CULTURE AND PRODUCTION 



are planted to any extent are Sussex,"* 

 Hants, and Surrey. 



The number of acres devoted to the cultivation of hops has 

 long been steadily on the increase since 1693, when they 

 were first successfully cultivated in Kent. The Kev. J, 

 Wilkinson, in the ' Journal of the Koyal Agricultural So- 

 ciety/ states, but I know not on what authority, that hops 

 were grown in Kent as early as 1464, but did not come into 

 popular use for more than a century. Indeed the accept- 

 ability of our bitter beer is a modern and acquired taste. 

 The Koyal Brewer of Eltham was enjoined (temp. Henry VII.) 

 to put neither brimstone nor hops into the ale. 



It is perhaps worth the consideration of farmers in some 

 counties where hop planting has not hitherto been intro- 

 duced, whether it ought not to be tried. The opinion of a 

 geologist, Mr. W. Topley, has been published to the effect 

 that " everywhere below the chalk escarpment hops might 

 probably be cultivated with great success, and the Yale of 

 Pewsey, for instance, would seem especially suited for them." 



In 1807 it was found that the hop grounds throughout 

 England amounted to 38,218 acres ; this gradually increased 

 till 1819, when it reached 51,000 acres; there was then a 

 slight annual retrogression till 1826, when it reached again 

 50,471 acres; then ensued a check until 1834, when the 

 tide turned once more ; and in 1837 the maximum of the 

 period was reached of 56,323 acres. The same gradual pro- 

 gression and retrogression is noticeable in subsequent years, 

 but in the last nine or ten years the increase has been steady. 



The following table gives the acreage under hops officially 

 returned, and the produce per acre, as far as can be ascer- 



