AGRICULTURE Second Year Rent and labour Picking 4 cwt. at "js. 6d. . Drying at 5/. per cwl. Cloth and packing . Tithe ... . • Manure ... Duty .... 4 cwt. of Hops at £^ the average price Loss to grower first two years . The Other Three Years Three years' polage (renewal of poles) at 200 per year Three years' rent Three years' labour Picking 12 cwt. Drying do. Cloth and packing Tithe . Manure . Duty Add expense for first 2 years Three years' crop, 1 2 cwt. at £4 Second year's crop Less exs. .... Profit in five years . £ 2 I I o o 3 10 o 17 J. o o o o o 15 1 18
7 23 19 16 7
7 19 7 £ s. J. ^ 12
3
3
9
4 10
3
2
1 1
I 4
2 5
5 15 9 29 23 6 19 9 7 53 6 4 48 16
64
53
6
4 lO 13 8 The compiler of this account remarks, as he well may, that the average return from an acre of hops has never been very large, and it is the chance of making a lucky hit that affords so much fascina- tion in growing them. Arthur Young, however, about the same date, estimates the cost per statute acre at j^3i los. as under : — Rent Tithe . Rates . Labour of all sorts Manure Duty, about . Poles . Drying, packing, &c. Interest on outlay and cosi Interest on capital £ s. d. 3
10
10
10
4
5
3
2
I
2
10
31 10 Such divergent estimates as the three here given are somewhat perplexing ; the Herefordshire grower of 1793 who only spent £1 31. a year per acre in labour, cannot have been very enter- prising, and as Marshall and Young were both careful and practised observers their accounts are almost certainly accurate. If the three last items of Young's account and the cost of picking are " This account is given because it is contemporary and therefore interesting, but it is apparently careless ; for instance the 2,000 poles should not be debited, especially as renewals are also charged for, nor should a/l the roots be charged against the first five years, and the cost of labour is very low. I 425 54
