THE CULTIVATOR. 
39 
1 . What kind of soil is best suited to their cultivation? 
2. How are a large number of plants to be obtained ? 
3. What is a fair average price in our market? 
4. What the mode of cultivation in those countries where the cultiva¬ 
tion has been most successful? with any other useful information upon the 
subject , . ' 
I have been in the cultivation of hops for the last ten years, upon allu¬ 
vial soil, which I consider well suited to their growth; but I am not cer¬ 
tain that the fogs which prevail in the neighborhood of rivers and smaller 
streams, do not injure them as they approach maturity. 
1. Ans. Any good land with loose subsoil which will produce Indian 
corn or wheat, will, with proper cultivation, produce hops. The less ex¬ 
posed to violent winds the better, as they are liable, when near maturity, 
to be bruised, and the branches broke off, from high winds. 
2. Ans. The sets or plants are obtained from fields in cultivation, by re¬ 
moving the head of the root and upper branches Which form near the top 
of the ground. 
The English set only the head of the root, which is larger and of course 
has more vegetable strength, and produces a more vigorous plant. The 
cultivators in this country have been less scrupulous, and Use both the 
head of the main roots, and also the branches or runners, to set. 
These sets are obtained without much expense, and a field'at the spring 
dressing will furnish sets for a new field of about the same size. 
3. Ans. The price in our market has'varied from five cents to fifty in the 
last eight years. In 1827 the price was very fair, from twenty to twenty- 
two cents per pound. They then fell down to ten cents, and lower, and 
remained very low until after the cholera prevailed , in Prance, in 1831 
and 1832, when an order was issued by the French minister of war, di¬ 
recting rations to be issued to the army in beer, instead df wine—-the ef¬ 
fect of which was, to raise the price of hops again in this country to 20 
cents, at which they stood for two years, 1833 and 1834. They then de¬ 
clined to 12, to 14 cents, in 1835, and in 1836 down to 6, to 10 cents per 
pound, at which the last crop was sold. France and Germany now grow 
them in quantities nearly sufficient to supply their own demand, and there 
is no probability that (he price will again advance here until the quantity 
is reduced, either by reducing the fields of cultivation of by a failure of 
crop. The quantity produced in this country now by a good crop, is about 
two fifths more than the home consumption; and as there is no prospect 
of a steady demand for exportation, whoever cultivates hops in this coun¬ 
try hereafter, must expeot to do it at a Toss, unless some unforeseen 
change shall occur in the market. 
4. Ans. The ground should be prepared in the. spring, in a manner si¬ 
milar to preparation for a corn crop, and marked out in row,s each way, by 
a line or otherwise, 8 feet apart, and set with or without manure in the 
hill. The sets, which should be cut about 4 to 6.inches, may be laid 
down horizontally, say 2 or 3 inches apart, or set in perpendicularly, by 
making a small hole in the ground with a sharp stick, then forcing the 
earth around them, putting 3 to 5 in a hill, in proportion to, their size and 
apparent soundness and strength. 
The field may be planted with corn between the rows the first year, as 
the hops require no pole, nor do th6y produce any crop. They require 
poling the second spring, with poles from 20 to 28 feet long, according to 
the strength of the hill, two and three poles to the hill. As soon, as the 
vine is of sufficient length, it is coiled around the pole, and tied with a 
rush or blade of coarse grass, putting two and sometimes three vines to 
each pole, and the other vines pulled out, that the whole strength of the 
root may pass into the vines on the poles. 
The ground is-ploughed between the rows and kept clear of weeds, as 
in a corn crop. The third spring, and every spring after, the hill, which 
should be formed around them in the summer dressing, is reduced to the 
level with the ground, or a little lower, and the upper branches and head 
of the main roots laid open, and cut off with a knife, to prevent their 
spreading beyond the hill. 
The crop is usually matured by about the fifth Of September. The- 
vine is cut near the ground, the pole taken down; and the hops picked by 
hand into a bier, and then taken to the drying house and dried upon a kiln, 
and after laying a few days after coming from the kiln are pressed and se¬ 
cured in canvass, and are ready for market. 
The expense of cultivating an acre of hops and fitting them for market, 
is from fifty to eighty dollars, including the decay of the poles. The ex¬ 
pense of a drying house, with suitable kilns.for drying eight to ten acres, 
with cooling room and press for packing them, will be from $306 to $>800. 
There are many details to be observed in the cultivation and curing of 
hops, which would require too long an article to give. 
I remark generally, that the crop is.a very uncertain one, and the mar¬ 
ket more fickle than that of any other article of agricultural production.— 
With a good crop and good market, it is a good business; - but without 
both, it is not a3 profitable as an ordinary grain or hay crop. 
S. CHEEVER. 
IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURAL JOURNALS. 
J. Buel, Esquire— Dear Sir —Finding it troublesome to send the 
amount of one year’s subscription every year, I enclose you five dollars, 
which you will please place to my credit, and call on it as my agent for my 
annual subscription, so long as it lasts. 
Permit me to express my approbation of the plan of your Cultivator. It 
is calculated to become an organized system of mutual instruction. It 
wants but one thing, in my opinion, to render it complete; that is, the 
privilege of receiving your letters and communications free of postage. 
This, no doubt, would increase the number of communications, from 
which you could select, digest, and disseminate to your patrons, increased 
information. 
This boon I thought so small for congress to bestow, and the prospec¬ 
tive advantage to agriculture so great, that I wrote to a friend in the se¬ 
nate, to suggest to their chairman of the committee on agriculture the ad¬ 
vantage it would be to the husbandry of the United States, to have a law 
passed, extending to the editors or conductors of periodical papers exclu¬ 
sively agricultural, the privilege of receiving their letters and communica¬ 
tions free of postage. He did so; but unfortunately the chairman of that 
committee was from North Carolina, and so the matter ended. 
But the agriculturists have it in their power to cause themselves. to be 
heard at the seat of the general government. If you, through the columns 
of the Cultivator, would suggest the advantage of such a measure, and ad¬ 
vise the forwarding, of petitions to congress at the commencement of their 
next session, if they should only be signed by the patrons of the Cultiva¬ 
tor, there is little doubt but they would be attended to. 
It is high time the agriculturists of the U. States should assume their 
proper station amongst the other interests of this extended republic. -From 
their dispersed situation, and having no rallying point round which to con¬ 
centrate their united force, they have heretofore been treated as the hew¬ 
ers of wood and drawers-of water for the other interests, especially the 
mercantile interest, who have been the pets and have had the patronage 
of the general government ever since its commencement. They have 
their Chambers of Commerce and their Boards of Trade, through which 
they can bring .their united force to operate to the attainment of their ob¬ 
ject. Let the farmers, thro’ their agricultural societies and their journals, 
unite themselves for their own interest, and make their power be felt_. 
They are tire bone and sinew of the country, and yet have been more 
neglected by government than any other interest in it. 
From whence comes the present insidious attempt to injure our manu¬ 
factures, by taking away their protection, but from the merchants, and 
that, too, under the hypocritical pretence of sympathy for the burdens of 
the people? Do not congress know, that fbr every cent the farmer pays 
for protection, he receives two, by the increased va’riety, greater demand, 
and higher price for his productions? If those men are not capable of de¬ 
vising a way to dispose of the surplus revenue without ruining our manu¬ 
factures, let them act like honest men, resign and go home, and give place 
to men of sound practical sense—one ounce of which is worth a cajt-Ioad 
of those brilliant talents which shine, but vivify not. 
If the patentees of those lately invented machines, such as Green’s 
Straw Cutter, the Drill Barrow, and many others, would cause their ma¬ 
chines to be made at Pittsburgh, they would find it to their advantage, as 
from thence the whole western and south-western countries would’be 
open to them for their disposal. To procure them from east of the moun¬ 
tains, would not only be attended with trouble, but considerable expense; 
whereas, if they could be had at Pittsburgh or Cincinnati, few farmers in 
the west would be without them. There ts at Pittsburgh a firm of Messrs. 
Evans, who own an extensive foundry, and are in the practice of making 
agricultural implements. I have no doubt but they would undertake for 
tne patentees, When in Pittsburgh lasP" summer, Mr. Evans inquired of 
me how he could procure the new invented utensils of husbandry. I re¬ 
commended him to take the Cultivator, in which he would find them de¬ 
scribed and the patentees’ names. I gave him your name and residence. 
Thus, sir, I- have given you some crude thoughts, on what I believe 
would tend to benefit the farming class; but of this you are the best judge, 
having thought more deeply on the subject, and being in a situation from 
which'you have a better view. One thing I must repeat—that the agri¬ 
culturists must cause their power to be felt, before their interest will be 
attended to. I am, dear sir, with respect, yours, 
Vincennes, Feb. 8<A,1837. N. EWING. 
FRONTIER FARMING—LONG MANURE. 
Champion, February 24th, 1837. 
J. Buel, Esq,— Sir, —Having redeemed a farm from a forest, I have 
thought perhaps it might be acceptable to some of your readers to know 
the result of thirty-six years’ experience, from the clearing of the tim¬ 
ber'from the land, until the stumps and roots are decayed and gone. Very 
little system has been pursued; most generally, the first cleared land has 
been seeded to grass, while other lands have been cleared and kept un¬ 
der the plough with a succession of crops; but others that have cleared 
more extensively, have made a uniform practice of seeding all their lands 
as fast as cleared, and letting them lie until the roots become rotten, so 
! that they can plough to advantage. But when the stumps and roots’are 
jgone, the farmer finds that his land assumes a new aspect, becomes less 
! productive, and that something-must be done. Many at this juncture sup- 
■ pose their farms are worn out, and they conceive they have no means to 
