Breeding Stock for Argentina. 



99 



The Board have received information through the Foreign 



Office that a petition was recently pre 



*?° p Ji 1 f^. t 0 ry sented to the Bavarian Minister of the 

 in Bavaria. 



Interior by persons engaged in the hop 

 industry, advocating a large increase in the import duty on 

 hops, and also the prohibition of the mixing of Bavarian 

 with other hops. These proposals were referred to the 

 Chamber of Commerce for Middle Franconia, the chief hop 

 district of the country. The latter body opposes both 

 suggestions, on the ground that Germany produced, on the 

 average of the past four years, 500,000 cwts. of hops, and 

 that only some 350,000 cwts. were required to produce the 

 1,300,000,000 gallons of beer annually made in Germany, so 

 that there was an annual surplus of about 150,000 cwts. 

 Moreover, the addition of fine Bohemian hops is held to be 

 indispensable for the brewing of the mild Munich beers, as 

 well as for the light beers of the Pilsener brand. A strong 

 objection made by the Chamber to the suggested prohibition 

 of the mixing of Bavarian with other hops is that one-third of 

 the Bavarian crop consists of so-called " export hops/' which, 

 in order to find a market, have to be mixed with finer sorts 

 from Baden, Wurtemburg, and Alsace. The Bavarian crop 

 averages about 250,000 cwts., or approximately half the 

 total yield of Germany. 



In his Report on the Argentine Republic for the year 

 1898, Mr. Consul Laing, in speaking of 



for° A?fentin C a* the great strides ™ hich have been and 

 are being made in the improvement of 



the stock raised in Argentina, says stock breeders in Great 



Britain will do well to keep up the quality of the animals 



they export to that country, as fine animals are being raised 



on many of the farms, which are in some cases as good as the 



imported animals. For some time to come Argentina will 



be a good market for breeders of fine cattle and sheep, 



especially the latter, and great care should therefore betaken 



in selecting really fine animals if English breeders wish to 



maintain their name in the market. 



(Foreign Office Report, Annual Series, No. 2219. Price 2d.) 



G 2 



