The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-04-27
For the Dispatch.
SpeciaItties i'm Agriculture-Hop Gull

Previous to the influx of SO large Ger
man population, and while yet spurious
liquors paid little or notax, malt liquor had
not become the popular beverage in the
United States; hops; therefore, being little
in demand, little cultivated, and bringing
but fifteen to twenty-five cents per pound,
the profit on raising them was not greater
than on common agricultural products.
But great changes have taken place, the
causes limited Mt have reversed the condi-
tons, and the United States may now be
classed with England, Germany, and Bel
GUM, rs beer-drinking country. The
demand for hops has outrun the supply, the
price has steadily gone up 800 per cent,
and Mt this time there is no agricultural
operation so largely and SO promptly remu
neratiye as the culture Of hops. '-t..
By its admission to English ports free of
duty, that market is brought to our own
door, and there is now no more probability
that the consumption of hops will decline,
or that the price will be reduced to its
former level, then there is that a general
exodus of the German population will take
place, or that the price of -four will return
to FIVE dollars barrel.
Not from any peculiar fitness of soil and
climate, but from the settlement there of
two or three Englishmen, Schoharie, in
central New York, was the place where
hop-yards were first planted, and as brew
cries multiplied, the culture spread to
adjoining counties. With improvements in
the quality of ale and beer, the demand for
hops and the profits on their culture went on
increasing, till they have become the staple
crop in large districts Of Vermont, Connec-
ticut, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Michi-
gan, and it now covers a breadth of $4,000
acres, which yield an aggregate to the grow
ers of SIC, 900, 900 per annum. a.s
The opinion was received for settled fact,
that it could not be grown south Of latitude
40, but as in almost every country garden
in Virginia might be seen o vine that need
ed only cultivation to make it flourish, this
writer was satisfied it would do well in field
culture, and in 1866 he planted one acre near
Richmond, with sets procured from Scho-
harie, and SO far rs he has been able to
ascertain, this was the first hop-yard plant
ed south of the Potomac. If there is now
any plantation to the extent of one acre in
the State he would be very glad to obtain
the information where it is.
The set used for planting is not root,
but section of the underground runner,
and should contain two or more eyes or
buds. 1t is succulant, and has no ligneous
fibre, and therefore is very susceptible of
heat and moisture-in saturated soil it
rots, in parched one it scorches, and if for
want of acclimation it does not strike root
Mt once, in ten days it disappears and not
trace of it is found in the ground. The
writer lost ninety per cent. OF his first
planting, and from second importation he
lost more. He kept on renewing, and found
that eyes taken, from the survivors Of his
first planting never failed Of roofing; and
, from this source chiefly he had three and
half acres to start with the following spring
By the end Of August the plants which had
at once rooted produced about three-quarters
of pound of ripe hops (he had rarely more
left than one plant to hill), and finer hops:
he had never seen. The lupuline or yellow
resinous grains, called hop-four, deposited
at the base of the petals, and which encloscs
the seed, existed in abundance beyond all
his experience. ~. .-..
His conclusions are, that sets from the
north are easier acclimated in fall than
spring, and yice Versa !; and that for sets al
ready acclimated, the last Of September or
curly III OctODtr - the De6l tllNcst4 luty get
two months growth before winter, make
good roots, and have an early start in the
spring, and the first crop will be conside-
rably larger than If planting is deferred to
spring. e--....,.s=-g--
Purposing to. extend his plantation twenty
acres in the coming fall, he will make the
production Of hops Tor the year, subsidiary
to the making of sets, and with this subject
suffer no more vines to climb than will be
necessary to the feeding of the root. Their
present condition promises at least fifty sets
70 the hill, which will give all he needs for
himself, and leave $4,000 for il;stribnt;on /.
a dhsse sess, OF which the roots should be
elearea every year, We're formerly cast a,vay
asrubbish, but 80 great has the .assaa , % I
come for them in the last few years sio. ne-
knows Of no northern planter now w i,,1. ne
sell them otherwise than by number. a, | NJ
price Of thirty dollars per thousand, and
money with the order. The yield Of sets i
indefinitely large, and for some years. te
come, In every locality in which it has no
been some time domesticated, the raising Of
the plant for It's sets will be six times more
remunerative than even the raising of hops
for the brewery. S. s. sis!ss
Hops are all Of one species, Halfntiltls L.gt-
pubs; but there are several varieties. The
English cluster brings the highest price in
the market; it ripens most evenly, has the