Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1893-09-29
THE STATE HOP CROP.
THE IMMENSE YIELD AND LARGE
PROFITS.

PROFITS.
Mr. Meeker Introduces an InnOva.
tion In the Shape of Short Poles,
Which COnsiderabIy Reduces the
Expense of Production.
An innovation in the hop growing
business has been introduced into
Washington by Ezra Meeker. 1t is
the shortening of the hop poles IA or
16 feet, above the ground, to 7 feet.
Last year he set out four acres OF short
poles; this year he and his sons are
using short poles in all of their fields.
which aggregate nearly 300 acres. The
short poles are said to be used quite
generally in Oregon, New York and
England. Some are in use in the new
fields in Yakima county, but in
Western Washington their use is a
novelty. Mr.. Meeker declares that
the short poles are an entire success.
All the other growers of the Puyallup
and White river valleys do not yet
seem ready to admit this much. In
fact some of them have made bold to
declare that Mr.. Meeker has made a
mistake, and that he will regret, say
about next year, having sawed off the
seven to nine feet from the tops of
about 100000 poles, which set over
100 acres of hops. In other words,
they think he will eventually replace
the long poles. Other growers are
awaiting the result of MIR. Meeker's s
test on the short poles, and say they
will not form a conclusion until they
hear the result of this years yield on
the short poles expressed in figures.
The visitors to Mr.. Meeker's two
large fields at Kent, which he is now
picking, would have no hesitancy in
pronouncing the use of short poles a
success. From pole to pole, length
wise, crosswise and diagonally cross
wise is strung twine on which the hop
vines spread instead Of climbing to
the top OF 16-foot poles. The vines
have spread on the twine until they
have reached and grown about each
other. Such mass of beautiful green
vines, and. better yet, large yellow
hops that one could almost eat, was
probably never seen before in the
State.
Imagine thickly-matted mass ol
hops and vines raised seven feet from
the ground and seventy-five acres in
extent. Imagine another such mass
100 acres in extent. This will give
some idea of the appearance of Mr..
Meeker's two large yards, the former
situated one mile west of Kent, in
King county. The Northern Paciic's
Seattle branch runs through the
seventy-five acre field for a distance oil
half a mile.
"Those are the incest hops ever
raised here, and they came from short
poles" said Superintendent Myers, as
he exhibited sample of the two car
loads which were shipped to London
yesterday. Three carloads more will
be shipped tomorrow. "They are
nice, bright hops, and just what the
London market wants." he went on.
Some people claim we've lost $780,
600 by cutting off our poles. They
are mistaken; that's all. These
stories don't hurt Mr.. Meeker any,
but they do hurt the country by MAX
ing people believe that the short poles
are failure.
"In the first place we are reducing
expenses by using short poles. Last
year we had eighteen to twenty men
pulling poles at 81 a day. That
counts up. Next spring we will save
cost of resetting the. poles at cost of
$3.50 an acre.
"Another chief object is to keep
from cutting the vines. Heretofore
we have had to cut our vines when
the sap was in the tops. Of course
the sap couldn't get back to the roots.
This weakened the vine, and, we be-
lieve, it reduced the yield for the next
year. With short poles we move the
boxes under the vines and pick them
without cutting. The sap goes back
into the roots and the vines are left
uninjured. Later the tops die. Then,
about January 1st, we will cut the
dead tops off, burn them and clean up
the yards. Yes. there is little less
trouble and expense about spraying
the short-poled hops. But We 20
through them with horse sprayers and
there is better chance OF getting the
spraying material into all the tops
when they are but seven feet from the
ground than when they are up on a
16-foot pole. With short poles I cal
culate that we save IS an acre on pull
ing and resetting, besides getting bet
ter results from spraying and conse-
quently better hops. We get stronger
vines, and stronger foliage. This
gives the hops yellow cast and that
is what they want in England. Next
year Mr.. Meeker will set out forty
acres more hops, all with short poles.
"In these two yards we have about
600 pickers, including children. They
are picking 700 boxes daily. A good
many pick two and some three boxes
a day."
The seventeen hop kilns in the
Kent yards are "a feet square each
and seveaty.five boxes of green hop.
are put in each kiln and spread out te
a thickn ess of two and one-half feet
A box OF green hops weighs eighty
pounds, and produces twenty-five
pounds 'of dried hops. The seventeen
kilns dry 1900 boxes at time, the
drying process requiring on an aver
TO- L Ill L.