104 YALE AGRICULTURAL LECTURES. 



that the observant traveller could but bring back a better 

 appreciation of the advantages possessed in his own land, and, 

 however far behind our English brethren we must now be 

 compelled in due candor to rank ourselves, if we were only 

 certain that we were in the right path, perhaps we might still 

 hope to overtake and outstrip them. He was inclined to be 

 lieve although there might be no statistics in support of such 

 a statement that a thorough English farmer, knowing our 

 climate, and understanding all the circumstances of farming 

 here as well as he does at home, could make agriculture here a 

 still more profitable pursuit than he made it there, of course 

 supposing that he employed the same capital, and used equal, 

 but no greater personal exertions. 



To-day Prof. BREWER lectured on Hops, which he said was 

 a crop of growing importance. In 1840 we raised 1,238,000 

 pounds; in 1850,4,497,000. He traced the history of the plant, 

 and showed that its general use can be dated only three hun 

 dred years back. England uses forty million pounds, paying 

 to the government a duty of over a million dollars. If only 

 the hop flowers are taken from the farm, the crop is not of so 

 exhaustive a nature as tobacco ; but still it is very much so, 

 after all. From a ton of hops we may get 170 pounds of ash, 

 of which potash, lime, and ammonia form principal ingredients. 

 Liberal applications of manure are needed, and they do not 

 affect the quality of the product, as is the case with tobacco. 

 Beside farm-yard dung, wool, hair, bones, plaster, lime, and 

 ashes, are all useful fertilizers. In England, the Kent and 

 Sussex hop-growers calculate upon spending about fifty dollars 

 per acre for special manures, in addition to what of the ordi 

 nary kind they make on the farm. With such care, they have 

 hop plantations three hundred years old. The ground must 

 be trenched and worked deeply. About 1,200 hills is the 

 proper number per acre, and for each two hundred hills there 

 should be one hill of male plants. It is better to plant in tri- 



