250 



THE HOP. 



per 100, usually $1.25. Poles or trellis cost $50 to $100 per 

 acre. Thus the cost to get ready a new hop yard in England 

 will vary from $150 to $275 per acre. The kiln for 20 acres 

 costs about $2500, or, say, $100 an acre. After this invest- 

 ment, the following table affords a fair range of the yearly 

 expense over a large part of the English acreage, being larger 

 or smaller according to circumstances. 



ENGLAND AVERAGE YEARLY EXPENSE PER ACRE OF HOPS.* 



*The sterling is figured at $5, the shilling at 25 cents, the penny 

 at two cents. 



Thus we get an annual charge per acre of $188 as one 

 extreme, down to $115 as the lowest, or an average of $152 

 for yards kept up in good condition; against about $112 

 estimated by Marshall just a century earlier, about $120 by 

 Mainwaring's figures in 1855, and Worcester planters' esti- 

 mate in 1890 of $145 to $170 per acre for a good crop. 



A Annual cost per acre of hop culture in an East Kent yard, three 

 pole system and simplest methods still largely followed. ' 



Stripping vines and stacking poles $ 1.25 



Annual icnewal of poles .... 25.00 



Stable manure, also carting and spreading it 15.00 



Digging $5, cutting $1.25, poling $3, tying $3 12.25 



Digging about hills $1.25, shimming and harrowing $5 6.25 



Picking $25, digging $10, pockets $6.25 41.25 



Rent, rates, tithes $20, sundries $6.25 26.25 



Total cost for average yield of 7 cwt. per acre $127.25 



Average cost of hops per pound 16c 



B Annual cost per acre of hop culture in Mr. J. D. Maxted's yard, 

 East Kent, on the Butcher wire trellis and highest culture by meth- 

 ods employed by the most enterprising planters in England. 

 Manures 12 loads of dung $15, 10 cwt. of artificial fertilizer 



$10, 5 cwt. gypsum $1.43 $26.43 



Team labor Carting out dung $4, plowing $2, twice 3-horse 

 shimming $3, thrice 2-horse ditto $2.62, twice 1-horse harrow 



50c. cartage on fertilizer 28c 12.30 



Manual labor Spreading dung 37c, digging slips three times 

 $7.50, cutting $1.25, stringing $2.50, cutting off old vines $1, 

 training $7.50, repairs to wire work and lews $1.50, digging 



round 50c. ...,..,..,,, , 22.52 



