978 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
average yield of acres picked about 80 pounds of inferior quality; the same yards in 
1877 averaged 800 pounds; total product about 10,000 against 101,600 pounds in 1877. 
No sales of the crop of 1878 reported and very few of that of 1877. Prices offered by 
dealers only 5 or 6 cents per pound, or about one-third of the cost of production. The 
low prices induced many farmers to leave their yards unpicked, the price not being 
sufficient to pay forthe picking. Jefferson: Decreasing; acreage 576, of which 25 were 
planted in i873, but double that number were plowed up. The crop is no longer profit- 
able in the county. Richland : The yards will benearly plowed up in 1879; the crop of 
1878 was a total failure; prices below cost of production; can hardly sell them for any 
price; not picked to any extent even where yards were cultivated. JVaukesha: Acre- 
age 176}; average yield, 620; average price, 10 cents; production declining. . Jowa: 
Only one yard cultivated; destructive storms swept over the country; oid yards al- 
lowed to run wild; the business considered a failure. An unknown worm did much 
injury to the vines. Hop-raising voted a failure here. Waushara: No new yards 
planted ; average yield, 400 pounds; average price, 6 cents; crop badly winter-killed ; 
production decreasing. Juneau: About 50 new acres planted; average yield not over 
30 pounds; average price, 10 cents; production declining; crop nearly a failure, 
amounting to about 10 per cent. of an average. The business regarded as uncertain 
and rainous, but the eroppers hold on in ‘hope of better times. Vernon: Acreage 
114; crop a failure; price, 5t07 cents. The culture is decreasing, as it will no longer 
ay. The temperance movement is charged with narrowing the consumption of beer. 
he rush into this business was the result of a disposition to become suddenly rich. 
Marquette : No new yards planted; average yield, 300 pounds; average price, 6 cents; 
roduction decreasing ; bad seasons and low prices. Green Lake: No hop-yards left; 
usiness vnprefitable, and hence abandoned. Trempealeau: All the yards plowed up 
except two of about 32 acres; the lice ate the hops, and hence nene were gathered. 
The foregoing extracts show but a gloomy prospect for this interest in 
the future. The exports have fallen off at an enormous rate. During 
the ten months ending with April, 1879, the total export was 4,932,571 
pounds against 17,290,750 pounds during the corresponding months of 
the previous fiscal year. One of our correspondents estimates the sur- 
plus of 1878 at 40,000 bales, which, added to the surplus of 1877, will 
make 55,009 bales. The prices obtained in nearly all the hop districts 
of the country were below the cost of production; hence the hop interest 
has suffered a terrible loss. The product of 1878 was generally of in- 
ferior quality. 
A convention of hop-growers in New England, at a late session, ap- 
pointed three different committees to estimate the average cost of produe- 
ing hops. Committee Ne. 1 allowed $100 per acre forthe average value of 
the land; cost of poles, fertilizers, and cartage, $44.10; labor in eultiva- 
tion, $18; harvesting and curing, $64.36; insurance and marketing 
$11.83; boxes, &c., $2.98; total, $141.27. A crop of 1,000 pounds would 
at such a rate average 144 cents per pound. Committee No. 2, allowing 
$80 per acre as the value of the land, estimated the average cost of 1,000 
pounds at 12i cents. Committee No. 3, at $100 per acre, and with a 
yield of 800 pounds, made the average cost 12i cents per pound. The 
average cost of producing hops in Kent County, England, is estimated 
by a local authority at £5 or $24.30 per hundredweight (not quite 22 cents 
per pound). 
As an illustration of the change in conditions of production the follow- 
ing statement of a hop-grower in Sauk County, Wisconsin, during the 
flush times of 1867,is given. His yard embraced 4 acres, and the capital 
invested, including land, poles, drying-house, stove, presses, &c., amounted 
to $2,000. During the second year of his investment, 1867, he estimated 
his expenses as follows: Interest on capital, 10 per cent., $200; cultiva- 
tion, setting poles, &c., $100; harvesting, curing, &c., $943; total ex- 
penses, $1,243. Receipts, for 11,520 pounds of hops at 60 cents per 
pound, $6,912; net receipts for hop roots, $8,040 ; total receipts, $9,952; 
net receipts, $3,709, or 435 per cent. 
Only an exrentional and precarious demand can preduce such results 
@s theabuye. lei Uuedemaad Was exceptional and merely speculative 
me Bs 
