ones.

that old or refuse hops were often found mixed up with good No proper distinction was made between the different qualities. Vexatious lawsuits would sometimes occur, and the price of the best hops was naturally lower than it otherwise would have been. To remedy these evils, the Legislature of Massachusetts created the office of Inspector General of Hops in the year 1806. This was the first movement of the kind in this country, and, so far as I know, the first provision for an inspection in the world. Col. Jaques was appointed inspector. The office being new, there were no precedents for classifying hops, and some system was to be adopted. But some hop dealers and some hop growers were opposed to a high standard of inspection, and the inspector met, of course, with many difficulties. It is but justice to him to say, that, by the conscientious use of his "first sort" brand, Massachusetts for many years monopolized the trade in hops, for the character of our hops became the best in the United States. His system was complete, and the growers were soon brought to improve their hops, in order to bring them up to a high standard of perfection. Those who sent orders from Europe to agents in this country required their hops to be inspected in many cases in Massachusetts, and Col. Jaques' brand generally commanded a cent or two on a pound more than that of any other State.

It was the pride of Col. Jaques that no bale marked as "first sort" ever failed to prove so, and it was this high standard that gained for the Massachusetts crop an enviable reputation both at home and abroad, and there is no other means of securing any permanent annual foreign demand; while, the moment the standard is lowered, the moment the dealers find bale after bale branded as "first sort" when they should have been "second," or branded "second sort" when they should have been "refuse," they begin to look with distrust upon the whole. It is, on the whole, for the interest, both of the grower and the dealer, to maintain the highest standard of perfection, and that the truth should be stamped on every bale.

The Legislature, in 1816, passed a law requiring all inspectors to make annual returns to the office of the Secretary of State. But Col. Jaques, from the beginning, foresaw the

want of more accurate and reliable statistics of all our staple products, and, as early as 1806, adopted a system by which, when these returns were required by law, he was enabled to present them from the first year of his inspection, and by these he could tell how many bags of hops were raised in the State, by whom raised, and in what town, to whom sold, the weight and the quality of each bag, the price, &c. In these returns we have more perfect statistics of this crop for the last half century than any other State in the Union. These returns will be referred to in speaking of the cost and profits of this crop.

Col. Jaques resigned the office of Inspector of Hops in 1842. The crop in Massachusetts, in 1840, was returned as 237,941 pounds, estimated to be worth to the growers no less than $71,382.30. From that time the prices fell, till only 150,655 pounds were reported in the official returns of 1850, valued at $37,663.75. The average price per pound, in 1847, was but 63 cents; and in 1848, but 7 cents. Among the reasons for these low prices was the fact that the quality of Massachusetts hops had somewhat depreciated, and consequently their reputation was greatly injured. The cause of the depreciation in quality will be alluded to hereafter.

Location. The land designed for a hop plantation should be as free from exposure to the winds as possible, since at certain seasons it is liable to be greatly injured. Level ground is better than a hillside.

The hop is said by some to flourish best in a moist climate. The finest varieties are cultivated to the highest degree of perfection in England, the climate of which we have already alluded to in a former part of this Report. An English writer affirms that the north of England and Scotland are too cold for the successful cultivation of these varieties of the hop, and suggests that if it is at all attempted on a large scale, or in field culture, the coarse, hardy Flemish redbine be used. The latitude of Edinburgh is 55° 57', that of Boston 42° 21'. The mean annual temperature of the former is 470.1 F., that of the latter 48°.9-showing but a slight difference. But a comparison of the mean spring and summer heat of the two places shows a very marked difference. Our winters are far

colder, and our summers far hotter, than those of Scotland; or, to resort to accurate statistics, the mean temperature of the growing months for the two places is as follows:

This shows a very marked difference in our favor, so far as requisite heat is concerned; and on this point there seems to be no reason why we may not, by proper cultivation, grow the finest varieties with complete success. It has been said that the plant is indigenous to our State.

Soil and Mode of Culture. The hop may be cultivated with success in a great variety of soils; but it flourishes best in a deep, rich, mellow loam, with a subsoil of medium stiffness. In general, it may be said that good corn land is good hop land. The soil of Wilmington, one of the first and largest towns engaged in hop growing, is generally of a poor and light description-a sandy loam; and it is worthy of remark, that the hops are better on soils which will raise only from a quarter to half a pound to a hill than on those which raise a pound or a pound and a half.

The roots of the hop extend to great depths when the soil is of suitable character and properly prepared, and the best cultivators take great pains to loosen and pulverize it thoroughly and to manure it well. The first ploughing should be ten or twelve inches deep. The hop farmers of Kent and Surrey, among the most noted hop districts in England, first plough very deep, and plant with some cleansing crop, and then manure with twenty-five or thirty loads of good barn-yard manure per acre. The land is then frequently sown with turnips, when sheep are folded upon it in the early part of winter; after which it is deeply trenched and thrown into ridges, to lie, during the rest of the winter, exposed to the frosts and air.

The trenching is done with the spade, two spits deep, in the most thorough manner; but a more economical method is by the trench plough, or by the Michigan sod and subsoil plough.

The hop is commonly propagated from cuttings, and sometimes by young plants grown from the seed. The cuttings may be taken fresh from the crown of the long roots, and planted directly in land previously prepared for them; or they may be rooted after the manner of layers, and then planted; or the fresh cuttings may be rooted in a bed, and transplanted from that to the place intended for them. Cuttings which have been rooted generally grow more rapidly and arrive at maturity earlier than fresh cuttings, which gives them an advantage.

When shoots are to be used as layers they may be twisted at the joint above which they are to be buried in soil, and bent down and fastened, and then covered up. This is usually done in a careless manner at the first hoeing, the loose, straggling vines being buried up without any particular regard to depth or neatness; and when the vines are covered in this manner, they are not long in taking root. As soon as they have taken root, they may be cut from the parent stalk and transplanted into the ground prepared for them, each slip being six or eight inches long, and having three or four eyes, or joints. When it is designed to treat the cuttings in the nursery bed, they are taken from the crown of the root or from the stalk of old plants at the time of dressing in spring, which will be hereaf ter mentioned, and allowed to remain in the bed till they are well rooted. The cuttings are made about eight inches long; and if they contain more than four buds or joints, they are trimmed. Care should be taken to allow only one male plant to a field, and it may be set by the side of the road at considerable distance from the field and left to take care of itself. This caution cannot be too strictly observed; for our hops have deteriorated from too much seeding, which has, arisen from allowing the male plants to increase. Some allow one male plant to fifty, and set it in the field with the rest. This is too much; for, where hops are over-seeded, they ripen prematurely, and turn brown so fast as not to give time to pick them in the proper state of maturity. If any male plants are allowed to

stand in the field, one hill to five acres is enough, and care should be taken to prevent them from multiplying.

ton.

The preliminary processes are well described in a letter from a hop grower of great experience in the town of Wilming"Deep, loamy soil," says he, " is the best for hops. Good corn land is always good hop land. To prepare land for hops, plough nine or ten inches deep; spread eight cords of manure to the acre; mix it with the soil by cross-ploughing; furrow or mark out the land the same as for corn; plant the hop roots in every other row and every other hill; this gives threefourths of the ground for corn or potatoes the first year. Hops have running roots, from one foot to three feet long, with joints or eyes to them. These roots are cut from the old hill every spring after they have been planted two years. The joints or eyes are two or three inches apart. These are the roots to plant; cut them so as to have three joints to a piece, and put three pieces to a hill. Cover them three inches deep. The first year they produce no hops. The second year the quantity and quality are likely to be as good as ever from the same field. Hops are commonly planted at a distance which gives eight hundred hills to the acre. They do not commonly receive, after being planted, more than two shovelfuls of manure to each hill. This makes about four cords to the acre. They are on poles from thirteen to twenty feet long. There are some farmers in the west part of our town who are making some improvements in growing hops. As I pass by their yards, I notice the poles are longer than they were in former years.

"In the early part of my life I lived with the largest hop grower then in Reading. After leaving him I raised hops for myself four years, and from experience I am satisfied that it is as easy with new white birch poles twenty-five feet long, instead of poles from thirteen to twenty feet long, and with eight cords of manure to the acre in the place of four cords, to raise from one thousand to sixteen hundred pounds to the acre, as to raise one-half that quantity with the short poles and small quantity of manure. The hoeing would be the same, and the picking would be less. The long pole, if it has ever so many hops on it, is always easier and quicker picked than the short pole. It is seldom we see first-rate hops growing on