Hopping (1841): 'come quick and will go quick'

Post date: Apr 05, 2012 11:53:40 AM

Extract from Sussex Advertiser of 23rd August 1841:

—Wateringbury, Mereworth, and Nettlestead.—The hops are coming to maturity slowly, inconsequence of the cold nights and damp days. They are damaged by the rough winds at some places, and in some of the strong grounds the strig of the burr is rotting by the wet. Most persons express a decided opinion against a full crop. At the annual hop dinner, at the King's Head, Wateringbury, on the instant, there were between 40 and 50 present, and on betting for the sweepstakes the average was between 143 and £144,000. for the year 1841.

Extract from West Kent Guardian of 11th September 1841:

Mereworth and Wateringbury.—The hops in this district are not looking quite so favourable; the Golding hops will be small, as it now appears they have almost done growing, and the opinion is against the duty as is now stated to be called in the Borough.

Wateringbury, Yalding, Nettlested. —The hops in Wateringbury have not got out so well as in many other districts below the hill; in consequence will come short of last year. The picking will be general on Monday next. The hops are much the same at Nettlested. At Yalding they are exceedingly good, with expectations of a large crop.

Extract from Northampton Mercury, 18th September 1841

Wateringbury and Mereworth.—Several of the growers in this neighbourhood have begun picking, and the general complaint is that the hops fall far short of their expectations as to quantity and quality; indeed the old adage as to hops, that they " come quick and will go quick," will be fully verified this year. Several of the growers have begun several days sooner than they expected to do a fortnight since, and the duty will not pay so much by one fifth as computed at that time.

Extract from West Kent Guardian 16th October 1841:

HOP INTELLIGENCE. WATERINGBURY, NETTLESTED, YALDING AND HINTON. The average of hops per acre grown in Wateringbury parish, is a trifle less than three bags per acre —Nettlested about four bags, per acre, and Yalding as near 12 cwt. per acre as I am able to get at it. Hunton, from what I can hear, is about four bags per acre.