300 OA r THE PRICE OF HOPS. 



we have groups of two, three, four, and five consecutive 

 years of scarcity prices, and I conclude that at the end of the 

 period, as I have already said, the use of hops had become 

 general, and that the price represents the abundance or dearth 

 of an article in habitual demand. 



There is no evidence that the hops of particular districts or 

 of particular growths commanded higher prices than others 

 did. The experience which has discovered that different 

 soils or different kinds of culture develop more or less valuable 

 properties in the produce was as yet unacquired. 



The variations in the price of hops during the 1 20 years of 

 this enquiry may be compared with those given in the second 

 volume of Tooke's History of Prices, p. 404, where the same 

 facts of groups of dear and cheap years are exhibited. This list 

 is from 1782 to 1838 inclusive, is of Kent yearlings, and in- 

 cludes the duty, and the average is 131.?. 4\d-> a rate indicating 

 that, considering the change in the value of money and the 

 rise in rents, the price of this produce had not materially 

 increased, if indeed the cost of production had not been con- 

 siderably lessened, though in some of the years of Tooke's list 

 the price is more than double any that is registered before. 

 In this list, the rates from 1812 to 1818 inclusive strongly 

 resemble, for exceptionally high prices, those which ruled from 

 1694 to 1699 inclusive, after an interval of 118 years. 



The following tables are of the yearly averages of hops, of 

 the decennial averages, and of those derived from Houghton's 

 entries. 



