The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1893-08-31
OF THE HOP INDUSTRY.
Prospects and Conditions as Seen BY
Those Of Large Experience.
ONE REASON WHY THE PRICES DROP.
u. meeker offers Valuable Counsel
Conserving she Grewers' Duty 60
Observation-Disclosures Reviewed
BY an Experienced Buyer.

In the circular OF Il. Meeker x Co., oi
Puyallup, we find these candid state
ments and good advice:
"Ststistically the situation is very
strong, and SO It was last year, and yet
the market 'slumped' and growers won.
dered why. and blamed buyers for the
drop in prices. The cause for this decline
is not difficult to find.
"lst. The quality was defective, caused
by early picking and the ravages OF lice.
"2d. Large blocks OF the crop of the
Pacific slope were consigned by growers
to be sold on commission in London
which depressed the price, and always
will, when such business is done. II
there is ANYTHING an Englishman excels
in, commercially, it is in shrewd buying.
Let him know by the cable that hops sui.
ticient are consigned from which to pui-
chase his supplies, he simply awaits their
arrival, knowing full well that such are
well out OF the way OF competing mar
ket and will have TO be sold ut substan-
TALLY his own price. Such was the situ-
alton last year and we warn the hop
growers OF the Pacific coast that such will
be the case for this or any future year ii
a similar policy is pursued.
THE remedy lies primarily in the pro-
duction OF better quality. Relatively,
last year California stood at the head Of
the list as to quality. Oregon next. and
Washington last, but neither Of the two
latter states produced the quality equal
to their best and may never reasonably
expect high price with inferior quail
ties.
1T lies with the growers themselves to
govern the question OF quality.
''lst. Let your hops mature before
picking.
"2d. Pick them clean.
ed. Cure them at low temperature
and thorough, and
18th. Bale at once before the hops
have time to take moisture (toughen)
and bale them whole; this last can not 1e
done where the hops are tramped into the
bale.
Keep your hops within reach of the
competition of both markets; that of the
United States as well as OF England and
buyers will come to you, il you don't rush
out after them. This firm never specu-
lates in hops and never consigns upon
their own account, but always sells by
samples, before the hops are shipped.
$50, upon the whole, the situation, as
we have said, statistically isa very st "ong
one. Let not growers, from that known
fact, deceive themselves into the expecta-
ton of very high prices, or allow others
to deceive them. Our Mr.. E. Meeker,
who is now in the east, has met many in
the trade who firmly believe that the fin
ancial distress is certain to force hops to
low price Gas it has already forced other
produce DOWN, particularly at harvest
time, when the grower is in need OF har-
vest funds. The same factor, on the
other side, prevents free operations Of
dealers or free purchases from consumers,
hence restricted, slow domestic trade is
expected.
England will want large block Of
our hops, If suited to their wants, var
iously estimated from sixty to one hun
bred thousand bales. The English buyer
will wait for samples, or for arrived hops,
knowing full well from all past expert
ence that his 'soverigns' will fetch them
sooner or later, one way or another. 1t
rests with the grower to say whether his
hops shall be sold at home and the money
paid him at home. or in a foreign coun-
try by parties whom he can not know or
control and who, however honest, are
subject TO the laws OF trade, that he who
runs after buyer must need suffer in
price,"
E. V. Collins, representing the Boston
firm of Dole Brothers company, is in Ia