Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-12-20
Flop Raising Industry

Many stories told in newspapers, and
for that matter out of them are classed
as shop dreams. The story herewith
is not of that class but is hop facts.
Oregon is the greatest grower Of hops
of any state, and Marion county is the
banner hop-growing county of the state.
In other words Marion county grows
more hops than any county in the whole
United States.
The census of 1910 gave the area de-
voted to this crop at 1000 acres. This
has been increased some but just how
much it is impossible to learn, for no
one knows the exact acreage. 1t is, ac-
cording to the best estimates, about II, :
500 acres To put this in tangible form
SO the mind can grasp it, it would make
a tract of land one mile wide and IS
miles long.
The average yield is 1,2O0 pounds, or
six bales Of dried hops ready for ship
ment, to the acre. This woulG give as
the total yield $4,000 bales, 13,sO0,0OO
pounds or 5000 tons for the year. The
price this year has varied between 20
and 25 cents, with a few sales above
that figure.
A large portion of the crop has al
ready gone out of the hands of growers,
and the money, which comes much of it
from Europe, is in circulation in Marion
county, The total returns for the crop,
when it is all marketed will be about
$3,45OOO0 This will show a yield per
acre of $500.
The yield per acre in green hops is
about 5000 pounds, and the loss in dry
ing is about rs per cent the dried
product running from 25 to 2S pounds
to the hundred.
One Of the features Of this crop is
the picking, which must all be done
by hand, and which gives small army
Of workers employment in the late sum.
mer, and is veritable godsend to
thousands. The work is such that child
rem can do it, and during the hop pick
ing season hundreds Of families make
regular outing trip Of it, camping on
the grounds, and the whole family, big
and little, old and young, pick from the
fragrant vines next winters supply of
both food and clothing The evidence
of this is the amount paid out for pick
ing alone which is at the rate Of one
cent pound for the green hops, or four
cents a pound for the dried product.
A small calculation will show that
there is paid out in Marion county for
hop picking every year about $4,000.
To this there should be added what is
paid for labor in drying, sorting, bal
ing and other necessary work before the
crop is ready for the market, which
amounts to about two cents a pound, or
for the total crop Of the county, $192,-
600, We have here then as the showing
for the county $4,000 paid out for the
wages Of harvesting When the expense
Of cultivating, polling and caring for
the crop is added, we are not far out
of the way in saying that Marion
county's hop crop pays to labor yearly
in round numbers, $l,OOO,OO0, A prot.
ty good payroll for one industry, es.
pecially one Of an agricultural kind
There Is some food for thought too
for those who are finding fault with
the high price Of land in Oregon, In
these figures. True, lands in the corn
belt are not selling at the prices asked
for Oregon land but at the same time
they are not producing, in money any
such results as are shown here, Corn
land averages, about % bushels through
out the belt, per acre, and this at 60
cents would only make the product Of an
acre worth about $li, Call the average
corn yleld Hlo an acre and the returns
from ono acre Of Marion county hops
would equal that Of twenty acres of
corn. The Marion county hop crop,
worth nearly three and half millions
Of dollars, was grown on just half a
township, IS sections Of land 10 get
tho same value from corn lands would
require 800 acres or 10 townships, One
is a strip mile wide and Is miles long,
and the other mile wide and 800 miles
in length.