ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE. 85 



OTHER GERMAN STATES. Hops in former times were 

 grown in Brandenbourg, Pomerania, Saxony, and Silesia, but 

 of late years the culture has been greatly extended, prin- 

 cipally in Neu Tomysl (province of Posen), where hops have 

 been grown since the seventeenth century, but then only 

 in small quantity. Now the annual crop is large, the 

 quality equal to*the hops of Bohemia and Bavaria, and the 

 districts which participate in this culture enjoy a degree of 

 independence formerly unknown, for an average crop repre- 

 sents a capital of one million and a half thalers, or nearly 

 a quarter of a million sterling. In the province of Posen 

 the land under culture with hops is upwards of 6000 acres, 

 and continues to progress. The other provinces only grow 

 enough for ^home consumption, in the manufacture of 

 common beer, Posen alone exporting largely to foreign 

 countries. The quantity of hops annually produced in 

 Posen is estimated at 40,000 or 50,000 cwt. 



The improved culture of hops and the commerce in this 

 product, which is now carried on at Neu Tomysl (province 

 of Posen), and its neighbourhood, dates from 1838. At that 

 period there was only grown about 300 cwt. of hops of 

 an inferior quality, now a good crop yields 40,000 cwt. 

 In 1860, when the crop only yielded 20,000 c\vt., the 

 receipts were 2,200,000 thalers; in 1867 the crop was 

 40,000 cwt. 



The growth of hops is almost the sole means of existence 

 of a population of about 10,000 souls, and has brought ease 

 and comfort to the country, otherwise poor. The sale is for 

 the most part made to the hop dealers of Bavaria and 

 Bohemia. 



