SEPT.15 
BUBAL NEW-YORKER SUPPLEMENT. 
173 
|jorticuIfura(, 
THE HOP HARVEST. 
During the past week or two the hop harvest 
has been in full progress in this State, and by 
this time picking is well under way. or over, 
throughout the hop-growing districts of the 
country. During the last quarter of a century 
this branch of industry has been rapidly ex¬ 
tended in the United States. In 1850 the pro¬ 
duction amounted to only 3.407.027 pounds. 
posed. Already the production is far in excess | 
of home requirements, and sufficient attention is 
not generally bestowed on clean picking and 
careful drying to insure a permanently profit¬ 
able foreign market. In thin, as in many other 
agricultural products, the quality must bo quite 
as assiduously attended to as the quantity to 
secure, through successive seasons, remunerative 
returns. It is just hero that our farmers arc apt | 
to act unwisely. The profit, from the labor and 
money they expend in raising their products 
would, iu very many cases, he largely augmented 
by j ust a triilo more attention to quality. W here 
their ordinary products return an interest of. 
and the undimmed sunshine of the country, 
while earning enough not only to satisfy their 
transient wants, but also to lighten the burthen 
of poverty for week* after they have returned to 
their squalid homes. London alone sends, each 
year, upwards of sixteen thousand men, women, 
and children dowu to the hop-fields of Kent; 
and for weeks before the time for their depar¬ 
ture those generally look forward to their trip 
with the pleasurable anticipation of a picnic ex¬ 
cursion, whose delights will he enhanced by the 
payment they will receive for joining in it. 
Among ns, also, labor in the hop-fields often 
partakes a good deal of the samp festive 
early—the days sunshiny and warm, and but two 
light frosts occurred after planting. With a 
view to ascertaining whether there was any dif¬ 
ference in tlio time required to germinate be¬ 
tween the early, medium and late varieties, we 
noted the first appearance of each. There was, 
however, no such difference, since with the ex¬ 
ception of Carter's Surprise and McLean's Best 
of All, which were not noted until April 29, the 
germination was within a few hours the same, 
occurring April 25. 
Philadelphia extra early. 
May 26. Second to bloom. Juno 2ud, twenty 
HOP PICKKR8 AT LIJAX II. 
This had grown to 10,991,99(5 pounds in 1800, I 
and to 25,450,009 pounds in 1870, and since that 
date a large increase has been unde in the area 
under hop cultivation. Last year there was an ex¬ 
port trade of 45,000 bales from this city and a fur¬ 
ther surplus of 12,000 to 15,000 bales, which 
might have been readily spared for foreign 
trade. This year the yield will not be less than 
last, as there is under cultivation a considerably 
larger acreage and the reports from the hop¬ 
growing sections of the country indicate that 
there will be at least fully an average crop. 
Bavaria, however, is the country where hop- 
culture is carried on moat extensively as one- 
fifth of ail the hops grown on the surface of the 
globe aro there produced. The Bavarian Agri¬ 
cultural Society has lately compiled some inter¬ 
esting figures in this connection. The area of 
land under hop cultivation all over the world is 
estimated at 247,000 acres; producing an aver¬ 
age crop of 1,309,500 c-vt., or 65.475 tons each 
year. Of this amount 477,111 cwt. are grown iu 
Germany upon 89,775 acres of land, and 212.556 
cwt., grown upon 44.282 acres, fall to the share 
of Bavaria alouo. The ordinary home consump¬ 
tion among the beer-loving Teutons does not ex¬ 
ceed 80,000 cwt , so that, except in very unfavor¬ 
able seasons, at least 100,000 cwt. remain avail¬ 
able for exportation. The Bavarian hops have 
the highest reputation in the markets of the 
world, as their lino aroma is more perfectly pre¬ 
served by the methods of handling them. The 
hop-growers of that country, however, were very 
unfortunate last year, as them crop was the 
worst that has been gathered since 1889. 
Whenever any special branch of business is 
found to pay well among us. there is always a 
strong likelihood that it will ere long be serious¬ 
ly injured by over-production. This is a liaz- 
zard to which hop-culture is now perilously ex- 
say, only five per cent ou the capital invested in 
raising them, the extra expense needed to se¬ 
cure a bettor quality, or a larger yield would, in 
nearly every instance, bring a very dispropor¬ 
tionately large percentage. This rnle applies 
with equal force to live stock, to field crops and 
to handling hopB. Many hop-growers, however, 
say that dealers in purchasing do not discrimin¬ 
ate enough to pay for the extra attention, be¬ 
tween dean, well-cured hops and those inferior 
iu these respects; but this is generally an erron¬ 
eous opinion, especially where the surplus pro¬ 
ducts must find a foreign market, and always a 
short-sighted one to act upon. Even during the 
past year the careless course of just such men 
has shut the German market against thousands 
of bales, which might have been profitably sold 
there, had the hops been uniformly well 
picked and cured. Nor aro the evils of such 
carelessness merely temporary, for it is likely 
permanently to lower the estimation in which 
American hops aro at present held by European 
dealers, and consequently to depreciate the price 
that will in future be paid for them ; and more¬ 
over, it leaves ou hand each year a large rem¬ 
nant of old stock to compete, at prices below the 
cost of production, with the new crop of each 
successive season. 
The market price for the present crop has not 
yet beeu established, but in this State from 
twelve to thirteen cents aro paid for good to 
prime, and fourteen cents for choice, while old 
hops bring only from five to eight cents, a 
difference which forcibly illustrates the truth of 
the remarks just made. 
In England the hop-picking season is a joyous 
time for thousands of the industrious poor who 
fiock in motley troops from the stifling heat of 
crowded lanes and alleys in the cities to enjoy 
the health-giving breezes, the exhilarating air. 
character, and many a visitor to the hop-yard at 
lunch time, has witnessed a merry scene like 
that here depicted. 
-♦-*-»- 
GREEN PEAS. 
TESTS WITH TWENTY-SEVEN VARIETIES. 
Which is the Earliest Pea? —Which the Latest— 
The most Prolific—The Best ? 
Rcrai. Grounds, Sept. 1,1877. 
Tub following arc the varieties selected for 
trial and planted April 14th: 
Philadelphia Extra Early; Waite’s Caractacus; 
Tom Thumb; The Kentish Invicta; Carter’s Ex¬ 
tra Early Premium Gem ; McLean’s Little Gem; 
McLean's Blue Peter; McLean's Advancer ; Eu¬ 
genie ; Napoleon ; Carter's First Crop ; Early 
Dan O’Rourke; Easton's Alpha; Laxton’s Su¬ 
perlative ; Laxton’s Prolific; Bishop’s Long 
Podded Dwarf ; Champion of England ; Pea¬ 
body; Dwarf BIuo Imperial; Carter’s Surprise; 
Dwarf Sugar; Tall Sugar; British Queen ; Large 
White Marrowfat; New-Wrinkled Sugar; Black- 
Eyed Marrowfat; McLean’s Best of All. 
The above varieties were planted on the same 
day within almost the same hour. No manure 
of any kind was used at the time of planting, 
though a small quantity of muck was mixed with 
the soil in the drills. There were two drills to 
the row about seven inches apart, and the rows 
were about three feet apart. After the peas had 
germinated and attained two or three inches in 
bight and subsequently, they were treated to 
liquid horse manure. The soil is somewhat in¬ 
clined to heaviness and the land, for other crops, 
at least, stands iu need Of drainage during pro¬ 
longed periods of wet weather. The rows were 
set North and South, and brush was used for 
supporting the taller sorts. The season was very 
inches high. June 10, first picking. Very slen¬ 
der stems. Pods short, thick, well filled—aver¬ 
aging five medium sized seeds. Not sweet or 
high flavored—quite prolific. June 25. Still a 
few. 
EARLY DAN O’ROITRKE. 
Third to bloom, May 27. June 2, two feet, 
slender stems. .Tune 12, first picking. Same 
hight as Philadelphia Little larger pod and 
rather more prolific. Well filled, medium sized 
seed averaging five. Juno 18, tine picking—very 
prolific. The best pea at this time, all things 
considered. Juue 25. Still a few. 
tom Tntnwn. 
May 29. In bloom—the first of the dwarfs. 
June 2. Six inches high, June 15. First pick¬ 
ing. Vines, marvels of littleness. Not quite so 
far advanced as Philadelphia. Pods well filled, 
rather narrow, thick, averaging five seeds. June 
19, last picking. 
carter’s FIRST crop. 
Fourth to bloom, June 2. Twenty inches 
high. June 15. First picking. Short pods well 
filled, very like Philadelphia, but not so early or 
so uniform. Ripen irregularly, so that many 
must be cultivated to insure a mess. Not very 
prolific. Some wrinkled, some not—irregular in 
size. Only a fair flavor, if we wore to depend 
upon this for our "first crop,” we should bo be¬ 
hind our neighbors. Thin stems, thin-skinned 
podB. Juue 25. A few still. 
laxton'h alpha. 
June 14. First picking. Two feet high. Largo, 
halloonish pods not well filled. Size of seed va¬ 
ries from small to large as if seed were mixed. 
Juno 19 Better now. Prolific. Seed sometimes 
crowded in pod but irregular in size and number. 
Very green, delicious, large. 
