In California, in former years, the hops were largely picked by Chinamen, but since the labor movement, which culminated in the exclusion of Chinese immigration, has brought the employment of such labor into disfavor, the majority of planters hire other help, and Chinamen are now but rarely seen in the hop-yards. In Washington, and to some extent also in Oregon, the hops are mostly picked by Indians from British Columbia. They cross Puget Sound in their canoes, bringing all their women and children and all their household goods along, and go into camp on the borders of the hop-yards, about the 1st of September of every year. They board and lodge themselves, and always work “by the piece,” that is to say, they get a fixed compensation for every box of hops picked by them. All the Indians have to do, is to pick the hops from the vine, and they “pick for all they are worth,” most literally; for every cent they earn, for the whole year in most cases, is earned in the three or four weeks of the hop-harvest. Every squaw and papoose picks, from early morning until night, into baskets or shawls, which are emptied into the box and help to swell the family’s income for the year. Before the introduction of hops into Washington, about twenty-five years ago, these Indians did not earn a dollar in money in a year, but now, at the close of the hop-harvest, a single Indian family composed of man, wife, and usually several children, will carry home with them one hundred dollars in cash. The difference to that poor family, in comfort and civilization, can easily be understood. [Sidenote: HOP-PICKING IN NEW YORK]