CULTIVATION. 263 



1. The total crop in any one year, i.e., the ratio between 

 supply and demand. 



2. The quality of the produce — frequently the subject of 

 biassed judgment. 



3. The available old stock. 



The demand for hops can be fairly estimated from the 

 annual consumption of beer. If crop prospects are bad, 

 it is evident that all the brewers will endeavour to cover 

 their requirements as soon as possible ; hence, when the 

 crop is a failure, this circumstance, in conjunction with 

 the anxiety of the brewers, causes prices to rise to an 

 unusual degree, and it has often happened that growers 

 have made more money out of a poor crop than from 

 average or full crops in other years. 



The wide fluctuations in hop prices can be seen from 

 the following quotations : in 1876 Saaz hops sold at £32 to 

 £37 10s. per cwt., whilst in 1897 they did not fetch more 

 than £10 10s. to £11 per cwt., and poorer sorts made 

 only £8 16s. to £9 16s. per cwt. The price of one and 

 the same quality of hops may, however, vary considerably, 

 not only from one year to another, but also at different 

 times in the same year, especially when the forecasts of 

 the world's hop crop prove on verification to have been 

 unreliable. If, by accident or design, the estimate has 

 been too low, prices will have a tendency to fall. Sellers 

 who are able to dispose of their hops at the beginning of 

 the buying season will rarely have to complain of bad 

 prices ; whereas waiting in such years is often attended 

 with bitter disappointment. 



In any event, waiting to sell has little to recommend 

 it, prices being generally better in the early part of the 

 season than later ,on. Only on rare occasions are these 

 conditions reversed, as happens when the crop has been 

 over-estimated, or when bad weather or other adverse 



