HOP CULTURE IN AUSTRALASIA. 117 



industry in North Gippsland, a settler near Bairnsdale thus 

 speaks : 



' The writer has expended a large sum of money in hop 

 growing; soil and climate admirably adapted, but labour 

 scarce and dear at picking time. With cheap labour this 

 industry may be extended almost indefinitely in the valley 

 of the Mitcheft. Hop plants two years old produced last 

 year (1872) 11 cwt. to the acre, and upwards, within half a 

 mile of Bairnsdale." 



Did space allow, I could add the testimony of many other 

 growers of hops in Gippsland. A gentleman residing near 

 Ealey writes to say that he has 11 acres of hops, which will 

 be in full bearing this year, and look very promising. These 

 have since -yielded upwards of half a ton to the acre. The 

 only difficulty experienced in Gippsland was the picking and 

 drying ; but proper kilns have now been erected, and as pro- 

 perly cured colonial hops always fetch the highest prices, they 

 will admit for a time of a somewhat extra cost for picking. 



This twining perennial unisexual plant has been found to 

 yield enormously on river banks in Victoria, in rich soil, or 

 on fertile slopes where irrigation could be effected, particu- 

 larly so within the territory along the river valleys of Gipps- 

 land, and other similar localities. A pervious, especially 

 alluvial soil, fertile through manure or otherwise, appliances 

 for irrigation, natural or artificial, and also shelter against 

 storms, are some of the conditions for success in hop growth, 

 and under such conditions the rearing of hops will prove 

 thus far profitable in countries and localities of very different 

 mean temperature. A dry summer season is favourable to 

 the ripening and gathering of hops. On the Mitchell Kiver, 



