The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-05-27

Hop Culture in l,pgIass,i.
LONDON. April 3Olh. /


In recent letter to THE GIoBE gave a
very imperfect sketch Of several agricultu-
raj interests which had the good fortune
to have explained to me by a gentleman
farmer upon one of the finest estates in that
celebrated county of Kent. Before dis
missing the subject shall venture to offer
brief review Of the hop culture in Eng
land, as it Is conducted in the ncighhorhood
OF Maidstone Kent, the scene of my visit.
From the year of their introduction into
England from the Netherlands, in 1924, the
hops and their management have been a
subject Of vital Importance and Of eminent
commercial interest. The entire range of
the southern counties of England, all along
the Channel, are devoted to the vineyards,
and as far ms the eye can see the forests of
hop-polcs stretch away to the horizon
broken here and there by an occasional
drying house. with its sugar-loaf-roof or
by the low roofs Of the hOp-masters'
, houses, with barns and pickers' dwellings.
The country is extremely beautiful in
natural endowments, and, perhaps, no re-
gion Is more romantic in its aspect, not eX-
cepting the grape vineyards of France,
than this same hop district of Kent.
The situations and exposures for the cul-
tivati0n of hops are such as slope gently to
the south, which receive the soft winds
from the coast of France, and are open to
the action of the SUM- the soil throughout
the county is of a thin, slaty soil, which
rests upon sub-soi of the stony kind, and
is largely intermXcd with rich mOuld
such lands as have long been in state of
pasture, old orchards, and dry meadows,
are extensively transformed into the hop
vineyards. |, myself, saw one vineyard of
few years growth which was reclaimed
meadow-land, extending n space Of ten
miles in length and six in breadth, and pro-
ducing, in favorable seasons, an average of
ten hundred weight of hops per acre. The
greatest amount raised has never exceeded
200 weight per acre, when, at the medi-
UNI price, (S20 90 per cwt.) of hops in
past Seasons, constitutes little fortune in
itself, over and above the cost of cultivation.
About month since the ground was
made ready and the cuttings and roots
placed in rows, horsepower being made
use of both as an economy of labor and
as surety for precision in planting. At
present the young sprouts have attained a
| height of from six to ten inches, and the
poles having been erected, the labor of try
ing has commenced. Some thirty persons,
men, women and children, are thus en-
ployed, while half the number busy them
selves with keeping the land loosened about
the vines, and in planting the common and
French bean, the cabbage and onions,
which thrive beside the hop-crops.
The majority of hop plantations in Eng
| land require some years To come to perfec-
ton and it is rarely that the produce is
taken from them during the first year, as
by this means great detriment is often done
to the future produce which they might af-
ford. However, the Suffolk farmers fire.
quently receive a produce, even from the
infant vines, of from three TO five hundred
weight of hops.
THE MODE OF CULTURE
English planters prefer the root system
to the hazardous mode of raising strong
vines from delicate slips 1t is in the latter
part of October that the roots are planted
in richly prepared earth the middle of
March finds the laborers at work opening
the hills and carefully clearing away the
earthly mould from the chief roots when
the stocks are properly dressed and pruncd;
all bearing stems of the preceding year arc
cut off within joint or two of the roots,
and all roots and suckers which are not
Iilil'i n W nu a'.ao ,ri ~ 'iu nv vi
mnion i'a,o s omm W .n'a 9'ou w. '"iv n,e
coripieieiy oica.eV away ano'il'ns neins
SUFFERED 10 o1n, , VA. can l"is'oiy ih-
jury vi l1euiu NC HcaI.ny snoWln VI .he
Young plant ohe hot interested IN inc
management "a s'iese Niheyalus can form
no cohcep'lon o. , .he ailAiety anu veAalions
plant which in reality grows wild along
me hedges OF England In May June ana
AuSus' ,nIs ,,,'Slns lIocess 10 !elc"'eu anu