ceiling, and so enclosing the heat below the floor of the kiln. After being placed in the kiln the hops are turned with a wooden rake, and are dried until the leaves become brittle, and rub off easily. They are then removed to the cooling room, which is a large apartment under the same roof, 50 feet long, where they are laid in heaps, ready for packing or bagging. The plan adopted for packing hops is the same as that by which wool in the neighbouring colonies is packed, and the ordinary screw press, which is used for this purpose, communicates with the apartment below, which is the storing room. The hop pack is placed in the box, as in the case of wool, and the hops are then thrown in through the aperture in the floor of the upper apartment, and when this is full the screw descends, and the whole are pressed tightly into the pack. Before the hops are baled, they are passed through a coarse sieve of cane, which breaks them up thoroughly, and also removes any portion of the vine stalk which may accidentally have been overlooked in measuring. Mr. Allwright has every convenience attached to his kiln, and he expects it to answer his purpose admirably.

At New Norfolk, the oldest hop-growing district, the average per acre increased from 607 96 lbs. in 1868-9 to 837 45 lbs. in 1869-70; in the district of Hobart it increased from 148 lbs. to 611.94 lbs.; at Brighton,. from 250 lbs. to 400 lbs.; at Glenorchy, from 154 80 lbs. to 451 61 lbs.; and so with other districts. The gross yield increased from 242 268 lbs. to 415 061 lbs., or 71.32 per cent.

There are now fourteen districts in the island in which hops are grown.

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In the Huon district hop growing has been established, and with the best prospects. There are many other localities equally favourably situated for the cultivation of this crop. The yield in New Norfolk in 1866 was 45 tons; in 1867 it had increased to 70 tons; in 1868, 100 tons; and in 1869, 100 tons, which fetched from 1s. to 2s. per pound.

A return of the hops grown in the district of New Norfolk, published in the Hobart Town Mercury' for 1870, showed that there were seventy hop growers, with 447 acres under culture. The produce amounted to 166 tons 16 cwt. qr. 20 lbs. It will be the hop growers' own fault if Tasmania does not soon supply all Australia and New Zealand, if not entirely, yet mainly.

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Among the remedies which have been tried to destroy the red spider which has played such havoc among the hops during past seasons, are sulphur, dilute decoction of tobacco, and carbolic acid. Dr. Turnley is of opinion that a gallon of the common acid, to about two or three hundred of water, would be found strong enough for the object required. It is yet a debatable point whether the dilution could be applied without injury to the plant itself, or its marketable product. Dr. Agnew, after making a microscopical examination of the red spider, gave it as his opinion that the insect was identical with the Acarus telarius, as figured in McIntosh's 'Book of the Garden,' vol. ii. p. 77; although a later authority gave it the name of Gamasus telarius, an allied genus of the same great class, Arachnida. It is oviparous, and many broods are hatched during the season. The ova are probably for the most part deposited on the under surface of the leaves, whence the young when hatched can extract nourishment;

but it is possible some may also be deposited in the bark of the hop poles, or even in the ground, where the animals themselves are found in great numbers. The presence of the pest is attempted to be accounted for in two ways. Some think the hop itself, from exposure to high winds, from scant supply of water or manure, or from other causes, first becomes sickly, and thus favours or provokes the development of the spider. Others think the fault is not in the plant in the first instance; but that under some peculiar and unknown influence, whether atmospheric or telluric, or by consent of both, vast developments of animal life take place at certain periods, in a manner not yet accounted for. As to remedial measures, every suitable hygienic application should be adopted, and due shelter from winds afforded. If the ground is found to be exhausted of any necessary chemical element, this should be restored, and proper quantities of manure and water furnished. From the numbers of the insects found in the bark, it is evident the poles should be carefully deprived of their bark, and it would probably be advisable to soak them in tar before setting them up.

VICTORIA. In the second Progress Report of a Royal Commission appointed in Victoria to inquire how far it might be practicable to introduce into that colony branches of industry known to be common and profitable among the farming population of continental Europe, published in 1872, I find the following passage on this subject:

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Although hop growing may be neither a novel nor a foreign industry, it has been considered by us as one of great importance, and has commanded our attention. The first planters of hops in this colony were not acquainted with the

practices elsewhere, and printed instructions were not easily to be had, if we except the few articles on this subject which have appeared in the weekly papers from time to time. Thus the pioneers in this branch of rural industry have had to acquire experimentally, as it were, their knowledge; but they have proved parts of the colony to be eminently adapted for the growth of hops. Labour was scarce and dear at picking time, and the oasting part of the work was not understood, so that the pecuniary returns were at first disappointing; but experience has convinced the growers that further knowledge is alone required to render their hop gardens highly remunerative. To supply this in part Mr. Howitt obtained from Kent plans of the most approved kilns or oasts, which he kindly placed at the disposal of the Commission. And it may be encouraging to say that in Gippsland very simple kilns have been erected of rough materials and at moderate cost, with which complete success has been achieved. But this result was not obtained by the means before alluded to, but by the skill of an experienced hopcurer, who was engaged at other work, until he learned from the published reports of our proceedings that practical knowledge of the kind was needed by the growers of hops in a part of the country with which he was not previously acquainted."

Wherever beer is made hops form a serious item of expenditure, and it is probable that within a few years enough may be grown in Victoria to supply the demands of the colony, even if they were not readily obtainable in Tasmania. Hop gardens have been made in Gippsland and in the Ovens district, and the plant tried successfully in other parts of the colony. Of the prospects of this branch of agricultural

industry in North Gippsland, a settler near Bairnsdale thus speaks:

The writer has expended a large sum of money in hop growing; soil and climate admirably adapted, but labour scarce and dear at picking time. With cheap labour this industry may be extended almost indefinitely in the valley of the Mitchell. Hop plants two years old produced last year (1872) 11 cwt. to the acre, and upwards, within half a mile of Bairnsdale."

Did space allow, I could add the testimony of many other growers of hops in Gippsland. A gentleman residing near Raley writes to say that he has 11 acres of hops, which will be in full bearing this year, and look very promising. These have since yielded upwards of half a ton to the acre. The only difficulty experienced in Gippsland was the picking and drying; but proper kilns have now been erected, and as properly cured colonial hops always fetch the highest prices, they will admit for a time of a somewhat extra cost for picking.

This twining perennial unisexual plant has been found to yield enormously on river banks in Victoria, in rich soil, or on fertile slopes where irrigation could be effected, particularly so within the territory along the river valleys of Gippsland, and other similar localities. A pervious, especially alluvial soil, fertile through manure or otherwise, appliances for irrigation, natural or artificial, and also shelter against storms, are some of the conditions for success in hop growth, and under such conditions the rearing of hops will prove thus far profitable in countries and localities of very different mean temperature. A dry summer season is favourable to the ripening and gathering of hops. On the Mitchell River,