TASMANIAN HOP CROP.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 160, 17 May 1873, Page 2

TASMANIAN HOP CROP.

Am'HOL'ch hop-growing iti mi experimental way has bera practised in this colony for many year-*, the credit of introducing the industry into litstr.ilm undoubtedly belongs to Tasmania. Before Adelaide had a loc.d habitation, or evsfc? a 11,1111 c, the inhabitants of the tight little island liaflSft(vsie I ocular proof of the adaptability of their climate and v> d lor t lie growth of th« hop-plant. Very little attention, appears to have been paid to the fact until the partial* failuro of otlier sources of production brought conspicuously before tlie Tiisinaniana tlie necessity for turning sumo of the undeveloped resources of the colony to account. During the past few years- there has bct*n 11 steady increase, amounting on the average to> a trifle over 30 acres annually, in the area under cultivation,, which at the end of 1872 had reached G73 acres. Of tins quantity, we learn from the Hubart Town Mercury, there are in full bearing at Kew Noifolk something like live hundred acres, distributed' amongst sixty growers. Tlia principal hop districts are those of New Norfolk and CHenorcln , and the largest plantation is 1 hut of .Messrs E Shoobndgeand Sons, of Bushy Park, containing sixty acres in- bearing, mid ten which will be ready lor poling next season. The number of hands employed upon the estate at hirvest time this year was 417, including men, women, and chiklr.Mi The proprietors, it is stated, show exceptional kmdnc»s to their work-people, for not only do they provide them with lodgings, but contribute something Inn isome towards their couwmssariat in the sliqie of soup, potatoes, and cake. This is in addition to the ordinary pay of three- halfpence per bushel for picking— a rate which enablos fc skilful hand to earn about 3s Gd a day. The total number of persons employed at New Norfolk 4^ hop-picking- and pole-pulling is set down at 2850 Thes«r-, consist mainly of women, children, itncV infirm old men, many of whom travel on foot all the- way from Hobart Town on the mere chance of finding' employment for two months at the moderate rate of pay mentioned above. As we have hinted, there are few proprietors so considerate to their employes as the Messrs Shoobridge, and' it is consequently no uncommon thing elsew here to find pickers residing in roughly-constructed sheds, or even settling down to sleep beneath the hcdgjfc. The crop this year is spoken of as a very good one. 'ino average for New Nerfolk will be from It} to 15 cwt. an acre, but there arc exceptional patches where as much as from 2> to 28 cwt. m ill be gathered. There is some difference of opinion as to the value of irrigation, but it is a noteworthy fact tliafc in those plantations where provision is made for -, watering the plants the yield is much higher than where the grower depends solely upon the natural supply. The tvro> great enemies of the hop in Tasmania appear to be frost and the spider, but neither of these have done much damage this season. No mention is made in the reports of the canker with which the plants introduced from Tasmania into the south-east were so injuriously aflectcd, so that we may assume it has diesappeared from New Norfolk if it ever obtained a lodgment there. Some of the growers have adopted with satisfactory results the Coley system of poling, consisting m< the use of stout permanent posts, supporting poles whicli. stretch diagonally from hill to hill. Othprs have adopted' the lunel plan of leaving the lulls unearthed, and have found it answer very well ; but as a rule the old Kent methods arjg| followed out to the letter. The quality of this year's hops \o said to be very fine, but the price is not likely to be so high as in 1872, when the failure in the yield in Europe brought the Tasmanian article into extensive request m the colonies. — Adelaide paper.