AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
68 
HOP GROWING-. 
(Continued from page 53.) 
Baling , or Bagging. —As soon as the 
hops have become a little softened by moist¬ 
ure acquired by lying from twelve to twen¬ 
ty days in the heap, the process of bagging 
commences. The bales used here ordinari 
ly contain about two hundred pounds. The 
great object in baling is to press the hops as 
closely as possible, to prevent the escape of 
the fragrance. The hops keep better for 
being well and closely pressed ; and for this 
reason screws are always used—sometimes 
in presses made for the purpose, at others 
in the press of a cider mill. 
The mode of baling, which was first used 
and suggested by Col. Jaques, and now uni¬ 
versally adopted by the best growers in this 
State, is thus: One-half of the baling cloth 
is laid down upon the floor, and a large 
square box placed upon it. The hops are 
now put into the box, and trodden down till 
it is full. The screws are now applied ; af¬ 
ter which they may be raised, if necessary, 
and more hops put in to fill up. The other 
half of the cloth is now put over the top, in 
the same manner as the first cloth was laid 
to cover the lower part of the bale. The 
screws are applied till the pressure is suffi¬ 
cient, when the sides of the box, which are 
movable, are taken away; the bale being 
still under the screws, the two cloths are 
brought together and sewed as tight as con¬ 
venient to do it. After the sewing is com¬ 
pleted the screws may be raised, and the bale 
is finished. 
The process of baling among the hop grow¬ 
ers in some parts of England is still similar 
to the mode of baling here previous to the 
use of screws, though in some instances they 
have adopted the hydraulic presses. “ A 
circular hole, covered by a trap door, and 
sufficiently large to admit the mouth of a 
hop bag, is made in the floor of the storage 
room. A few hops are tied tight in the lower 
corners of the bag, in order that, when full, 
they may be lifted and removed with ease. 
A hoop, rather larger than the circumference 
of the hole, is used to stretch out the bag, 
by means of hooks on the outer side of it— 
the inner side of the hoop, when the bag is 
letdown into the hole, either resting on the 
floor, or on a frame of wood made over it. 
When the bag is thus stretched out and let 
into the opening, the feeder throws down a 
few shovelfuls,and the ‘ bagster,’ descending 
into the bag, with flat shoes or leather socks 
on his feet, treads the hops regularly and 
carefully down, especially toward the sides. 
More hops are then thrown down, and close¬ 
ly pressed, until the bag is filled—the tight¬ 
er and closer the better ; for, the firmer they 
are packed, the longer they will keep. The 
hoop is then loosened, the bag is let down 
to the lower floor, more hops are tied into 
the upper corners, and it is sewed up as 
closeiv as possible—the whole operation 
being generally completed within an hour.” 
The mode of pressure with screws is so 
far superior to the baling described above 
that it is surprising that it has not been uni¬ 
versally adopted. 
Cost and Profit of Raising. —The cost of 
cultivating an acre of hops varies with the 
skill and labor applied, and of course the 
profits will be regulated very much by these 
and other circumstances. The writer from 
Lunenburg above quoted says : “ The aver¬ 
age yield with us is about 600 pounds per 
acre, and the cost, exclusive of the poles, 
about $55 per acre, all told. The poles are 
worth $2 or $2 50 per hundred, ready for 
setting, and will cost, at sixteen hundred to 
the acre, from $32 to $40 ; but as good poles 
will last ten or twelve years, the expense per 
year will not be much increased.” 
The profit must depend entirely upon the 
price obtained for them, and nothing in the 
whole range of farming varies more in price 
than hops. For the last four years the price 
to the grower has averaged 25 cents per 
pound, or perhaps somewhat more, leaving a 
considerable margin for profit; but for the 
preceding four years they were miserably 
low, not averaging much more than eight 
cents. 
A farmer, writing from Northfield, says 
there were thirty acres of hops raised in that 
town the past year, yielding on an average 
one thousand pounds per acre, worth forty 
cents a pound, amounting to $400 per acre ; 
cost per acre in that town is estimated at 
$40. Some growers have realized as high 
even as $500 per acre. These estimates are 
far lower than the cost of raising hops in 
England, where rent of land, taxes, tithes, 
labor of cultivating, manures, &c., are much 
higher than here. The cost per acre there, 
up to the time of picking, is estimated at 
about $150 ; while the cost of picking, dry¬ 
ing, baling, storage, cartage, &c., is estima¬ 
ted at about $175 more. The cost of the 
kiln is often, to the English grower, not less 
than from $1,000 to $1,500; while the cost 
of a kiln here is rarely more than $75. and 
often less than $50, built as described above. 
Our growers expect ordinarily about a pound 
to a hill. They often get one and a half 
or even two pounds to the hill, making from 
800 to 1,200 pounds per acre. The gen¬ 
eral average yield in England is about 
seven hundred pounds per acre ; though, 
owing to many controling influences, as 
diseases and bad seasons, they some¬ 
times fall far below, and sometimes obtain 
much larger crops. The average of many 
towns in Massachusetts is not over five or 
six hundred pounds ; but, under good culti¬ 
vation, crops of one thousand pounds are 
not uncommon. The original cost of hop 
plantation may be set down at not less than 
$150 or $175 per acre, including all the fix¬ 
tures, poles, kilns, &c.; and the annual cost 
after the first year, including manure and 
interest on the land, and labor of every kind, 
at from $50 to $100 per acre. 
The average price of hops for the last fifty 
years was 14| cents per pound. During the 
past year “ first sorts” sold as high as 45 
cents per pound. The uncertainty of the 
foreign demand is so great as to cause fluc¬ 
tuations in price which can not easily be 
calculated upon. This has deterred many 
from engaging in the cultivation of a crop 
on which there is so little dependence. 
The average price for 1854 is stated at 26 
cents per pound. Many of the first sold 
much higher than that. Of those inspected, 
there were 4,043 bags marked “ first sort,” 
and weighing 711,161 pounds ; 401 bags 
marked “ second sort,” and weighing 30,- 
243 pounds. 
The profit of raising hops in Massachu¬ 
setts must depend somewhat upon the extent 
and permanence of the foreign demand ; and 
it must be evident that both the foreign and 
domestic demand for Massachusetts hops 
must depend largely upon their quality, and 
especially upon the standard of inspection 
already alluded to. Let this standard be 
high, let it be known that the Massachusetts 
brand is the best and the most reliable in the 
country, and the market is safe. The brand 
is only prima facie evidence of the quality, 
it is true; and hence the grower should 
take pains to raise the “ first sort ” hops, if 
he wishes to secure honestly the “ first sort ” 
brand, and it is a short-sighted policy which 
would ask for it in any other way.— C. L. 
Flint's Second Annual Report to the Mssachu- 
setts Board of Agriculture. 
Plenty of it.— The papers have discov¬ 
ered some grass from the “ path of recti¬ 
tude.” We fear that path must be sadly 
overgrown with grass—it is so little traveled 
now-a-days. 
SPARE THE BIRDS. 
State House, Boston, March 2G, 1855. 
There is a custom, very prevalent in many 
sections of the State, of regarding the Annu¬ 
al Fast as a holiday, and using it for gunning 
and shooting. Many thousands of our most 
beautiful birds, to none more useful than 
the farmer, since they destroy innumerable 
insects injurious to vegetation, are then sa¬ 
crificed to the wantonness and cruelty of 
those who know not what they do. Many 
painful instances of this came to my knowl¬ 
edge a year ago, when robins, bluebirds, spar¬ 
rows, and other varieties of birds, which 
occasionally visit us in early spring, were 
shot down without distinction or mercy. 
I need not say that, apart from the pleas¬ 
ure and delight which these innocent crea¬ 
tures afford, the injury done to the farmer, 
and to the community at large, by their de¬ 
struction, is almost incalculable. I take this 
occasion, therefore, to entreat every farmer, 
and every man who has any regard for the 
public good, to use his influence to put a stop 
to this practice, not only on hisown premises, 
where he has an undisputed right, but thro’- 
out the neighborhood and town. Stringent 
laws already exist against the destruction of 
birds. Let every man see to it that these 
laws are rigidly enforced, and rest assured 
that he will be richly rewarded, not only by 
the consciousness of an act of mercy in pre¬ 
venting their annual and rapid diminution, 
but also by the fullness of joy and song with 
which these sweet messengers of Heaven 
will surround his dwelling, and testify to 
every passer-by that there is practical Chris¬ 
tianity enough in its owner to protect and 
save them. 
I will thank any man, in any section of the 
State, to inform me of the extent of the vio¬ 
lation of the laws of mercy and of the Com¬ 
monwealth, in order that, if necessary, more 
effectual measures may be taken to protect 
the birds, and thus invite and encourage 
them to live among us. 
Chas. L. Flint, 
Secretary of the Board of Agriculture. 
THE LATE THOMAS BATES OF ENGLAND. 
The fact is, that he possessed that intui¬ 
tive genius, without which no man can hope 
to rise above a bungler in the difficult art of 
breeding. With this he united long experi¬ 
ence, and a degree of enthusiasm which no 
difficulties could repress, no failures could 
daunt. He loved his cattle for their own 
sake, not for the money he might happen to 
make by them ; above all, he never forgot 
the character of the animal he was dealing ' 
with. He insisted on a cow being a cow, 
and not a mere oblong box of fat. Hence 
the charm of his herd, of which every indi¬ 
vidual has a character which when once 
studied will never be forgotten. Hence he 
did not, as some breeders do, neglect the 
milking qualities of his favorites, for he well 
knew that a first-rate animal may both milk 
and feed. 
From my own experience I find the cows 
of Mr. Bate’s blood the best thrivers on hard 
keep and in an exposed situation I ever 
possessed. The popular notion that high¬ 
bred animals are tenderer than mongrels is 
a mistake, arising in great measure from the 
injudicious nursing they too frequently re¬ 
ceive. I never pamper my short-horns, 
and, therefore, when removed from my 
farm it would be difficult to find a situation 
on which they would not thrive, or food on 
which they would not keep their condition. 
—Willoughby Wood, in Agricultural Gazette. 
