PEEFACE. 



A LONG connetfcion with agricultural literature, and an ex- 

 tensive home and foreign and colonial correspondence with 

 cultivators and agricultural societies, have shown me how 

 rapidly hop culture is extending with the increased demand 

 for beer, and hence the necessity for some reliable manual 

 of ready reference, bringing down the practice and statistics 

 on this important product to the present time. 



Although I cannot hope to be able to afford much prac- 

 tical or novel information to the, experienced hop growers 

 of England, yet this attempt on my part to ccndense into 

 a reasonable compass a few useful hints and suggestions, 

 combined with the latest statistics of production and con- 

 sumption in various countries, may perhaps prove acceptable 

 in some distant quarters, and especially in our Australian 

 colonies. 



P. L. SIMMONDS. 



85, FINBOBOUGH ROAD, S.W. 



