ceding four years they were miserably low, not averaging much more than eight cents."

A farmer, writing from Northfield, says there were thirty acres of hops raised in that town the past year, yielding on an average one thousand pounds per acre, worth forty cents a pound, amounting to $400 per acre; cost per acre in that town is estimated at $40. Some growers have realized as high even as $500 per acre. These estimates are far lower than the cost of raising hops in England, where rent of land, taxes, tithes, labor of cultivating, manures, &c., are much higher than here. The cost per acre there, up to the time of picking, is estimated at about $150; while the cost of picking, drying, baling, storage, cartage, &c., is estimated at about $175 more. The cost of the kiln is often, to the English grower, not less than from $1,000 to $1,500; while the cost of a kiln here is rarely more than $75, and often less than $50, built as described above. Our growers expect ordinarily about a pound to a hill. They often get one and a half or even two pounds to the hill, making from 800 to 1,200 pounds per acre. The general average yield in England is about seven hundred pounds per acre; though, owing to many controlling influences, as diseases and bad seasons, they sometimes fall far below, and sometimes obtain much larger crops. The average of many towns in Massachusetts is not over five or six hundred pounds; but, under good cultivation, crops of one thousand pounds are not uncommon. The original cost of a hop plantation may be set down at not less than $150 or $175 per acre, including all the fixtures, poles, kilns, &c.; and the annual cost after the first year, including manure and interest on the land, and labor of every kind, at from $50 to $100 per acre.

The average price of hops for the last fifty years was 14 cents per pound. During the past year "first sorts" sold as high as 45 cents per pound. The uncertainty of the foreign demand is so great as to cause fluctuations in price which cannot easily be calculated upon. This has deterred many from engag ing in the cultivation of a crop on which there is so little dependThe following table, giving the quantity of hops inspected in Massachusetts, will show these fluctuations for the last half century:

ence.

[A part of this table was published in the Transactions of the State Society of New Hampshire for 1853, and from that transferred to the Agricultural Report of the Patent Office for 1853, without giving Massachusetts the credit for it. The whole of that part, down to 1828, is due exclusively to Col. Jaques, with whom the table and the whole system originated. Col. Jaques inspected, while in office, 83,095 bags, weighing 17,646,567 pounds, and worth $2,380,660.06.]

The hops

Most of

This table shows the importance of this crop as an item of material wealth, and how fluctuating the prices are. inspected in Massachusetts are not all raised here. those grown in Maine and Vermont are brought here for inspection. An inspection law was passed in New Hampshire in 1819, though a part of the crop grown there has usually been inspected in Massachusetts. It will be seen that the average price for 1854 is stated at 26 cents per pound. Many of the first sort sold much higher than that. Of those inspected, there were 4,043 bags marked "first sort," and weighing 711,161 pounds; 401 bags marked "second sort," and weighing 71,526 pounds; 182 bags marked "refuse," and weighing 30,243 pounds.

The profit of raising hops in Massachusetts must depend somewhat upon the extent and permanence of the foreign demand; and it must be evident that both the foreign and domestic demand for Massachusetts hops must depend largely upon their quality, and especially upon the standard of inspection already alluded to. Let this standard be high, let it be known that the Massachusetts brand is the best and the most reliable in the country, and the market is safe. The brand is only prima facie evidence of the quality, it is true; and hence the grower should take pains to raise the "first-sort" hops, if he wishes to secure honestly the "first-sort" brand, and it is a short-sighted policy which would ask for it in any other

way.

Diseases. The hop, like most plants, has its diseases and its pests, in the shape of insects, which prey upon and essentially injure it. Among the chief diseases, besides those inflicted by insects, are the rust, the blight, and the mildew. No remedy is known against these, nor is the cause well known; but they are probably owing to influences of the atmosphere not as yet very well understood. The mouldy fen, or red fen, as it is often called, causes the leaves to turn brown, and, if not checked as soon as discovered, is apt to overrun the whole plantation. It has been known to visit the same ground for a succession of years when neglected at its first appearance. The means of guarding against it are, to keep the ground in good cultivation by frequent stirring, and to eradicate every

weed, and to manure well with manure from the pigsty. No well-understood remedy is known against the attacks of blight and mildew. They most frequently infect the hop in seasons when the days are hot and the nights dewless; and a frequent use of ashes is recommended as a remedy.

Besides the diseases which attack the hop, there are insects which infest it; and among others the ghost-moth, (Hepiolus humuli,) which lives in the root of the hop, and sometimes proves very destructive. A small green fly also infests the hop, and commits extensive depredations, sometimes even destroying much of the crop. This insect appears at the end of May, and in June. Syringing the field with tobacco water, soapsuds, &c., has sometimes been resorted to. I would suggest the use of quassia by way of experiment. This is the infusion of the bark and wood of the quassia tree, from the West Indies, of an exceedingly bitter taste. It may be obtained at most of the drug stores, and applied with the syringe with perfect safety and at small expense. A change of location once in eight or ten years seems to be the only remedy against the larvæ of some insects which attack the roots of this plant.

The hop has sometimes been called an exhausting crop. know of no valid reason for this opinion other than the supposition, that, as the vines are large and luxuriant, they must necessarily draw upon the energies of the soil. But when we consider how large a proportion of their nourishment all plants, and particularly all plants which spread out a large surface of leaves, draw from the atmosphere, this supposition seems to have little weight. Whether exhausting or not, it is certain that after a hop plantation is discontinued on one spot, which should ordinarily be at the end of about eight or ten years from the time of setting, grass succeeds better than after most other crops. Indeed, all crops grow with the greatest luxuriance after a hop crop, and the soil is by no means exhausted for the hop itself. The necessity for a change of location arises mainly from the fact that insects are most apt to infest old grounds; and were it not for this reason, hops might be cultivated many years in succession on the same land. It is the practice of one of the largest growers with whom I am ac

quainted to change the location of his hop plantation every eight years; and he assures me that a plantation seeded down after the roots are removed will bear the stoutest grass for twelve years in succession, at the end of which time he cultivates it in hops again.

The constituents which are taken from the soil may be seen by the following analysis of the ash of the hop vine, including the blossom:

The ashes of the dried hops alone, which amount to onetenth of the whole weight, contain the following constituents, in the percentage attached to each:

It is safe to say that hops could be cultivated fifty years in succession, and still leave the land in good heart. It has been for many years one of the most profitable crops, on the whole,