^60 



THE HOP. 



per 100, usually $1.25. Poles or trellis cost |50 to flOO per 

 acre. Thus the cost to get ready a new hop yard in England 

 will vary from $150 to $275 per acre. The kiln for 20 acres 

 costs about $2500, or, say, $100 an acre. After this invest- 

 ment, the following table affords a fair range of the yearly 

 expense over a large part of the English acreage, being larger 

 or smaller according to circumstances. 



ENGLAND— AVERAGE YEARLY EXPENSE PER ACRE OF HOPS.* 



Manure 



Diggin g 



Dressing or cutting 



Poling, tying, training, lewing 



Cultivating and hoeing 



Stacking, stripping, cleaning up yards . ... 



Annual renewal of poles or trellis 



Picking, curing, packing, sampling, etc... 



Rent, taxes, repairs, interest, etc 



Sulphuring to i)revent mildew 



Spraying against lice, etc 



Total 



Lbs. per acre under favorable conditions . 

 Cost per pound, say 



*The £ sterling is figured at $5, the shilling at 25 cents, the penny 

 at two cents. 



Thus we get an annual charge per acre of $188 as one 

 extreme, down to $115 as the lowest, or an average of $152 

 for yards kept up in good condition; against about $112 

 estimated by Marshall just a century earlier, about $120 by 

 Mainwaring's figures in 1855, and Worcester planters' esti- 

 mate in 1890 of $145 to $170 per acre for a good crop. 



A— Annual cost per acre of hop culture in an East Kent yard, three 

 pole system and simplest methods still largely followed. 



Stripping vines and stn eking poles $ 1.25 



Annual reiiewal of poles 25.00 



Stable manure, also carting and spreading it 15.00 



Digging $5, cuttinc .$1.25, poling $3, tying $3 12.25 



Digging about hills $1.25, shimming and harrowing $5 6.25 



Picking $25, digging $10, pockets $6.25 41.25 



Rent, rates, tithes $20, sundries $6.25 26.25 



Total cost for average yield of 7 cwt. per acre $127.25 



Average cost of hops per pound 16c 



B— Annual cost per acre of hop culture in Mr. J. D. Maxted's vnrd, 



East Kent, on the Butcher wire trellis and highest culture bv meth- 

 ods employed by the most enterprising planters in England'. 

 Manures— 12 loads of dung $1.5, 10 cwt. of artificial fertilizer 



$10, 5 cwt. gypsum $1.43 $26.43 



Team lal)or— Carting out dung $4, plowing $2, twice .3-horse 

 shimming $3, thrice 2-horse ditto $2.62, twice 1-horse harrow 



50c. cartage on fertilizer 28c 12.30 



Manual labor— Spreading dung 37c, digging slips three times 

 $7.50, cutting $1.25, stringing $2.50, cutting off old vines $1, 

 training $7.50, repairs to wire work and lews $1.50, digging 



rpund 50c , , , , 22.52 



