262 
Hop Cultivation . 
for profit, though some growers do far better than others in the 
same seasons, and in their turn they fare worse. 
Prices of hops also vary according to the district in which 
they are grown, and their variety. Generally East Kents 
make from 15s. to 25s. per cwt. more than Mid Kents, which 
are worth from 10s. to 1Z. per cwt. more than Weald of Kent 
and Sussex hops. Hants and Surrey hops range in value 
between East and Mid Kents, and Worcester and Hereford 
growths, as a rule, rank with the latter of these in price. 
Chakles Whitehead. 
THE PROGRESS OF LEGISLATION 
AGAINST CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF 
LIVE STOCK. 
I. 
The losses which have been sustained through the ravages of 
imported diseases amongst the flocks and herds of the United 
Kingdom since the first outbreak of that very infectious and 
contagious disorder popularly termed “ foot-and-mouth disease ” 
until the present day cannot be estimated, inasmuch as no 
complete records were obtained until after the Contagious 
Diseases (Animals) Act of 1878 came into operation. That 
they amount in the aggregate to hundreds of millions sterling 
is beyond question. Ruinous as these losses were to stock 
owners, and seriously as the cost of meat to the consumers was 
enhanced by the repeated and severe outbreaks of disease, no 
attempt was made by the Legislature to deal with the latter 
until after the visitation of cattle plague in 1865, and then only 
by half-hearted measures, the outbreaks being represented to 
be spontaneous and the tracing of their origin being not even 
troubled about. 
Of these disorders, foot-and-mouth disease was the forerunner, 
and imposed far greater losses upon the country than all the 
other diseases combined. As, however, it was not so fatal as 
other disorders, it was not seriously considered, and was even 
treated with levity by some agricultural writers. 
It is noteworthy that its first outbreak occurred in the year 
of the establishment of the Royal Agricultural Society of 
England ; and in the Appendix to the first volume of the Society’s 
