' SECRETARY'S REPORT. 99 



want of more accurate and reliable statistics of all our staple 

 products, and, as early as 1806, adopted a system by which, 

 when these returns were required by law, he was enabled to 

 present them from the first year of his inspection, and by 

 these he could tell how many bags of hops were raised in 

 the State, by whom raised, and in what town, to whom sold, 

 the weight and the quality of each bag, the price, etc. In these 

 returns we have more perfect statistics of this crop for the 

 last half century than any other State in the Union. These 

 returns will be referred to in speaking of the cost and profits 

 of this crop. 



Col. Jaques resigned the office of Inspector of Hops in 1842. 

 The crop ia Massachusetts, in 1840, was returned as 237,941 

 pounds, estimated to be worth to the growers no less than 

 $71,382.30. From that time the prices fell, till only 150,655 

 pounds were reported in the official returns of 1850, valued at 

 $37,663.75. The.average price per pound, in 1847, was but 6f 

 cents; and in 1848, but 7 cents. Among the reasons for theso 

 low prices was the fact that the quality of Massachusetts hops 

 had somewhat depreciated, and consequently their reputation 

 was greatly injured. The cause of the depreciation in quality 

 will be alluded to hereafter. 



Location. — The land designed for a hop plantation should be 

 as free from exposure to the winds as possible, since at cer- 

 tain seasons it is liable to be greatly injured. Level ground 

 is better than a hillside. 



The hop is said by some to flourish best in a moist climate. 

 The finest varieties are cultivated to the highest degree of per- 

 fection in England, the climate of which we have already al- 

 luded to in a former part of this Report. An English writer 

 affirms that the north of England and Scotland are too cold 

 for the successful cultivation of these varieties of the hop, and 

 suggests that if it is at all attempted on a large scale, or in 

 field culture, the coarse, hardy Flemish rcclbine be used. The 

 latitude of Edinburgh is 55° 57', that of Boston 42° 21'. 

 The mean annual temperature of the former is 47°. 1 F., that 

 of the latter 48°.9 — showing but a slight difference. But a 

 comparison of the mean spring and summer heat of the two 

 places shows a very marked difference. Our winters are far 



