Hopping-James Ellis of Westbury Manor(1847)

Post date: May 21, 2019 7:33:56 PM

Extract from The British Empire by J. R. McCulloch Vol 1, dated 1847 available on Google Books

The Hop (Humulus lupulus) has long been cultivated in the southern parts of England, particularly in the neighbourhood of Canterbury and Maidstone, in Kent, where there is a larger extent of ground appropriated to its growth than in any other county. The quality of the hops raised round Farnham in Surrey, and in the adjoining parts of Hants, is, from better management, or other causes, so superior, that they always command the highest price: they are also grown in Herefordshire, particularly on the confines of Worcestershire; in the latter, in the vales of the Severn and the Team : in the vicinity of Stowmarket in Suffolk, and near Retford in Nottinghamshire, but in these two places only to an inconsiderable extent; in Essex about Castle Hedingham; and in some parts of Sussex. The hop is so much affected by changes of weather, blights, and other distempers, that its produce varies more than that of any other plant, being sometimes as low as 1 or 2, and sometimes as high as 15 or 20 cwt. an acre In 1825, for example, the produce of the hop crop amounted to only 5,080,000 lbs., whereas in the following year it was 57,227,000 lbs. ! The average produce during the 4 years ending with 1834, was about 30,000,000 lbs. In 1845, the land under hops in the different parts of England and Wales comprised an area of 48,058 acres, whereof there were in Kent 24,888 acres; in Sussex, 11,016 ditto; in Hereford, 6,597 ditto; in Worcestershire, 1,225 ditto; in Hants, 2,765. During the same year the duty of 2d. per lb., produced £274,788., showing that the crop had amounted to 32,974,608 lbs. Grounds planted with hops fetch a higher rent per acre than any other kind of land not possessed of some peculiar local advantages, bringing from £5. to £12. per acre; and about Farnham considerably more. From their great uncertainty, they are believed to be, speaking generally, an unprofitable species of culture. They afford ample room for, and great temptations to, speculation, and are apt to divert the attention of the farmer to pursuits not very compatible with his peculiar business. The late Mr. Ellis, of Westbury Manor, in the Rochester collection, was the greatest hop-grower in the empire, having about 500 acres under this crop. He sometimes employed, in the picking season, as many as 4,000 people! He gave but an unfavourable account of the business. The increase of the quantity of land under hops in Kent, would seem, however, to show that their culture is either more profitable than is commonly imagined, or that the supposed advantages attending it more than countervail its drawbacks. – (See Report on Hops by the Commissioners of Excise Inquiry).