98 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



that old or refuse hops were often found mixed up with good 

 ones. No proper distinction was made between the different 

 qualities. Vexatious lawsuits would sometimes occur, and 

 the price of the best hops was naturally lower than it other- 

 wise would have been. To remedy these evils, the Legislature of 

 Massachusetts created the office of Inspector General of Hops 

 in the year 1806. This was the first movement of the kind in 

 this country, and, so far as I know, the first provision for an in- 

 spection in the world. Col. Jaques was appointed inspector. 

 The office being new, there were no precedents for classifying 

 hops, and some system was to be adopted. But some hop 

 dealers and some hop growers were opposed to a high stan- 

 dard of inspection, and the inspector met, of course, with many 

 difficulties. It is but justice to him to say, that, by the con- 

 scientious use of his "first sort" brand, Massachusetts for 

 many years monopolized the trade in hops, for the character 

 of our hops became the best in the United States. His sys- 

 tem was complete, and the growers were soon brought to im- 

 prove their hops, in order to bring them up to a high standard 

 of perfection. Those who sent orders from Europe to agents 

 in this country required their hops to be inspected in many 

 cases in Massachusetts, and Col. Jaques' brand generally com- 

 manded a cent or two on a pound more than that of any other 

 State. 



It was the pride of Col. Jaques that no bale marked as " first 

 sort " ever failed to prove so, and it was this high standard that 

 gained for the Massachusetts crop an enviable reputation both 

 at home and abroad, and there is no other means of securing 

 any permanent annual foreign demand ; while, the moment the 

 standard is lowered, the moment the dealers find bale after 

 bale branded as " first sort " when they should have been 

 " second," or branded " second sort " when they should have been 

 " refuse," they begin to look with distrust upon the whole. It 

 is, on the whole, for the interest, both of the grower and the 

 dealer, to maintain the highest standard of perfection, and 

 that the truth should be stamped on every bale. 



The Legislature, in 1816, passed a law requiring all in- 

 spectors to make annual returns to the office of the Secretary 

 of State. But Col. Jaques, from the beginning, foresaw the 



