The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-17 00:00:00

HOP INTELLIGENCE.

(From the lVorcester journal.)
WORCESTER, JUNE 11.—The blight has become gene-
ral in this plantation ; and in a communication which has
been forwarded to us it is stated that the gardens were
never looking worse. The duty is talked about at 10 or
12.0001, , but there are no backers. Prices were up 2s. to
31. on Saturday, but the business done was not very ex-
tensive. On that day nineteen pockets were weighed, and
during the week seven.
HEREFORD, JUNE 8 —lt is generally thought that the
" strong" paragraphs in the Papers on the state of the hop
plantations are the production of interested parties, and in-
tended to influence the market. However this may be,
such is not the case with the writer of the notices under

this head, since he is unconnected with the trade, and
derives his information either from actual observation
or from persons likely to give accurate accounts.
The public will not therefore expect extravagant
views from this place. One writer says, " The Wor-
cester plantation is considered to be more infested by ver-
min than was ever known at so early a period. This dis-
trict and Essex have now a sufficient quantity to destroy
the whole crop !"—Mercy en us I—then there will not be a
single hop this year. What is to become of the poor
pickers? Hitherto they have managed to earn a few shil-
lings in the autumn, but now this will be out of the ques-
tion ; the Union workhouses will be besieged with appli-
cants, and not one-tenth will be able to gain admit-
tance. I know not what the writer means by the
" Worcester district ;" but in this county, where at least
three times as many hops are grown as in Worcester-
shire, the prospect is not by any means so bad as ho
represents. During the whole of Friday we had heavy
rain, and this, combined with the high winds, has for a
time at least dislodged the fly. Many of the hop-yards
look very well, and certainly something like a crop is yet
expected. Respecting the forwardness of the season, it is
a fact that in some places wheat was in ear last month, and
no wonder therefore that the vermin are already so abun-
dant. With respect to the fly, it cannot be considered
very formidable, but that it must come as well as the bine
itself, and therefore no measures are taken for its extinc.
tion. A year or two ago a gentleman, supposing that the
insect might deposit its ova, or eggs, upon the poles,
adopted the plan of scorching them before using, but the
suggestion has never been generally acted upon.
MAIDSTONE.—The blights and close weather of the
past week have caused an immense increase of fly and
lice in the parishes lying under the rag-stone hills. From
the Suttons to East Peckham inclusive the lice completely
cover some leaves, and are very numerously scattered upon
others. In this immediate district, however, the bines
have grown during the week with astonishing rapidity, and
certainly arc not invested by one-tenth of the number of

insect vermin, which are to be seen in the parishes above-
named. In the " flower of Kent " ground the bines
have in many instances nearly reached the tops of the
eighteen-feet poles, and all the neighbouring well-culti-
vated grounds have been equally distinguished for vigour
and rapid growth. A few days hot weather and a thunder
cotm would dg much to recover the grounds that are now
suffering.

SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE.—On Thursday
last, Mrs. Bell, the wife of a mason residing at the Broomiclaw,
heard the cries of a child on the stair leading to her house, and
on going out found a person, habited as a sailor of the better
class, sitting upon the stair with a child on his knee. lie stated
that he was waiting for his wife, who had gone to the south
site of the river, and that the child had got impatient on
his hands; on which Mrs. Bell invited him into her
house, and took the child for the purpose of queting
its cries. The sailor now appeared as if drunk, stated
that he was master of the brig Margaret, lying at the Broo-
mielaw, and proposed to go out to look after the mother of
the child. In doing so, he thoppFil, as if by accident, two
one-pound notes upon th fl
e oor, which Mrs. Bell picked up,
and restored to him. Be then left the house, and has not since
returned, leaving the child under the rare of Mrs. Bell. She
has awe inquiry after the brig Margaret, of which lie
spoke, but finds that there is no such vessel at the Broomie-
law, and, by a reference to the Tonnage Office, has ascer-
tained that no vessel of that name has been in the harbour
during the last two years. This part of the story, there-
fore, turns out a fiction. The child, a fine healthy boy, about
six or eight months old, was dressed in rather a superior style,
a circumstance which, taken in connection with the father's
appearance, and the dropping of the pound notes (now thought
to be intentional), has left the present custodiers of the infant
to form high notions of the respectability of its parentage.
Mrs. Bell has given notice of the circumstance to the police ;
but in the event of the parents not claiming the child, declares
it to be her intention, though she has two children of her own,
to bring it up. She has, in the meantime, provided it with a
nurse.— Glasgow Argus.