72 QUALITY AND KEEPING OF HOPS. STATISTICS OF 



or five times, and were rewarded for their perseverance with 

 a crop of from 4 to 5 cwt. per acre. Others took the chances 

 of the blight going away in time to allow the plants to 

 recover ; but in most cases recovery came too late, and the 

 bine had been too completely exhausted by its enemies to 

 make a fresh start when the showers arrived. 



" Though the rains came late, they were of infinite service 

 to the healthier part of the plantation, and added consider- 

 ably to the amount of its produce ; for even on the best soils, 

 upon the ragstone, of which it is said that the hop plants 

 there would not suffer in a summer quite without rain, there 

 were evident signs of flagging energies. Eain, however 

 plentiful and grateful, cannot make bine at the end of 

 August; all it did was to make the late bur grow out 

 into goodly hops, and to cause the hops that were developed 

 to become larger and better conditioned. There were great 

 complaints of blind bine, and of the tendency of the bur to 

 dry up and fall off, particularly in the Goldings, and the rains 

 came just soon enough to stop this generally. In Sussex the 

 rain increased the crop most materially, by causing every 

 blossom, every tiny- bur, to turn . into a fine sized hop. 

 Blight had vanished in East Sussex before the rain, and 

 the plants were in a fit state to derive all the advantages it 

 could give. 



" A much better crop has been grown in the whole of the 

 Eastern Division of the county than any thought possible in 

 the early part of August. Tons an acre have been grown 

 in a few lucky spots, and the average of this district was 

 about 7 cwt. per acre. The whole average for this county 

 was much reduced by the small quantity grown in the 



