EXTENT OF CULTIVATION. 351 



The cultivation of hops is, like that of all our other 

 vegetable produce, influenced mainly by the relations 

 between demand and supply; a few favourable and pro- 

 ductive seasons, by lowering the market price, reduce for 

 the time the number of acres under cultivation, which are 

 again increased as soon as any circumstances restore the 

 market value to a remunerative amount. The govern- 

 ment return for the last year (1859) shows that the total 

 number of acres of land under hop cultivation was 45,665, 

 of which 9476 were in the Canterbury collection, 1975 

 acres in the Hampshire collection, 371 9J acres in the 

 Hereford, 1300 acres in the Isle of Wight, 17,530 acres 

 in the Rochester, 1224^ acres in the Stourbridge, and 

 8942^ acres in the Sussex collection. The gross revenue 

 returns of duty on the hops, the produce of this area, were 

 as follows: 



Districts. s. d. 



Barnstaple, 44 11 Of 



Cornwall, 1 9| 



Canterbury, 124,528 14 6| 



Essex, 1,032 104 



Gloucester, 23 2 104 



Grantham, 24 6 If 



Hampshire, 22,014 16 2| 



Hereford, 35,019 2 64 



Isle of Wight 15,816 8 



Lincoln, 137 8 



Lynn, 20 10 2| 



Northampton, 40 12 



Nottingham, 72 11 5| 



Districts. s. d. 



Oxford, 23 19 34 



Heading, 197 7 3 



Rochester, 253,211 4 2| 



Sheffield, 747 6 If 



Stourbridge, 7,486 9J 



Suffolk, 1,268 6 



Surrey, 571 1 2 



Sussex, 126,940 13 2^ 



Wales, 71 2 2f 



Ware, 82 13 2^ 



Worcester, 9,709 3 



Total, 599,083 



This large amount was made up by the 



Old duty at 1 ^|d per Ib. =328,070 2 

 New duty at f 2 8 s d. per Ib. = 242,48612 

 Additional duty of 5 per cent. = 28,526 11 



599,083 6 8 



At the present time, the principal hop-growing districts 

 are in the counties of Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, 

 Worcestershire, and Herefordshire, and to a more limited 

 extent in Essex, Suffolk, Nottinghamshire, and Stafford- 



