CHAPTER V 



A Kentish Parish : Hop-gardens and Farming 



UT what charms you the-most in the foreground are 

 the hop-gardens for, next to our charts, our hops 

 are our speciality ; in fact, it is only the dispassionate 

 admirer of the picturesque who would be disposed, as 

 we say in Scotland, " to even the one to the other." 

 Unfortunately the days are gone by when the hop-grower 

 could make a fortune. When a heavy import duty 

 gave the home counties and Worcestershire a monopoly 

 of this speculative crop, a single happy hit put the 

 grower in clover for some seasons. It was by no means 

 his best time when a generally good year had been 

 raising prices all round. On the contrary, he drew his 

 prizes in the lottery when his garden was the exception 

 to almost universal failure, and then he would make his 

 own terms with the brewer. But now the English hops 

 have gone the way of the English wheat, and free 

 admission from South Germany and America depresses 

 the prices to a moderate level. Moreover, we have heard 

 it whispered that the keenness of competition has made 

 the brewers less scrupulous, and when hops are dear 



