152 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Angust 20, 1891; 
genuine surprise in the discovery of a Hop garden, thirty acres in 
extent, within two and a half miles of the city limits of Denver, in 
a district which is generally regarded as dry Cactus land, and which 
in its natural state an English farmer, in his inexperience of local 
conditions and possibilities, would decline to purchase at a shilling 
an acre. 
On Saturday, 18th July, a party of Denver citizens, including 
myself, visited the Hop garden in question, and as you have many 
readers in the Hop growing districts of England, the following 
account of what we learned and actually saw will probably be 
interesting to them. Driving out towards the north end of the 
city we passed the new workshops, covering some acres, of the 
Union Pacific Railroad Company, and the works of the Omaha and 
Grant Smelting and Refining Company (which turn out annually 
over four millions (£4,000,000) sterling of gold, silver, copper, and 
lead), and emerged into a flat, treeless, undulating plain country, 
dotted over with “ dairy ranches,” or, as you would say in England, 
■“ milk farms,” and soon came in sight of the Hop garden, a unique 
oasis of tall green columns, the beau ideal of health and vigorous 
growth, and looking as if a bit of Kent had floated west and lodged 
here. The owner of the garden is a Mr. Van Buren, who has had 
considerable experience in Hop growing in the State of New York. 
He obtained his first purchase of this land at a ridiculously low 
figure five years ago, trading a horse and buggy for twenty acres 
of it (the then owner thinking the land no good), and four years 
ago planted twelve acres in Hop vines obtained from the State of 
New York, consisting of three varieties—viz., the Bavarian, the 
English Cluster, and the Humphries. 
His methods of planting and cultivation are as follows. The 
land having been deeply and thoroughly ploughed, the Vines are 
planted 7 feet apart, so as to admit of future cultivation by means 
of horse and “ cultivator,” the garden being kept strictly free from 
weeds. The next operation is “grubbing,” i.e , taking away from 
the Vines the runners or suckers which are used for planting new 
land. He usually puts two poles and several plants to a hill. The 
poles are from 16 feet to 25 feet high, and are obtained from the 
foot hills of the Rocky Mountains, about twenty miles from 
Denver, being brought by railroad. Many of the Vines reach the 
tops of the highest poles and wave in the air a number of feet 
beyond. In April a staff of men and women are employed to 
train the Vines around the poles and to trim off all Vines that 
are not going up the poles. This work continues for about 
a month. After this is over there is nothing to do but to 
cultivate and irrigate the ground and keep the weeds down, 
experience teaching that continuous and thorough cultivation is 
more important even than irrigation. The picking generally 
commences about the middle or end of August, when any 
number of pickers can be obtained from Denver, the rate of 
wages being Is. 3d. per box of 7 bushels and board, a good hand 
being able to pick from three to five boxes per day. On the 
premises is a drying kiln where the Hops are cured and afterwards 
pressed and marketed. 
Mr*. Van Buren says that from the 12 acres of Hop vines 
planted in 1887 he obtained in 1888 about 1000 lbs. of Hops, 
which sold for Is. 3d. per lb. ; in 1889 about 3000 lbs., which sold 
for 8d. per lb. ; in 1890 (a very dry season) about 8000 lbs., which 
sold for Is. 5£d. per lb. ; while this year he expects to obtain from 
the same 12 acres about 2000 lbs. per acre. From an adjoining 
10 acres more recently planted from 500 Its. to 600 lbs. per acre ; 
in addition to which he has another tract of 8 acres planted last 
year, which he does not reckon on particularly. All this land is 
what is called here “ under ditch ”—that is, it lies below an 
irrigating canal, from which water is obtained for irrigation 
purposes. The rainfall near Denver is only 14 inches per annum, 
and we have over 300 sunny days every year. The supply of 
irrigating water from this particular ditch in a dry season is not 
absolutely certain, so Mr. Van Buren sunk an artesian well, which 
at 757 feet struck a large body of water. The season of 1890 
proving dry, he attached a pumping engine to this well, and from 
the 27th June, 1890, when the engine was in place, he pumped 
night and dry for thirty days without any appreciable effect on the 
subterranean supply of water, and so saved his Hop crop as above 
shown. This year there has been no water difficulty, and as every 
^year’s cultivation and irrigation lessens the quantity of water 
required, his artesian well can now water the whole garden 
sufficiently were there no water in the canal. He reckons that it 
costs from 4d. to 5d. per lb. to grow the Hops. The advantages 
for Hop growing in the vicinity of Denver may be summarised as 
ffollows :—The four breweries of Denver, according to official 
statistics, turn out 150,000 barrels of beer per annum, while nearly 
twenty other breweries in the Stateiturn out at least 35,000 barrels 
per annum, so that the consumption of Hops in Colorado breweries 
is at the very least already considerably over 200,000 lbs. per 
.annum. There is, therefore, already a good home market, and the 
brewers give the preference to locally grown Barley and Hops, in 
order to encourage home enterprises. 
The soil of Colorado and in the neighbourhood of Denver is 
especially rich and deep, only needing water. The dry sunny 
climate is especially adapted to the growth of Hops by irrigation, 
mildew from damp being impossible and Hop insect pests unknown. 
With almost continuous sunshine above and the ability by means 
of artificial irrigation to keep the roots and ground sufficiently 
moist the growth of plant life is reduced to a science and a 
certainty. 
The proximity to Denver gives access to any amount of ferti¬ 
liser in the shape of stable, sliippon, and other manures, which can 
be obtained gratis for hauling away. Then again the system of 
irrigation in itself is a continuous fertilisation, on the same principle 
that the annual overflow of the Nile fertilises Lower Egypt. The 
proximity to Denver also gives any amount of cheap labour at 
“ training ” and “ picking ” seasons. 
Hops are also cultivated in America in parts of New England, 
New York, OregoD, Washington, California, and other States ; but 
in several of them insect pests have made their appearance, and in 
others occasional damp weather results in mildew. Hops have been 
successfully grown at various points in Colorado, but the particulars 
of Mr. Van Buren’s Hop garden near Denver, as above given, clearly 
demonstrate that practical experienced men can develop Hop culture 
in the neighbourhood of Denver until it becomes quite an important 
local industry, which will not only supply the breweries of Colorado 
with all the Hops they need, but finally result in a considerable 
export business to the great brewery centres of St. Louis, Mil¬ 
waukee, and other cities. As far as present experience goes 
there seems no reason why Colorado should not become as famous 
for Hops as Kent. If you have among your readers practical Hop 
growers willing or wishful to try a new country they would do 
well to personally investigate the advantages of Colorado as above 
demonstrated.— Thomas Tonge. 
SIXTY YEARS OF HORTICULTURAL PROGRESS. 
(1760-1820). 
(Continued from })age 464, last Vol.) 
There was a nobleman of the last century who'used jocosely 
to say to his friends that he knew the exact length of an old woman’s 
conscience. One of several, employed in his garden as weeders, 
came to his lordship one morning, it seems, when he was strolling 
about his grounds, and said, “ My Lord, there is a roll of red tape in 
one of the garden sheds, may I have some of it?” “ Certainly, my 
good woman,” he replied, “ take enough in conscience,” employing 
a familiar expression then. Subsequently he was told that the 
head gardener wanted some of this tape, and as he knew how much 
had been in the roll, he measured it to see what was left, and 
found the old woman had taken the greater part, about 
10 yards. At that time tape was occasionally to be seen in gardens, 
being employed for tying up shrubs or as a support for climbers, 
and the anecdote also reminds us that in the days of George III. a 
great want of order or method prevailed amongst gardeners with 
regard to tools and appliances. Sheds existed here and there in 
gardens of some size, each having a miscellaneous assortment of 
articles, and anything that was particularly wanted was often 
difficult to find. Loudon mentions as one of the improvements 
slowly spreading, that proper tool-rooms were constructed by some 
where each article was kept in suitable condition for use, in 
labelled compartments, with drawers for the storage of such things 
as needed to be kept clean or dry. This author refers also to the 
circumstance that lodges or apartments for under gardeners were 
often built amongst hothouses or against a wall or shed. Cooking, 
eating, reading, and sleeping frequently had to be done in one 
room, stuffy and hot, or else cold and damp. Many gardeners have 
their grievances now, no doubt, but they have little reason to envy 
those who worked in the “ good old ” times. We should rather 
like to know whether the “concealed alarm,” as they called it, 
worked well in the gardens or orchards, where it was tried as a 
precaution against trespassers. This was, of course, before the 
application of electricity to transmission of sound or motion. 
Some gentlemen had a system of wires arranged communicating to 
a room in which the movement of any wire would strike a gong, 
drop a fulminating bead, or in some other way give notice of an 
intruder. This singular mode of protecting enclosures seems to 
have been too expensive for general adoption, and had fallen 
out of use by the end of last century. Happily obsolete, also, 
is the mantrap, which was a not uncommon but cruel means of 
punishing trespassers, and sometimes placed without warning 
being given. Both kinds—that resembling a rat trap, and the 
humane form, which did not crush the leg—were, like the spring 
