The Hop Blight Crisis
A report from London suggests that English hop growers are facing a devastating infestation of lice, prompting local Seattle merchants to prepare for a surge in demand for Washington-grown hops.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
C. W. Stewart received the following report from Messrs. Hialt & Co., hop factors, of Borough, London, dated May 27, 1893: 'We are suffering under an accumulation of obstacles with regard to agriculture here. We have had no rain, practically, for just on three months, with a burning sun nearly every day. This has brought the soil to an unworkable state, and the crops are really unbearable. We have the fiercest attack of vermin on the hops we have known for years. Although many are doing their utmost by using washing machines in the yards, it is little that can be done. As many as 20 lice on a leaf have been seen and fresh attacks constantly occur. It looks as if a crop is out of the question and unless we get some change within the next two weeks a short crop will be the result. We shall again want all the hops that you can send us to fill up our deficiency. Our market is nearly 10 shillings per cwt, or about 4 cents per pound, dearer and the stocks are remarkably low.' Mr. Stewart is in constant receipt of these reports from the English crop and says that last summer the predictions of this firm were nearly always verified. Mr. Stewart expects to commence spraying next week. He says when he can find twenty-five lice in his yard he shall begin to spray. He thinks he sprayed less than any one else in the state and with perfect results. All hop growers unite this spring in saying that spraying must be done early.
“We have the fiercest attack of vermin on the hops we have known for years.”
In the 1890s, Washington was establishing itself as a global agricultural player, and the fortunes of local farmers were tethered to the weather and pest conditions in Europe. Today, Washington remains the largest producer of hops in the U.S., though the battle has shifted from manually spraying against lice to managing the impacts of climate change on water rights and irrigation in the Yakima Valley.
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