286 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



adds that &quot; grass seeds, in general, are most vigorous at three 

 quarters of an inch deep, with the exception of cock s-foot, rib 

 grass, and red clover.&quot; He would recommend, he says, to all 

 who wish to avoid disappointment, to prove all their grass, 

 clover, and turnip seed, before using, by sowing a small weight 

 in a pot, and placing it in a warm situation, and counting the 

 plants which come up ; and they will find that a bushel of rye 

 grass seed, weighing twenty-eight or thirty pounds, may be 

 cheaper than one weighing eighteen or twenty pounds, though 

 the price be considerably more. 



26. HOPS. The next great article of cultivation to which I 

 shall refer is- that of hops. In 1804, the extent of ground de 

 voted to the cultivation of hops amounted to thirty-five thousand 

 acres and it is at the present time supposed to have greatly 

 increased. In the county of Kent, which is the part of England 

 in which the hop is most extensively cultivated, said, indeed, to 

 embrace half the land in hops in the kingdom, the number of 

 acres exceeded twenty- two thousand. From the immense quan 

 tities of beer consumed in England, it is obvious that the de 

 mand for hops and barley must be very great. Hops are used in 

 beer for two purposes ; first, to correct the excessive sweetness of 

 the malt, and to give it a pleasant flavor ; and second to preserve 

 it sound. 



The hop cultivation is managed with great skill in Kent, and 

 in parts of Surrey, where I have had the pleasure of seeing it in 

 its perfection. One individual had one hundred and fifty acres 

 in hops. The ground for hops should be a rich and mellow 

 soil ; and, in general, the farmers are of opinion, that, in order 

 to produce the best quality of hops, the substratum of the soil 

 should be calcareous. That the plant requires a deep culture is 

 evident from the roots having been traced to a distance of twenty 

 feet. The land requires to be trench-ploughed, or spaded to the 

 depth of two spits. The former mode is the least expensive 

 at first ; the latter mode will prove the most eligible in the end. 

 The ground, indeed, should be subjected to the best garden cul 

 tivation. 



The hills are to be marked out in right lines, at a distance of 

 six or eight feet apart. The spot which is to receive the plants 

 should be rendered as mellow and rich as may be, by careful 



