i9io.] 



Hops in the United States. 



1013 



The cultivation of hops in the United States is chiefly 

 confined to the four States of New York, Oregon, California, 

 and Washington. No official statistics 

 Hops in the of the area under cultivation are avail- 



United States. able for a later year than 1899, but there 

 is reason to believe that there have been 

 considerable fluctuations during the past decade. 



Area under cultivation. — In 1899 there were 55,613 acres 

 under hops in the United States, of which 27,532 were in the 

 State of New York, 15,433 in Oregon, 6,890 in California, 

 5,296 in Washington, and only 462 acres elsewhere. Between 

 1900 and 1907 the area in Oregon and California is said to 

 have increased by some 12,000 acres, and this estimate seems 

 to have been fairly accurate, as in the spring of 1908 an 

 association of hop-growers ascertained that there were 26,152 

 acres of hops in Oregon and some 7,000 acres in Washington. 

 The unfavourable prices realised in 1908, however, caused 

 many of the hop plantations to be ploughed up, the area thus 

 abandoned amounting, it is stated, to 8,000 acres in Oregon 

 and 3,500 acres in Washington. 



Prices. — The extent to which prices have fluctuated since 

 1899 may be gathered from the following table, which is com- 

 piled from prices given in the Crop Reporter, published by 

 the United States Department of Agriculture. 



Choice Hops (New York). 

 Pence per lb. 





February. 



September. 



1899 





6 - 6§ 



1900 



6|- 6| 



61- 1\ 



I 





6i- 8 



2 



7i— 9 



13 —H 



3 



i6|— 18| 



i2i— 15 



4 



18 — 19 



i6i— i8i 



5 



... 15 -18 



10 — nh 



6 



... 7 - H 



71- 8i 



7 



10^ — 11^ 



6 - 74 



8 



6|— 8^ 



3 — 3i 



9 



... 6 - 7i 



9 — 10 



1910 



... i6J-i7i 





It will be seen that after several years of comparatively Jow 

 prices, a rise occurred in 1902, which continued with 

 fluctuations until 1905, and it was no doubt during this period 

 that the extension in area occurred. In 1906-8 prices declined 

 again, but in the early months of 1909 some recovery took 

 place, followed by a sharp rise after October last. 



