504 



Manuring of Hops. 



The yield in each year, together with the rainfall, was as 

 follows :— 



Fuggles Hops, 1896-1902. 





Weight of Kiln- dried Hops per Acre. 



Plot. 





1897. 













Average 







1896. 



1898. 



1899. 



1900. 



1901. 



1902. 



of seven 



1903. 





















years. 







Cwt. 



Cwt. 



Cwt. 



Cwt. 



Cwt. 



Cwt. 



Cwt. 



Cwt. 



Cwt. 



A 



13* 



7h 



H 



20^ 



8 



191 



I2| 



I2| 



9l 



B 





9k 



ioj 



22^ 



9l 



23! 



Hi 



isi 



12 



C 



m 



12 



I2§ 



23 



1 1 



25 



I5l 





& 



D 





13 



13 



22j 



io| 



24i 



?5i 



i6i 



I2 4 



E 



15 





i5t 



23* 



11 



251 



i6i 



171 





F 



i5t 



13 



15 



241 



io| 



25 



i'si 



17 





X 



13 



8 



91 





1 of 





16 



i.Si 



131 





In. 



In. 



In. 



In. 



In. 



In. 



In. 



In. 





Total Rain- 





















fall 



24.19 



23.05 



18.25 



24.64 



26.60 



20.26 



21.44 



22.63 





Rainfall— 

















Jan.-Sept. 



15-72 



18.12 



IO.73 



16.89 



18.80 



13.26 



15.60 



15-59 





In the earlier years, no critical examination was made as to 

 the comparative quality of the hops from the several plots ; but 

 in and since 1898 they have been submitted to chemical 

 examination and also to examination by market experts, the 

 latter affixing a price to the samples according to what they 

 would be worth if placed on the market at the time they were 

 sent in. The chemist's valuation, which would tend to represent 

 the value to the brewer, was higher than that of the merchants, 

 who quoted a price " to the grower." The pecuniary results 

 are shown in the next table, the merchants' valuation, as the 

 most important to the farmer, being quoted. 



On the whole, the most profitable results, from the farmers' 

 point of view, have been produced on Plot E, i.e., by 8 cwt. of 

 nitrate of soda per acre. So large a dressing as this would not, 

 however, be given where dung and other miscellaneous nitro- 

 genous fertilisers are used from time to time. 



Dr. Dyer quotes also the results of similar experiments 

 conducted in 1900-2 at twenty-one hop plantations in Germany, 

 under the auspices of the German Hop Growers' Society, in 



