32 SYSTEMS OF CULTIVATION. 



are packed into sacks or pockets, and subjected to great pres- 

 sure, so as to prevent access of air, and their consequent 

 deterioration. 



Mr. John P. Smith, of Worcester, has published in the 

 * Journal of the Eoyal Agricultural Society,' vol. xxv. p. 52, 

 the following prize essay on the culture, which furnishes 

 much useful information : 



" The hop thrives best in moderately warm climates, and 

 this may account for Kent and Sussex, two of the most 

 southerly counties, being selected for its cultivation, and 

 producing a very large proportion of the annual yield of 

 the kingdom. Worcester and Hereford stand next in im- 

 portance, and yield about one-eleventh of the yearly average 

 growth. Farnham and its neighbourhood stand next as to 

 quantity. The district known as the North Clays, in Not- 

 tinghamshire, formerly grew a fair quantity of good hops, 

 but of late years the plantations have been much reduced ; 

 the same remark applies to the district around Stowmarket 

 in Suffolk, and also to the county of Essex. 



" A south-eastern aspect affords, in my opinion, the best 

 situation for a hop garden, and if it be well protected from 

 the west winds that prevail during the autumn, so much the 

 better, as great mischief is often done by wind. Due care 

 must be taken to adapt the planting to the peculiarities of the 

 soil. The Golding hop will be found to succeed best on dry 

 friable soil, with a gravelly or rocky subsoil, such as we find 

 in the hilly districts of Middle and East Kent, while Mathon, 

 White, and Grapes, prefer a stronger soil, approaching to 

 clay ; the former variety flourishes on the deep land in the 

 vale of the Teme, and the latter in the Weald of Kent and 



