36 



Last year, two bales of New York grown hops were sent to London as a sample ; a committee 

 of brewers was appointed to examine them, and they arrived at the conclusion that these hops were 

 fifty per cent, stronger in aroma than those of England. The committee waited on Sir Robert 

 Peel, with this conclusion, and in the new tariff a decrease of the duty to just one half, or £2 5s, 

 per 112 lbs. is proposed. A reduction of the duty has been advocated in England, for a long time, on 

 the ground that a diminution in the cost of hops would induce the brewers to use nothing else in 

 their malting ; but the protective agricultural interests have, as yet, proved too strong for the manu- 

 facturers. It is believed that, with the proposed reduction of duty in England, this article will become 

 one of the principal articles of export from this State ; indeed, farmers in this State have, in anticipa- 

 tion of it, already laid out grounds enough to increase the export thirty-three per cent, within two 

 years. The average product, per acre, in England, according to the London Mark Lane Express, is, 

 for the last twenty years, less than 500 pounds per acre, while the average of the American harvest 

 is 1400 pounds per acre. 



The average value of hops in tliis market, for a series of years, is 16 cents per pound. They 

 can now be reared at a cost of 8 cents per pound. The whole cost of raising 112 pounds would be 

 $8 96, to which add, for the purposed duty, say $10 89, for freight $2 50, and all other charges $3, 

 making, in all, at the utmost, $22 85 as the cost, landed in London. The average price of English 

 hops is 44 cents per pound, making the cost of 112 pounds $48 25 ; equal to more than twice what 

 it would cOst us to land in London an article, which, according to the London brewers, is 50 per 

 cent, superior in strength of aroma, leaving a margin of $25.40 per 112 pounds, for profit. If the 

 English tariff is modified, as proposed, here is a great and most profitable market opened to our agri- 

 culturalists, and one which, from their well-known enterprize, they will bo ready to occupy. 



In 1845, 12,000 bales were reared in the United States, and from yards set out this year there 

 will be an increase, to about 15,000 to 18,000 bales. The hops of New York, it has already been 

 said, are the best. They are now worth 25 cts. per pound in market ; those of New England stand 

 next, and bring 20 cts. Those of the West are the poorest, being deficient in the lupulin, or flower, 

 the most essential property of the plant. The dry, hot weather of New York is more favorable to the 

 process of curing, upon which greatly depends the superiority of the crop. 



The hop is a soporific, and pillows have been made of them to produce sleep. In Spring, 

 the young shoots are eaten as asparagus ; in Sweden, the vines are made into cloth, and a decoc- 

 tion of the roots are accounted a good sudorific. The Baron Von Speck says that sheep and 

 horned cattle, when they become accustomed, will greedily eat the leaves, and during the hop-haiwest 



