The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1896-01-16
THE CULTURE OF HOPS
Remarkable Increase Due to
Good Care of Soil.
CONSTANT INCREASE OF ACREAGE
Large Acreage and Remuner-
alive Prices-Notes.

Return to Normal Conditions Means =
Large Acreage and Remuner-
ative Prices-Notes.
Surrounding Seattle there is vast
hop-growing district which furnishes
the product that brings many hundred
thousand dollars annually into the
state, says the Times. Most of the
crop is handled by Seattle buyers. Hop
culture in Washington dates from the
year 1866, when a peck of hop roots
harvested bale of hops which were
sold for eighty.five cents per pound.
This attracted attention to the indus
try and resulted in further planting.
Each succeeding year has witnessed an
increase in production, eliminating in
crop of so, 900 bales, or nearly 9,O00,-
600 pounds.
Up to 1894 fair price has been Sc
cured for the hop product of this state,
the price per pound ranging from
twelve to twenty-six cents. During
the past two seasons, however. over
production the world over resulted in
the price dropping to six and seven
cents. This fact has been very dis.
couragiug to the farmers, and during
the season of 1895 many hops were not
gathered. A return to normal condi-
tions will mean large acreage in this
state and remunerative prices.
The hop ranches, whose products
pass through the hands of Seattle deal
ers, range in extent from three acres up
to $40. The largest in Washington,
and it is said in the world, is known as
the Snoqualmie hop ranch, 800 acres in
area. At Meeker there is a farm of
$50 acres, while at Puyallup there are
three extensive ranches of eighty, sew
enty.five and seventy-two acres each.
Aside from the vast number of laborers
regularly engaged in the cultivation of
the crop, during picking season. which
lasts during September and part of
October, the fields are filled with from
10000 to Is, 900 pickers.
The remarkable increase in hop pro-
duction in the state of Washington has
been due entirely to the existing ia
vorable conditiods for the development
Of this branch of agriculture. The
deep, moist, friable, rich soil; the cool
nights, coupled with long days of sun.
light; the certainty of summer rainfall;
the ease with which the loamy land
may be cultivated; the constant con-
tinued growth unchecked from drought,
have all contributed to make the yield
large, the cost light, the crop certain,
and the quality choice.
The best and most productive hop
lands must be selected only by practical
experience. The bulk of the crop of
Western Washington at present is
grown in the valleys of the White,
Puyallup, Stuck, Skagit and Sno-
homish rivers and ON the Dungeness
bottoms. In Eastern Washington,
where the climate is more like that of
New York, success has attended the
efforts of the hop farmers of the Yak
lima valley where the acreage is con-
stantly increasing. From the Cascades
and the Olympics spring many streams,
forming rich valleys adjacent to tide
water. For countless centuries has the
silt been coming down the mountain
sides, and the process still goes on,
vegetable growth springing up and
taking possession of the newly made
land. This rich alluvial deposit is in
exhaustible and the hop roots penetrate
deep into the soil to absorb the moisture.
The Latest Market Reports.
Some sales are made by holders in
order to realize ON other stock, but
business on the whole is not active,
says the American Agriculturist. AS
has been. efforts are still made to force
prices below quotations, but thus far
The tenacity of growers has kept the
market from any material decline.
Among holders in the city, however,
there is some competition for brewers
orders and concessions are made at
times to effect a trade. Export bust
ness is rather slow at present, owing to
the full supplies of American hops
already on the English and European
markets. Growers as a rule are hold
ing their crops, although here and
there farmer sells out at such prices
as he can obtain. On the Pacific coast
the situation is much the same as at
this side of the country, while across
the water a fair movement is reported
for the choicest kinds, but poor grades
are neglected.
Lord Salisbury offers little encour-
agement to English hop growers who
are asking protection. A delegation
last week urged that the government
readjust the duty on beers, so as to en-
courage the growth of English hops
and barley. Salisbury said that he
believed that public opinion in England
was not at all changed upon the ques-
ton of protection, and this would not
be attained at any period during the
present generation.