CULTIVATION OF THE HOP. 



. d. 



Brought forward 26 13 4 



Estimated growth, 10 cwt. per acre per annum : 



Picking 500 



Drying, packing, &c. .. 3 10 



Duty .. 8 14 6 



53 



Total cost per annum 



43 17 10 



An entire plantation would not perhaps cost quite so much, 

 but the estimate is given, and seems to be pretty generally 

 accepted, as a " fair average." This estimate is framed on a 

 Weald of Kent plantation, and the cost of a plantation in 

 Mid Kent is confessedly higher, but then the Mid Kent hops 

 bring higher prices than those grown in the Weald. The 

 first year produces no crop, and that of the second is very 

 trifling, so that an idea of the hazard incurred in hop 

 growing looks rather startling. As a measure of the pre- 

 cariousness of the culture, I give, on the same authority, a 

 summary of the produce and money receipts of a hop plan- 

 tation in the Weald of Kent for ten years, from 1835 to 

 1844 ; during which time the price of the hops sold ranged 

 between 48s. and 150s. per cwt. 



