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THE HOP CROP OF 1896. 



[March 1897. 



The average price obtained for English hops of all kinds and 

 qualities grown in 1S96, up to February 1st, 1897, is estimated 

 by good authorities at 64s. per cwt. In 1895 the average 

 price was estimated at 63s. per cwt. for the whole season, 

 compared with 55s. in 1894. 



At the average return of 64s. per cwt. for the 1896 crop, 

 the value of the average yield per acre as returned by the Board 

 of Agriculture would only be 26/. 15s., involving a serious loss to 

 hop planters generally." 



According to the estimates issued annually by Messrs. Barth 

 of Nuremberg, the hop crop of the world in 1896 amounted to 

 1,686,100 cwts., as compared with 2,050,853 cwts. in 1895, and 

 2,241,550 cwts. in the previous year. Each of these three crops 

 was considerably larger than the average of the previous ten 

 years, which appears to have been about 1,595,000 cwts. 

 Messrs. Barth put the annual consumption of hops in the world 

 at 1,605,800 cwts., and the annual average production of all the 

 hop -producing countries in the world during the last 13 years is 

 estimated by them at about 1,675,000 cwt. 



In all foreign countries, as in England, the prices of hops have 

 ruled very low. In Germany, Austria, and France, the range 

 has been between 10s. and 90s. per cwt. The average price, it 

 is considered, has not been higher than 40s., as such a large pro- 

 portion of the growth was of indifferent quality and materially 

 injured by the wet autumn. In Belgium the average price was 

 considerably lower. In America the quality of the crop, espe- 

 cially in the eastern states, was unsatisfactory, and prices have 

 been low, at from 18s. to 60s. per cwt. Very fine samples of New 

 York State hops, which were comparatively few, made rather 

 higher figures. 



A feature of the hop crop of 1896 has been the unusually 

 small proportion of fine coloured samples, and this, together with 

 the over-average quantity produced during the last three years, 

 has made the returns to growers generally of an unprofitable 

 nature. 



