84 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
the success of those now introducing it, with 
much interest. 
HOP GROWING. 
(Concluded from page 68.) 
Diseases .—The hop, like most plants, has 
its diseases and its pests, in the shape of in¬ 
sects. which prey upon and essentially injure 
it. Among the chief diseases, besides those 
inflicted by insects, are the rust, the blight, 
and the mildew. No remedy is known 
against these, nor is the cause well known ; 
but they are probably owing to influences of 
the atmosphere not as yet very well under¬ 
stood. The moldy fen, or red fen, as it is 
often called, causes the leaves to turn 
brown, and, if not checked as soon as dis¬ 
covered, is apt to overrun the whole planta¬ 
tion. It has been known to visit the same 
ground for a succession of years when neg¬ 
lected at its first appearance. The means of 
guarding against it are, to keep the ground in 
good cultivation by frequent stirring, and to 
eradicate every w^eed, and to manure well 
with manure from the pig-stye. No well-un¬ 
derstood remedy is known against the at¬ 
tacks of blight and mildew. They most fre¬ 
quently infect the hop in seasons when the 
days are hot and the nights dewless ; and 
a frequent use of ashes is recommended as 
a remedy. 
Besides the diseases which attack the hop, 
there are insects which infest it; and among 
others the ghost-moth, (Hepiolus humuh,) 
which lives in the root of the hop,and some¬ 
times proves very destructive. A small 
green fly also infests the hop, and commits 
extensive depredations, sometimes even de¬ 
stroying much of the crop. This insect ap¬ 
pears at the end of May, and in June. Sy¬ 
ringing the field with tobacco water, soap¬ 
suds, &c., has sometimes been resorted to. 
1 would suggest the use of quassia by way 
of experiment. This is the infusion of the 
bark and wood of the quassia tree, from the 
West Indies, of an exceedingly bitter taste. 
It may be obtained at most of the drug stores, 
and applied with the syringe with perfect 
safety and at small expense. A change of 
location once in eight or ten years seems to 
be the only remedy against the larvae of some 
insects which attack the roots of this plant. 
The hop has sometimes been called an ex¬ 
hausting crop. I know of no valid reason 
for this opinion other than the supposition, 
that, as the vines are large and luxuriant, 
they must necessarily draw upon the ener¬ 
gies of the soil. But when we consider how 
large a proportion of their nourishment all 
plants, and particularly all plants which 
spread out a large surface of leaves, draw 
from the atmosphere, this supposition seems 
to have little weight. Whether exhausting 
or not, it is certain that after a hop planta¬ 
tion is discontinued on one spot, which 
should ordinarily be at the end of about 
eight or ten years from the time of setting, 
grass succeeds better than after most other 
crops. Indeed, all crops grow with the 
greatest luxuriance after a hop crop, and the 
soil is by no means exhausted for the hop 
itself. The necessity for a change of loca¬ 
tion arises mainly from the fact that insects 
are most apt to infest old grounds ; and were 
it not for this reason, hops might be culti¬ 
vated many years in succession on the same 
land. It is the practice of one of the largest 
growers with whom I am acquainted to 
change the location of his hop plantation 
every eight years ; and he assures me that a 
plantation seeded down after the roots are 
removed will bear the stoutest grass for 
twelve years in succession, at the end of 
which time he cultivates it in hops again. 
The constituents which are taken from the 
soil may be seen by the following analysis 
of the ash of the hop vine, including the 
blossoms : 
In 100 parts there are of 
Silica.13.24 
Chloride of sodium.7.73 
Chloride of potassium.3.77 
Soda.0.13 
Potash.21.49 
Lime.34.79 
Magnesia.4.09 
Sulphuric acid.4.63 
Phosphoric acid.6.34 
Phosphate of iron.3.79 
100.00 
The ashes of the dried hops alone, which 
amount to one-tenth of the whole weight, 
contain the following constituents, in the 
percentage attached to each : 
Silica.21.05 
Potash.25.18 
Lime.15.98 
Magnesia.5.77 
Salt.7.24 
Phosphate of iron.7.45 
Sulphuric acid.5 41 
Phosphoric acid.9.08 
Chloride of potassium....1.67 
Alumina, and a trace of manganese. 
It is safe to say that hops could be culti¬ 
vated fifty years in succession, and still 
leave the land in good heart. It has been 
for many years one of the most profitable 
crops, on the whole, that have been grown 
in the State, averaging, under good man¬ 
agement, more than $100 per acre, often, 
indeed, amounting to much more than that, 
and exhausting the soil less than any other. 
Uses .—The fiber of the hop resembles 
that of hemp, and a strong, white cloth is 
manufactured from it, after being long 
steeped in water. The root, stem and leaf 
may be used for tanning leather, in the same 
manner as oak bark, sumac, &c. Hops are 
also extensively used as medicines, having 
narcotic, tonic, and diuretic properties of 
great value. They are often used as a seda¬ 
tive. The lupuline, a fine yellow powder 
already mentioned, contains, in 120 grains, 
5 grains of tannin, 10 of extractive, 11 of bit¬ 
ter principle, 12 of wax, 36 of resin, and 46 
of lignin. All the astringency, as well as the 
aroma and the bitterness, of hops, is found 
in the lupuline, which may be easily separa¬ 
ted from the strobiles by sifting ; and as it 
weighs but a sixth or eighth part of the 
■whole, and occupies but a small part of its 
bulk, it may be readily transported. 
Whether these principles could be preserved 
in all their strength for any length of time, 
when separated from the strobiles and packed 
in tin cases, I do not know; but it is cer¬ 
tainly worthy of careful experiment, since, 
if they could, much of the labor and expense 
of transporting hops might be avoided. 
But by far the largest use of hops is for 
the preservation of various malt liquors from 
fermentation, and to impart to them a bitter 
taste. Many other plants are, or may be, 
used for the same purpose, but they are all 
thought to be inferior to the hop. From 
forty to fifty thousand acres of hops are cul¬ 
tivated in England every year, although the 
product is subject to a tax which, in 1844, 
amounted in the aggregate to £256,240 15s. 
2id., or about $1,281,200, on 44,5131 acres. 
The malt charged with duty in the same 
year amounted to no less than 37.187,186 
bushels, returning a duty of £5,027,061.—C. 
L. Flint's Second Annual Report to the Mas¬ 
sachusetts Board of Agriculture. 
A friend of the lamented Hood, on whom 
the punster's mantle seemed to have fallen, 
says of him : “ Poor Hood—died of pure gen¬ 
erosity—to gratify the undertaker, who wish¬ 
ed to urn a lively Hood." 
BOG MEADOWS RECLAIMED. 
We find the following account in the 
Transactions of the Middlesex County So¬ 
ciety, (Ms.,) in the statement of Mr. Asa G. 
Sheldon, of Wilmington, who is one of the 
enterprizing farmers in that region : 
The swamp land I offered for premium, in 
1843, was blueberry swamo, with some few 
maples and white pine ; value not more than 
ten dollars per acre. 1 first dug a ditch 
through the center of it, about forty rods in 
length, which cost sixty cents per rod, mak¬ 
ing twenty dollars. Then I cut off the wood 
and brush, which barely paid for cutting. In 
the fall, the manure was taken from the 
slaughter-yard and barn-cellar, teamed to a 
side-hill near the swamp, mixed one load of 
strong manure with three loads of blue clay¬ 
ey gravel. This was done in September. 
In the winter, when the swamp was frozen, 
this was teamed on, tipped up in loads, and 
then covered with sand. In April, 1844, it 
was all overhauled. In May, I commenced 
digging over the swamp, and planting pota¬ 
toes, putting a small shovelfull of this com¬ 
post in a hill. 1 found the depth of mud to 
vary from eighteen inches to nine feet. 
Where 1 found the mud deep and good dig¬ 
ging, I dug five or six feet deep, filling the 
holes with blackberry roots, small stumps, 
and hassocks, within eighteen inches of the 
top, then covering'it over with mud from the 
next hole, planting potatoes on the same. 
The clearing and planting were both done at 
once. The piece managed in this way was 
not less than two acres. A man would clear 
and plant from four to six square rods per 
day. Wages, at that time, were a dollar a 
day. Cost of clearing and planting, thirty 
two dollars per acre. Cost of ditch, ten 
dollars per acre, making, in all, forty-two 
dollars per acre. The crop of potatoes was 
not less than two hundred bushels per acre- 
Grass-seed was sown on the ground when 
the potatoes were dug, and the ground raked 
over. In 1845-6-7-8 and 9, making five 
years, it produced as good a crop of English 
hay as I ever raised upon any ground, with 
out any manure except what was put on the 
first crop of potatoes. In 1850, the crop of 
grass began to fail, and some wild grass 
came in. In September, 1850, I plowed it 
by hitching the plow behind a pair of wheels, 
so that the oxen could walk on the grass. 
In the winter, when it was frozen, I teamed 
on manure, all kinds being mixed, about four 
cords to the acre. I planted it in 1851 with 
potatoes; the crop was from three to five 
hundred bushels to the acre. Finding this 
much more profitable than hay, I have man¬ 
aged it in the same way until the present 
time. When the potatoes have been dug 
early, before they got their full growth, I 
have not obtained so large a crop. When 
they have been allowed to remain in the 
ground, they have never failed of yielding 
three times as much as the upland. 
The present season I invited the town 
clerk, with a number of other gentlemen, to 
witness the measurement of the ground, and 
the digging and measurement of the potatoes. 
From this, which I inclose, you will see that 
the crop can not be valued at less than three 
hundred dollars per acre, many having now 
been sold for more than one dollar and fifty 
cents per bushel. 
Wilmigton, Oct. 2,1854. 
Two and Four Rowed Barley. —Last 
spring, having a piece of ground which I 
was desirous of sowing to barley, and wish¬ 
ing to satisfy myself which variety, the two, 
or four rowed, was most profitable, I sowed 
an equal quantity of each upon equal por¬ 
tions of ground in the same field. The 
amount sowed was six bushels of each vaifi- 
