SECRETARY'S REPORT. 113 



ceding four years they were miserably low, not averaging much 

 more than eight cents." 



A farmer, writing from Northficld, says there were thirty 

 acres of hops raised in that town the past year, yielding on an 

 average one thousand pounds per acre, worth forty cents a 

 pound, amounting to $400 per acre ; cost per acre in that town 

 is estimated at $40. Some growers have realized as high even 

 as $500 per acre. These estimates are far lower than the cost 

 of raising hops in England, where rent of land, taxes, tithes, 

 labor of cultivating, manures, <fcc, arc much higher than here. 

 The cost per acre there, up to the time of picking, is estimated 

 at about $150 ; while the cost of picking, drying, baling, storage, 

 cartage, etc., is estimated at about $175 more. The cost of 

 the kiln is often, to the English grower, not less than from 

 $1,000 to $1,500; while the cost of a kiln here is rarely more 

 than $75, and often less than $50, built as described above. 

 Our growers expect ordinarily about a pound to a hill. They 

 often get one and a half or even two pounds to the hill, 

 making from 800 to 1,200 pounds per acre. The general 

 average yield in England is about seven hundred pounds 

 per acre ; though, owing to many controlling influences, as 

 diseases and bad seasons, they sometimes fall far below, 

 and sometimes obtain much larger crops. The average of 

 many towns in Massachusetts is not over five or six hundred 

 pounds; but, under good cultivation, crops of one thousand 

 pounds are not uncommon. The original cost of a hop plan- 

 tation may bo set down at not less than $150 or $175 per 

 acre, including all the fixtures, poles, kilns, &c. ; and the annual 

 cost after the first year, including manure and interest on the 

 land, and labor of every kind, at from $50 to $100 per acre. 



The average price of hops for the last fifty years was 14* 

 cents per pound. During the past year " first sorts " sold as 

 high as 45 cents per pound. The uncertainty of the foreign de- 

 mand is so great as to cause fluctuations in price which cannot 

 easily be calculated upon. This has deterred many from engag- 

 ing in the cultivation of a crop on which there is so little depend- 

 ence. The following table, giving the quantity of hops inspect- 

 ed in Massachusetts, will show these fluctuations for the last 

 half century : — 



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