Three Bad Years of Hops, and a Trainload of Sheep Pointing the Way Out

The losses sustained by the farmers of Yakima county during the past three years in the hop line may prove a blessing in disguise if they may be led to realize that the culture of the grasses, hay, and more particularly alfalfa, and the feeding of cattle, sheep and hogs, are vastly more profitable than raising hops. The law of supply and demand is an unfailing one, and it is one which cannot be too carefully studied by every business man, and more particularly by the farmer. For hops the demand is always limited and the price uncertain and fluctuating. For articles of food, for beef, mutton and pork especially, the demand is practically unlimited, and with the growth of our population, and with increasing prosperity at home, we may look for high prices, to say nothing of the demand for these articles of food in foreign countries. There is nothing more certain nor more permanent than the fact that good prices can always be had for beef, mutton and pork, and there is no danger whatever of an oversupply of these very necessary products; and they can be produced cheaply and to perfection in Yakima county.

The shipment to eastern and Montana points of 40 car loads of sheep from North Yakima on the 6th inst. furnishes an object lesson to the farmers of Yakima county which should not be overlooked or forgotten. The profits to the producers were probably ten times greater than a shipment of hay of the same value. The sending of hay out of the county to be fed elsewhere is a misfortune; and every pound of hay raised here should be fed at home. During the past year large quantities of hay have been shipped from North Yakima which scarcely paid ordinary wages for the labor required to put it on board the cars, cutting and curing included, leaving small profit to the owner of the land. It is said that one hundred car loads have gone from a single warehouse alone, to say nothing of the many others engaged in the business in this place. How much more profitable to all concerned the feeding of this hay at home would have been, any intelligent farmer can easily calculate. We hope with the return of better times to see our farmers adopt a different line of policy in this regard, and hereafter feed their hay on their own lands.