The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-08-24
FEW LICE, NO DAMAGE
Hop Outlook Better Than IL
Has Been for Ten Years.
PRICE MAY GO TO THIRTY CENTS.



6usrry in the state Of Washington, sas In
Seattle YESTERDAY. IN great good spirits
over the improved outlook for hops. He
sxsd: .sstztissicaiiy the situation Is the
s.ronzess IL has been In zen years, and
during that time hops have commanded 30
cents q POUND. However, the financial
strsngeney and the scsnt supply are coun-
ter forces, and no man can tell just how
hi9h the price will CO. Mecker a. Co.
have orders fog 30 bales, for which Ne will
pay IT cents q pound GA delivery. The
hons must be baIeu according 10 tbs rules
Laid down In Meeksr's handbook. have
authority from London 20 make advances
i 20 growers OF II cents pound. delivery NJ
the Market rate 20 be made At any time be-
fore November l. II necessary can draw
$4,000
ssThe crop In this state this year viii ar
srogase 5000 bales, and the quality Is bet
Ter than Tor years. There were few lice.
bat no damage was done by them. Next
year there may be no lice ut all, but OF
course growers should kill any that APP
pear. by spraying.
II may return TO the Worlds fair late in
October TO compiete my work as judge Of
the hop exhibit, bat IL is no, necessary.
There are thirty hop entries. half o, them
foreign. ! have drawn samples Of all and
submitted one sample from each entry TO
government chemists to test as TO strength
Of the extract. The hops are 20 be judged
as 20 four other qualities, and ] will de-
eide these points later. The percentages
a. 70 the ave requisites win be added and
she average viii be the percentages Of the
entry"
Mr.. Mecker has on his registry books
the names OF 100 pickers. This IL the fnii
number that will he required In the yards
Is PuyslIup and Kent.
Following is Meeker a Co. . hop circu-
lar, issued Tuesday.
As the season for the hop harvest APP
proaches, IL Is well 20 review the situation.
90 put our houses in order for the ineyi-
table sfraggse coming TO save the crop, and
take into account the factors governing
the markets. and hence the finsl result.
s'Statisticaiiy the situation 10 very strong,
and so it was last year, and yet the market
sslumped. and growers wondered Why and
blamed buyers for the drop in prices. The
cause for this decline il not difficult TO
lind.
.aFirst--The quality was defective. caused
b. early picking and the rayages of lice.
ssSeeond--Large blocks Of the crop of the
Pacific slope we're consigned by growers
60 be sold on commission In London.
which depressed the price. and always
will, when such business Is done. IL
there Is anything an Engiishman exceis
IN, commercially. IL Ia In shrewd buying.
Let him know by the cable that hops suf-
flcicnf arc consigned. from which TO pur-
chase his supplies. ne simply awaits their
arrivai. knowing full we'll that such are
welt out OF the way OF q competing mar
ket. and viii have to be sold at substan-
f}atfv n rriea Gush ~ n sifua-
ton last year, and We warn the hop
growers OF tho Pacific coast that such will
be the case for this or any future year If a
similar policy is pursued.
''The remedy lies primarily in the pro-
ductson OF better quality. Relatively
last year California stood at the head OF
the lis as 10 quality, Oregon next, and
Washington last, but neither of the two
latter states produced the quality equal to
their best and may never reasonably ex-
psct high price with inferior qualities.
1T lies with the growers themselves 60
govern the question Of quality.
"first--Let your hops mature before
.'Second--Pick them clean.
Third-Cure them at low tempera-
turc and thorough, and
.'feurth--Baie al once before the hons
have time TO take In moisture (soughenl
and bale them whole; this last can not be-
done where the hops are tramped into the
bale.
Keep your hops within reach of the
composition OF both markets; that OF the
United States rs well as OF England. and
the buyers will come 10 you, ii you don q
rush out after them. This firm never
specalatss In hops and never consigns
upon their own account. but always sells
BY samples, before the hops are shipped
Notwithstanding tho unprecedented
dronth in. England and the early severe
attack OF vermin, the cable from our own
correspondent reports the estimate OF the
crop ~ 10000 old duty, or substantially
che same as last year.
Charles whitehsad's estimate is 50 600
cid duty less than the foregoing, The
production last year was 2ia.0o0 old duty
"Gsrmany has Jared worse, and reports
from many districts are TO che effect that
the crop 10 almost total failure. Never
theiess, IN others II Is good. Conserva-
tive estimates place the crop at 90 per cent.
OF that OF last year, which will bring the
crop below the average, and With but few
any hopsto spare for the English market
New York viii produce less hops than
last year probably 30 per cent of last
years crop, This shortage will be sab
stantlaily made up by the increased yield
OF the Pacific slope from last years acre
age fret coming into full tearing and new
hors planted the present year.
eo, upon the whole, the situation, as
We have said, statistiealty is very strong
one. Let not growers. from that known
fact. deceive themselves into the expecta.
ton OF very high prices, or allow Others
90 deceive them, Our Mr.. T. Meeker
Who IL now I'm the East. has mel
many i'm the trade who firmly believs
that the financial distress is certain e.
force hops 90 low price tas IL has al.
ready forced other produce downl. par
tscularly ~ harvest time when the grover
Is in need OF harvest funds. The same
factor, on the other side. prevents free
operations of dealers or free purchases
from consumers. hence restricted, SLOW
domestic trade AS expected
England will want large block ~
our hops. II suited 10 their wants vari.
ously estimated from el.00 20 iAn 81
bales. The English buyer will wait Tor
samples. or fer arrived hops, knSwing full
well from all past experience that his
'sovereigns' viii fetch them sooner ~
later. one Way or another. IL rests with
the grower tn say whether his hons shan
he soid a. home aud the money paid htn,
81 hoSne, or in \ foreign country BY partse.
whom he cannot know or control and
who, however honest, are subject 70 Tn,
laws Of trade. that he who runs alter 4
buyer must need suffer ia price"
HoFs on THE oAANoaAN
kngitsh Growers to fians T.uoo Acres