The Express.
London, England, 1850-09-17 00:00:00

AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS.

TO TEI IDITOR Or TKS SITILSAK.
WATBBINOSUILY, Year, Barr, 1860.
Sta,—Dtairous of seeing sossethiug of the various
but geseraLLy fertile soil of Kest, I determined to
visit this county at the persist swan, whoa the
gathering of its peculiar praise*, eke bep, is tildes
place. Hop-picking is aow easemeasag thesseighest
the districts in which that ex.peasive sad
branch of British babel:dry sa pursued.
the district are new to be sees crowds of miserable
squalid-loskieg objects, chiefly families, who mow
from the poorest parte of the metropolis, especially
from Bt. Odes's. and many Irish, all males " • job
of hopping." They ars paid for picking at the rate
• a shilling for rinser ten bushel', sod from one to
two shillings a day can be earned by each
picker according to age, strength, or industry. A
brie portion of the sill of the county of Kent is oa
the chalk feresation ; all that part which lies to the
*oral of a kale, slightly carved earthward, draws from
Westerhass on the west to Folkestone cm the eastern
side of the oonitty, having tabor a chalk subsoil or
eausisting of deep overlying pea-doss of the London
clay, allaviam, and brick earth. This constitutes a
twat-el lend varying is character from the lightest
sand es deep risk marsh and heavy tenacious clay,
walk ass whole east improvement, though some
parts of it are highly cultivated and extremely per:i-
dealists ; but there is nothing in the character of the
soil, its ',idea, or its management so distinctive as
to Mao me to trouble you with any description of
it. That part of the county which hes on the green
mend formation, locally designated "Kentish rag-
Nan" and raps through it parallel with the chalk
hale, ins direction very nearly east ad west, and
the still more extensive district called the Weald,
occepying the southern portion of the county, and
lying immediately under the Ragstone-hill, exhibits
peouliaritiss of soil, climate, and culture, which com-
mand attention. The Green-sand, or Kentish rag
district of Mid Kent, of which the county town of
Maidstone is the centre, has been tanned " the louden
of England;" and I believe there is no other district
in our island which combines altogether so many
advantages ascii, climate, and situation. Sheli exit'
by the range of chalk hills to the north and north
east, it escapes the cold winds which blow from
Northern Europe over the wide expanse of the German
Ocean, and with a southern exposure the climate
is particularly mild and salubrious; while the soil is
generally of an open friable character, requiring in
most places little or no underdrainine, and easily cul-
tivated. It is a district in which high cultivation, of
all the ordinary objects of English hurbindry, may be
married to its extreme limits with the least possible
risk, and with the greatest ararance of profitable
remelts. But the soil and climate concur in tempting
the farmers of this tract into the adoption of the most
precarious branches of husbandry which our latitude
permits, namely, hope and fruit. And in Mid-Kent
the most delicate, thot4h moat valuable, varieties of
the hop are chiefly cultivated. The greet sand for.
mation varies much in breadth, that is, from three
to seven miles, its widest extension being between
Peckham and Snodland. Its general slope is towards
the month, sad overlooks valleys formed by the
Medway, the Eden, and the Beale. Immediately
beneath the chalk, and between that and the
true green sand there is a narrow belt of stiff soil
called "the Exult." It is a dark bluish-looking clay,
heavy and adhesive, and forms, agriculturally, stub-
born and difficult land to manage. It requires to be
well drained, and then under judicicea management
will produce, particularly in favourable seasons, very
large crow of wheat, oats, beans, and clover. Ad.
m.xture of either the green sand from below or the
chalk from above with this gaull affords great ame-
lioration of its texture, and permanently increases its
fertility. At present the greater part of this belt of
land is in pasture. The soil of Mid-Kent varies a
good deal in its composition. Around Sandpit°,
Medan, Hythe, and the neighbourhood, the land is
very light and sandy, suited for barley and turnips,
and requiring to be pressed and consolidated by the
treading of sheep and other artificial mane, in
order to secure a wheat crop. Sheep and turnip
husbandry is universal. Even here, however,
there are some heavier tracts of more or less extent
which abound in springs and require to be drained ;
a work that would enhance the vela of such land
surprisingly. Most of Mid-Kent is a free working
friable soil, that oa the acetone rock being generally
vary 'valuable and productive. Foe instance, round
Maidstone are the principal filbert plantations' re-
quiring sad receiving very careful pruning and culti-
ration ; and realising in some seasons a very large
sum per acre. And cherries and other fruit planta-
tions abound all through that fertile district around
Maidstone, sad between that town and Toubridge.
But the produce of such husbandry is very uncertain,
one year giving an enormous profit, and another
leaving the fruit farmer no return whatever for his
heavy outlays and expenses. Thus I hear that in the
place from which I date this, Wateringbury, where
cherry orchards are numerous, there was this year a
total failure of cherries, whereas in good fruit seasons
many thousand sieves of cherries are sent from this
pariah to the Loudon market. The rent of the land
here is two, three, and four pounds per acre, and the
expenses of management all very heavy, the fruit
trees requiring careful pruning, and, like the
hops, the most clean and garden-like cold-
vation The hop grown in the district is
chiefly the " gelding," which commands usually in
the market about forty shillings per cwt. more than
other kinds from its aromatic eichneis and strength.
But it is the most delicate variety of the hop, and in
particular is most obnoxious to "mould," the hop
planters have. When, however, it does succeed, and
it sometimes does when other hops of other districts
fail, the profits are very considerable. A few years
ago nearly all the hops grown in England came from
Mid Kent, having failed in most of the other hop-
growing districts, and then the growers of this tract
realised enormous sums, the price of their produce
having advanced to 151. and 181. per cwt Against
that must be set the losses which have since been sus-
tained; there are growers who have had several
years of total failure, and others who have now by
them hope affected by the mould, which but for that
disease would have been worth thousands of pounds,
and will now, after the abundant crop now growing,
be unsaleable until some year of scarcity occurs. As
an illustration of the great gain ocessicsally made in
one year by hops, a gentleman who bad a plantation
of about ten acres, told his wife that he would give
her all the profit he obtained from his crop of that
year beyond 1,0001., and the lady netted a surplus
of nearly 1001. In all business calculations regarding
hop growing, however, it is clear the produce of
a series of several years most be • in order to
arrive at any general result; andT:raZiost practi-
cally be the case. Yet every year the =perms of the
hop giqwer are certain and enormous, consequently
the agrisaltan of this district pressets a spec-
tacle of precarious and gambling enterprise
such ea is unknown in any other branch of
British husbandry. And everything is mad-
subservient to hop growing. The prise which may
be obtained in that lottery is too great ever to ba lust
sight of. Thus, it things go adversely with the hop
fanner—as too often they do—the hop grounds are'
the last of his fields which feel the effects of straitened
means. All the other parts of the farm must take
their chance. I do not mean to infer therefore that'd
hop culture should be either abandoned or made a
more recmdary object ; for I am convinced, contrary
to my impression before inspecting this district, that
wherever they are grown at all, they will and must
be the growers' first care. I believe, however, that
hop growing will eventually become a distinct busi-
ness, as to some extent it is now, into which no man
should enter who has not such a command of means'
KS will enable him to beer an adverse season
ad great occasional losses without relaxing his exer-
tions or diminishing his outlay. Probably few readers
are aware of the great cost of cultivating hops; and
yet no cultivator has received greater bessfits fain
the introduction of the light artificial manures than
the hop grewer. Formerly, he was entirely depen-
dent oa his power to raise manure by feeding Whirl's,
requiring Urge outlays of capital, and often conducted
at a loss. Now, he can and does largely employ
guano and so forth. Woollen rags, coating from 61.
and upwards per too, and Yorkshire mill waste
" shoddy, " raagiog from U. to 51. per too,
are used for hops and applied at the rate
at a ton and upwards per are. Sprats and other
fish manures are also used, both for hops
and turnips. The following estimate al the cost of,
raising and cultivating an acre of hops is give' br
Mr. John Bookland, the &slimed the Royal A
*cal Society's prise essay ou tbe fender stirst;
Net kooky otter lawdrisie I have spasm to believa

to be (with some exctptions, which I shall note in
the proper place) a vet, close approximation to the
truth' . "indeed, in Mid Lent even higher expenses
have been stated to me si incurred in forming and
cultivqihep plantations.
1 die piesistios
Ploashlsi ealeelllie £llo 0
Harrold,.
60 loads manors, at li. 6 0 0
El•oisi est hills
pinion bolls, sadilliss/ with mann 1 6 0
6.000 'duds, at 6d. par 100
Planting

2:prom of gelatin -.. £9 le 6
florwelsoieg 5 ewe 1 6 0
lour-feat polar, oar to sash kill, wed
labour
Choppier rated the bilk 0 6 8
Striking farrows, *a 0 8 4
I:lnitiator, 240 milk at 941.
Brat, taros, aad tithe

Total remark year
....
.22 15 6
It should be ed that in this district (Mid
rent) the large item of 91. per acre 'or draining Is not
incurred, the subsoil being naturally porous and open,
so that no draining is necessary ; and even on the heavier
soils so large an outlay as 91 per acre is not necessary
to effect the most complete drainage, except, perhaps,
in planes where, from the flatness of the land, no good
outran for the drains can be obtained. There, in order
to make an effective drainage by wears of shallow
drains, they mast be more frequent, and consequently
the earns* will be greater. Neither do I think that
draining, where needA ought to be charged specifi-
cally to the hope, for all the land ought to be alike
drained, whether used for bop-growing or ordinary
farming. I believe, however, that practically, on the
heavier lands of Kent, draining is often confined to
the hop plantations, sod this it does with a great
I many of the Kentish farmer., in fact, form a specific
expense of the hoo plantation.
2. Cost of cultivating from the snood to the sixth
year, both inclusive :

L s. d.
Strains up and farrowing
Stripping and stacking poles 6 6
Digging at 2ld. per hundred
Manure and carting na
Pruning at 6d. per 100
Sharpening poles at.d poling at le. 64
pct. 100
Tying at 106. per 100 ll 4
Ladder tying
Chopping at 93 per 100 7 6
Horse hoeing five Units, rolling, Ita 5 0
Hiding at 3d. per 100 2 6
Setting up poles to
Pees sad carting
Rent and ',pain to out 6 0
Rant, ratan, and tithes
Interest on capital 301. per acre

Cost of eultivntlon per annum
pi, Eationturd nrowth 10 ewt. per awn pero
0 annum:
king 6
Drying, packing, &c
Duty
--, 17 4 6

Total cost per wawa £43 17 10
An entire plantation would not perhaps cost quite
so much, but the estimate is given, and seems to be
pretty generally accepted as a "fair average." This
estimate is framed on a Weald of Kent plantation, and
the cost of a plantation in Mid Kent is confessedly
higher, but then the Mid Kent hope bring, as I have
stated, higher prices than those grown in the weald.
The first year rodaces to crop, and that of the
second is very trifling, so that an idea of the hazard
incurred in hop growing looks rather startling. As a
measure of the precariousness of the culture, I give,
on the same authority, a summary of the produce
and money receipts of a.'hop plantation in the Weald
of Kent for ten years. from 1836 to 1844; during
which time the price of the hope sold ranged between
48s. and 160 s. per cwt.

Avenge
Thee. Acres. Gro.th. Sold for per acre.
1835 .... 274 .... 316 ewer. .... £1,148 .... 11 ma.
1836 .... 30 .... 245 „ 801 8 „
1837 .... 28 .... 207 „ .... 727 .... 7
1839 .... 254 .... 293 „ 1,202 .... 11 „
1839 .... 214 .... 329 „ 939 .... 15 „
1840 .... 224 .... 14 ~ .... 79 .... 0 „
1841 .... 224 .... 223 „ 1,316 .... 9 „
1842 .... 224 .... 228 „ .... 962 .... 10 „
1843 .... 254 274 „ .... 1,623 .... 10
1844 .... 234 .... 78 „ 619 .... 3 „
Here are variations in cpantity of produce, and
still more in money returns sufficient to &twiny farmer
from growing hops who cannot in good seasons lay
by a considerable portion of his receipts derived from
hops, in order to meet the years of deficient produce
or of small mosey returns which ars certain to occur.
And the rest of the farm should never be moldered
dependent for its good or ill treatment on the profits
or losses on the hop grounds. Hop growing must
thus be a disticct business, whether it be carried on
in connection with ordinary farming or not; and
separate estimates ought to be made on taking &Ken-
tish farm, of so much capital for the hop grounds, and
so much fur the general farming. A certain portion
of land, not in hops, is necessary to raise the manure
required for the hop grounds, to be used in fact as a
feeder to the hop plantations, and thereon corn roots,
green crops, and ordinary farm produce must be
grown; but I believe that in the majority of instances
the hop grower will act wisely to hold no more land
than may be necessary to form each feeder—
so to speak—of his hop ground. If he has
energy, nerve, and capital to carry on farming and
hop growing in conjunction with the necessary spirit,
well and good; otherwise he will do well to elect
to be either hop grower exclusively or farmer only.
I shall presently refer to two UM of successful hop-
growers; in the one case, farming and hopgrowing
being carried on in conjunction, in the other hop-
grow icg Wog the exclusive object; in both hop
culture formed practically the primary object.
There is this peculiarity in the culling of hops, that
a grower may have a large crop of the best quality,
yet because most other growers have similar crops
the pries will be so low that &first class crop may not
repay the costs of cultivation. In years of great and
general abundance the price of hops is so low as
scarcely to pay the duty and the expenses of picking
and deyicg. The chief hope of the hop planter is,
that the coop, in other districts save his own, may more
or less fail. 'tie generally thought that hopgrowing in
Kent has not a late years afforded any profit ade-
quate to its risks, and that very many of the growers
' have been losers by growing hops at aIL But the
few have made such immense profits, that
others, unable to comply with the conditions
mete= try to success, which I have alluded to,
have been induced to persevere in the culture. The
able writer of the report on Kentish farming in re-
ference to this subject, says that the cultivation of
hops often receives such exclusive attention as to act
mo.t irjarionsly on all the other crops • and that it is
not uncommon, especially among the smaller farmers,
to we • small portion of the farm devoted to hops
highly minuted and cultivated, "while the rest of
the land is suffered, year after year, to remain in a
foul and exhausted condition." Corn and cattle con-
sequently deteriorate. And the conclusion he arrives
at is " that the sooner hop-culture is allowed to
occcpy only a subordinate pines in the extended hus-
bandry uf Kent the better." This I believe to be an
erroneous conclusion, for hop-culture can never be sub-
ordinate and successful. It must weepy the first
place or be given op altogether, and then see far too
many inducements to its continuance for it to be
really given up. The true solution of the difficulty
seems to be the more complete division of the employ-
ments of hop-grower and fanner, whether carried on
conjointly or se.para'ely. The " oast " houses for dry-
inr and preparing hops for market constitute fixed
capital of great value which would be lost by the
abandonment of hop culture, as would the now valu-
able ucclerwood at present so much grown in Kent
for hop-poles. What hop planting really requires is
its sepiration from farming, except so far as farming
is incidental to hop growing; and to be relieved from
the trammels and mischiefs of the excise duty. I
believe that eventually it will be deemed en &heard
for a farmer—that is an weepier of land mks, sapi-
tal is only sufficient for ordinary farm t--
to undertake hop growing, as it now is ChlM:i to
enter into market gardening or canary ealtivatiam.
A MIDLAND COUNTIES FARMIM.

DEATH OF k SOLDIU FROM Datriumerass.—
Yost. rd.y morning, about half-past two, as • pelharees-
rem& stable of tits B drehion wee se kb beet up
Tottenham otar•road, he saw • sadist is die road
insensibly drank. He immediately asiehose and
conveyed elm to University College where le was
attended by the house-ntrgeon, sad team to the
station-bona Is Clsalt`rhuildiage. At the ilia, sloe he
I was visited tiny Loath el ma hour by the peke, up to tout
o'clock, whet Its the peter) found hth to he they ill. A
sargeon warn stet owl was quietly la elemblese, but the
leas wee deed. The seam of ihe aeon& Is amp Rend-
hip, beltooteg is No. 2 Onapeey, lei /21012 as Ossetia
Omaha

THE ENCUMBERED ESTATES
OF IRELAND.

No. VI.

(Proms Spettal Correspondent of the D.ily Non.)

MITCHELLSTOWN, Comma Coax,
The town and castle of Mitchellstown are situated
at the western end of the picturesque and fertile
valley, which lies between the month side of the
Getty mountains and the hit's in Cork, which are
known as the Knockmeldowns. At Mitchellstown
the easy is narrow, but lower down, towards the
east, it widens out, until at one point it becomes,
from mountain top to mountain top, full ten miles
blind. The mountain summits are the limits of the
Kingston property. From the castle you look down
the valley. As far, therefore, as eye can se-, nothing
is observable but the estate which the Kingston,
have inherited. Town, villages, lakes, woods, rivers,
mountains—all are theirs, or rather have been.
During tte past three generations incumbrances
upon this property have been gradually &caning. The
major part of them are believed to have been the con-
sequence of heavy settlements for the benefit of
younger children. Such is the fallacy of that law of
primogeniture on which the English pride them-
*elver. They give the estate to the eldest sou so
strictly entailed that he cannot cut don a tree, and
they embarrass his property with charges which, in
a tune of depression, the estate is utterly incapible of
meting. The inheritor is made a farmer-general fur
the benefit of the rest of the family : the younger
branch 's are made annuitants without the slightest
direct interest in the property out of which the) draw
their income.

u , in addition to incumbrances of this class, the
Kingston estates have been much embarrassed by
effort' which have been made to raise the character
of the property. The Castle of litchellatown wu
erected by the last Earl of Kingston upon a scale of
magnificence adapted for royalty itself. Teo cJets of
this castle, and of the improvements made
upon the demesne during the lifetime of
the late Earl, are estimated at little leas than
200,0001. The major portion of this money remains
a charge upon the property to this hour. Nor do the
Kingston family ever appear to have economist d to
meet it. The present proprietor of this estate was
distinguished for his hospitality. It would have
been, under other circumstances, a noble trait it, his
character. Lori Kingston did that which the
wealthier noblemen of England are far too slow to do.
He invited to Mitchellstown, without cistinc,i,,n of
rank or title, all who could derive enjoyment from it.
"If you are a scholar," said the nobl, lord, " you
shall be conducted to scenes renowned in
history; if you are a lover of the picturesque, you
shall have a room commanding a dozen prospects;
if you are a sportsman, the horse and hound invite
you to follow them; or there are bills abounding with
grouse and streams alive with trout ; htiug your gun,
your rod, your pencil, or your bock, you shall be
equally welcome and equally gratified. Come and
visit me at Ilitebelletown."
It was in the midst of one of these hospitable
gatherings that the last blow was struck at the de-
scendent of Clongibbon. A cruel blow it was, and
deservedly execrated will be the Mal who struck
it. It was a Saturday evening. A hundred
guests were preparing for the :dirner table,
at Mitchellstown, atter the sports and enjoyments of
the day. At this moment there rode op to the door
an unexpected though not unaccustomed visitor. He
was an attorney of the neighbourhood, to whose Lamle
Lord Kingston had confided the direction of some of
his affairs. A debt for the costs appertainie gto these
proceedings bed been met by a bond upon which
judgment had been entered up. The bond only
awaited execution, but there was no apprehension
that the money would be pressed for. When
the attorney arrived, he was welcomed by Lord
Kingston with his usual hospitality. He accepted an
invitation to remain the night, and be partook of the
hospitality of the castle, and gelded its wine to the
health and hospitality of his noble host.
On the following morning, when Lord Kingston
and his party were about to repair to the adjacent
church, the attorney excused himself en the plea of
indisposition. Daring the absence of the guosts he
oas observed admiring the grandeur of the rooms.
He examined the furniture, the boil., the plate upon
the sideboards, the chandeliers pendant from the
ceilings. Early in the day he took his departure.
Lord Kingston little augured what would follow it.
A day or two after Lord Kingston was visited at
Mitchelletown by a gentleman well known to him,
who requested the favour of a private interview. It
was the sheriff of the county. He came, he said, on
a most unpleasant duty. An execution had been
issued at the suit of the attorney, end he had received
notice to put it in immediate force, together with
particulars of furniture and other articles with-
in the Castle on which levy could be
made, and which be was called upon to seize. The
sheriff assured Lord Kingston the execution should
be put in in such a way as would give him least
annoyance. The officer, he said, could be treated as a
servant, and he trusted that the matter would be so
arranged that he would be very speedily withdrawn.
The sheriff then withdrew to summon the officer,
whom in delicacy to Lord Kingstor, he had left
without the bounds of the demesne. 'Whilst he was
absent, Lord Kingston hastily called some of his
friends together and consulted with them.
Some of the least judicious recommended him
to close the doors. The noble lord was ill-advised
enough to act on this suggestion. The castle doors
were barred, and the earl and such of the party as
remained his guests determined to stand out a
siege.
The sheriff had behaved in the spirit of a gentle-
man and even of a friend. It was now his duty to
act as an administrator of the law. lie closely in-
vested the castle and its grounds, directing his officers
to obtain possession in any way they could. For
nearly a fortnight the siege continued. Dorisg
that time several councils of war were called
within the building. At length the more mode-
rate prevailed. They advised Lord Kingston
to surrender at discretion. No snow was at hand,
and the present proceeding, they suggested, would
only increase the irritation which these pro-
ceedinp had produced on both sidra. It was accord.
ingly determined to admit the officers. Late on the
evening of that day Lord Kingston drove away fur
the last time from the home of bin ancestors, and the
sheriff's men were summoned in to take possession of
the castle and its property.
It naturally followed that under these circum-
stances the whole body of credit:rs should step in.
The lands had for some time been in the hands of
trustees, and these trustees now tout upon themselves
the general control, and proceeded under the En-
cumbered Estates Act to pray for a sale of the whole
property and a proper distribution of the proceeds.
Everything in and about Mitchellstown is conse-
quently now for sale. And rarely indeed is it that so
magnificent a possession is to be obtained.
Mitcheastown Castle itself it situated in one of the
moat charming positions it is possible to imagine. From
afar off, as soon as the traveller enters the beautiful
valley which bears its name, the towers and battle-
ments of Mitchellstown are distinguished rising over
the surrounding woods, and affording an idea of msg-
nificence quite uncommon to this country. The
approach to the castle through the town is not with-
out beauty, though it might be much improved.
With a liberality very uncommon in Great Britain,
the gates are at all hours open to the public. It is
said that nothing delighted Lord Kingston so
mock as to see people enjoying themselves
in his demesne. In England the passage of
a vehicle through a park would be considered
by most proprie ora en annoying and unwelcome in-
trillion. At Mitchel stown Lord Kingston would
scarcely permit a carriage to enter without rushing
out to greet its occupants and to invite them to make
a survey of his castle and its grounds.
In harmony with the feelings of the noble owner,
the drive from the lodge gates to the entrance portal
of the castle is a short and pleasant one. No long and
chilling avenue affords the visitor time fur preparation.
A lawn and pleasure ground are pissed, and the
castle stands before you in all its princely grandeur.
It consists of a pile of castellated buildings, exten-
sive and elegantly proportioned, and built of stone
of the purest white, quarried from the hills on the
estate. The extrance porch is surmounted by the arms
of the White Knight, over which are shields bearing
the escutcheons of the families of Fenton and of
King. I recollect no edifies in England with which
to
tscom isfpassissre thisto
assimajesitioev,,beruilladinwg: Except
and far
it
mot that I have ma
Nothing can be Fri On& fa OMO/OOMlCtilin