REPORT OF THE STATISTICIAN. 279 
is shown in itsrapid and disastrousdecline. Thereports from the English 
hop districts are but little more encouraging. The Mark Lane Express 
publishes an estimate from its correspondent at the Canterbury hop- 
_market to the effect that of the 70,000 acres under cultivation in England 
10,000 acres would remain unpicked on account of failure. The remaining 
60,000 acres are averaged at 8 hundredweight or 896 pound per acre, giving 
a prospective aggregate of 53,760,000 pounds. Prices, however, were very 
irregular. In most of the large districts the quantity raised was abundant, 
but the quality was far below average. The mass of the crop is of inferior 
quality. The better grades sold at $22.50 to $35 per hundredweight, or 
from 20 to 3i cents per pound. Common to poor hops at the close of the 
season commanded but a half or even a third of those rates. Hnglish hop- 
growers earnestly plead thatif the crops of 1877 and 1878 had been of as 
good quality as in previous years, the hop interest would have held its own. 
But a number of adverse causes have reduced the character of the product. 
Heavy rains and high winds, together with mold, the result of excessive 
moisture, reduced both the quantity and the quality of the yields. But 
thisis notall. Alarge amount of merely speculative culture has occupied 
the field. It is stated that intelligent growers well established in the 
business have succeeded in raising good crops, commanding prices which 
leave a fair margin of profit. Such men have been able to appreciate 
and provide against the adverse conditions, both natural and economic, 
which have burdened this interest during the last two years. Mere 
amateur and superficial enterprise, such as has been attracted to this 
crop by the profits made in former years, has not been abie to resist the 
sweep of disaster. Such cultivators are clamoring for a protective tariff; 
but high commercial authority states that even with the advantage of 
free importation the stock of fine hops, both native and foreign, is far 
short of the demand. 
FARM LABOR AND WAGES. 
There have been made by this Department at divers times investiga- 
tions on the subject of wages, first in 1866, then in 1875, and last in 
March, 1878, which was then omitted for the want of space, but is now" 
incorporated, with the result of an investigation made in the spring of . 
1879. 
During the first third of the present century there was little variation 
in the wages of farm labor. According to the estimates of Mr. H.C. 
Carey, the average per month was about $9 and board. The advance 
was slow until 1861, when the great disturbance of the labor supply and 
the difference in the circulating medium greatly enhanced the rate of 
wages for the few years following. Theaverage wages of laborers board- 
ing themselves was $28 per month; of all laborers, $26. 
At the close of 1869 an investigation revealed the fact that a reaction 
had commenced, and that prices were beginning to recede. The average 
of $33 per month in New Engiand had fallen to $32. The decline in 
the Middle States was from $30 te $29. In the Western States there 
was a larger decline, from $29 to $27; while the demand for labor in 
California had advanced the average there from $45 to $46. In the 
Southern States the rate of wages also increased slightly, and was 
about $16.80, 
In 1875 another investigation was made, which showed a still further 
decline in the wages of agricultural labor. It was heaviest in the West 
and lightest in California; in the South and Kast it amounted to 10 per 
cent. With the increasing depression of the money market, many 
