88 KITCHEN-GARDENING. 



YIELD PER ACRE. 



" The produce of no crop is so liable to variation as that of 

 the Hop. In good seasons an acre will produce 20 cwt., but 

 from 10 to 12 cwt. is considered a tolerable average crop. The 

 quality of Hops is estimated by the abundance or scarcity of 

 an unctuous clammy powder which adheres to them, and by 

 their bright-yellow color. The expenses of forming a Hop 

 plantation are considerable ; but once in bearing, it will con- 

 tinue so for ten or fifteen years before it requires to be renewed. 

 The Hop is peculiarly liable to diseases ; when young it is 

 devoured by fleas of different kinds ; at a more advanced stage, 

 it is attacked by the green fly, red spider, and ottermoth, the 

 larvae of which prey even upon their roots. The honey-dew 

 often materially injures the Hop crop ; and the mould, the fire- 

 blast, and other blights, injure it at different times towards the 

 latter period of the growth of the plant." 



The Hop is considered somewhat precarious ; but when the 

 season is good, the profit is very great. The average product 

 may be stated at 700 Ibs., though it has reached 1600 Ibs. to 

 the acre ; and in the latter case the expenses amounted to 

 sixty dollars. The ordinary, or average price, may be stated 

 at eighteen cents per pound. The profits on an ordinary crop, 

 according to these assumed data, would be about seventy dol- 

 lars to the acre. It often falls materially short of this, how- 

 ever, from the want of knowledge and care in gathering and 

 drying the crop. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. 



The young shoots of both wild and cultivated Hops are con- 

 sidered by some as very wholesome, and are frequently gather- 

 ed in the spring, boiled, and eaten as Asparagus. The stalks 

 and leaves will dye wool yellow. From the stalk a strong 

 cloth is made in Sweden ; and the mode of preparing it is 

 described by Linnaeus in his Flora Suecica. A decoction of 

 the roots is said to be as good a sudorific as Sarsaparilla ; and 



