large body Of land
under cultivation. The experiment is d.
rectly opposite in character to the small
farming 10 the Ahtanum valley. There
are 1909 acres in cultivation on the
Mckee farm; fifty acres in hops and
most Of the remainder in alfalfa.
The products Of the land Of the Yakima
country are hops, fruit, alfalfa, clover and
vegetables. 1t now looks as though here
are 90 be the greatest hop yards in the
world. The entire area devoted to hops
last year was 435 AIRES. Quite !, 500 acres
will be put in this year. This shows
what an impetus has been given 70 the
growth Of this crop. This is an increase
Of more than 200 per cent. The condi-
tons for growing hops seem to be alto
gether favorable. The average is very
high, running above 1900 pounds to the
acre. The average yield in the New
York hop yards is but 800 pounds to the
acre. 1t costs cents a pound to grow
hops In the Yakima country. The av-
erage price for twenty years past has been
% cents a pound. A number Of growers
have made contracts for Eve yerrs ahead
at 10 cents pound. An acre Of hops at
the average Of 500 pounds at % cents a