The following table shows the imports and exports of hops for Belgium for a series of years: Imports of hops, in kilogrammes of 2 lbs.: FRANCE. The hop is grown in the north of France and the departments of la Somme and Pas-de-Calais. The hops planted in the department of the Bas Rhine in 1857 covered a superficies of 574 hectares (2 acres each), and there were 120 additional hectares planted in the next eight years. In 1845 France imported 721,000 kilos. of hops; in 1855, 1,556,000 kilos. French brewers for a number of years were accustomed to make beer without hops. They substituted for it coriander seed, wormwood, and the bark of boxwood; but the bad quality of the beer thus made disgusted their customers, and they compelled brewers to use hops as the only substance which can produce a wholesome beverage. In 1825 every inhabitant in France consumed but nine quarts of beer; in 1837 this had increased to nearly twenty litres, and since then it has progressively increased. Beer is the popular drink of the departments of the North, Pas-de-Calais, and Ardennes. In 1859 the quantity of beer made was 6,696,761 hectolitres; in 1866, 8,078,478 hectolitres. In 1862 there were 11,920 acres under hops, which produced 14,003,514 lbs. The yield per hectare was 1430 kilogrammes (of 2 lbs.), being an increase of 360 kilogrammes of dry cones per hectare over 1840. Hops occupied in 1871, 4263 hectares, the production being 57,153 cwt., valued at 11,539,126 francs. In 1872 the acreage under hops was 9223 acres, and the yield of the crop 14,003,514 lbs., or 40,706 cwt., valued at 162 frs. 62 c. the cwt. ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE. ERSITY CALIFORNIA 95 This culture is only important in the following depart Thus these six departments produced 54,798 cwt., or 95 per cent. of the whole. There are only thirteen departments in which it is grown. The loss of Alsace and Lorraine caused a considerable reduction, as these departments produced in 1862, 20,500 cwt. The culture of hops was introduced into Alsace in 1803, by the late M. Charles Ehrenpfort, of Hagueneau. M. Ehrenpfort had to overcome many difficulties, until the hops were at last admitted by the brewers of the country, who, accustomed to the use of German hops, would not use the nativegrown. This state of things discouraged the first planters. It was only in 1819 that M. Ehrenpfort succeeded in having his hops brewed in Alsace, by sacrificing several bales of his merchandise, which he managed to get a brewer of Strasburg to take, through the agency at first of a German merchant, and afterwards direct. The first successes obtained, other brewers were encouraged, and the culture of hops gradually developed in Alsace. The best qualities are found at Wissemburg, Molsheim, and Neuviller; and the whole production of Alsace at present amounts to about 40,000 metrical quintals (cwts.) every year.* * Journal de l'Académie Nationale,' 1874, p. 433. CHAPTER VII. PRODUCTION ON THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. UNITED STATES.-The hop plant was introduced into the British North American colonies soon after the first European settlements, and cultivated in New Netherlands in 1629, and in Virginia as early as 1648. In 1840 the United States only produced 6000 bales of hops; ten years later, 1849, the production had increased to 17,000 bales. The next decade showed a larger increase than in any other product, the growth of 1859 reaching 55,000 bales. The crop of 1862 was estimated at 80,000 bales, that of 1863 at 65,000, and of 1864 at 45,000 bales. In 1845 the hops grown in North America were: which was 2000 bales less than the previous year. Hop culture is now pretty generally diffused over the States; Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts are the principal New England hop-growing States. According to the census of 1849 the quantity of hops raised in the States was 3,497,029 lbs., of which New England produced 707,743 lbs., New York 2,536,299 lbs., and all the other States only 253,987 lbs. In 1854 the growth was about 27,000 bales, of 200 lbs. to H |
