HOP CULTIVATION in TASMANIA.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 941, 9 May 1868, Page 3

HOP CULTIVATION in TASMANIA.

(¥rqm the " Australasian.") The culture of the liop is becoming one of the most promising of the industries of Tasmania. There are many considerations whioh render this a subject of gratification. The cultivation affords profitable work for the farmers, as the product finds a ready sale in the Melbourne markets, where these hops are in much request amongst brewers ; it supplies employment to large numbers of men, women, and children during a certain season of the year, and to others during the whole year ; and by adding another interesting English feature to the Tasmanian landscape, the hop gardens will tend to increase the attractions which the island presents to summer tourists from the neighbouring colonies. Some idea of the value of the industry may be gathered from the. fact that there are now over a hundred acres of hops growing in the New Norfolk district. Many farmers who occupy land conveniently situated for water supply are turning their attention more and more to the culture of this article. The average yield of the grounds at New Norfolk is about fifteen nundredweigbt to the acre, and it is estimated that next year, when every acre will be in full bearing, the income from this area will be considerably over £12,000. It is reckoned that the average cost of. producing hops, under ordinary circumstances, is about from £35 to £40 per acre. Not far short of 1.000 men, women, and children, are now employed in hop picking at New Norfolk and on the Styx. Of course the picking season does not extend beyond a few weeks in the year, but at that period it affords remunerative work to a large number who would otherwise be idle, many of whom also are old men, women, and children, whose labour would not be absorded by any other occupation now existing in the colony.. The average wages paid to the pickers is l§d. per bushel, at which rate it is said that an ordinary worker will earn 3s. per day. The Hobart Town Merawy, from which we condense these particulars, says: — "The necessity for retaining on the estates a supply of labour trained to the work of a hopgarden is now forcing itself upon the attention of the growers, and several gentlemen who have large grounds are building cottages for the residence of skilled labourers, who will thus be provided with profitable and permanent employment. In reference to hop-growing generally, it is evidently in its infancy, and as it progresses it must open up a vast source of wealth to the colony — wealth in specie to be drawn from other countries ; wealth in the great field for industry which is presented by this pursuit, for work in the hop-gardens is never done. As our readers are already aware, most of the hops grown in Tasmania during the past few years have been exported to Victoria, the brewers in this colony holding them in very high estimation. The firm of J. Solomon and Co., of Melbourne, are the principal purchasers ; and Mr. Hart, a member of that firm, annually visits the hop ground, generally purchasing for three years in advance. During this season, Mr. Solomon has himself visited the hop grounds, for the purpose of purchasing ; and by the Southern Cross, which left on Thursday, 155 bales, the first exportation of the season's crop were forwarded to Melbourne." Our contemporary then gives a description of Mr. Shoobridge's hop garden at Bushy Park, about fourteen miles trom New Norfolk, and within a mile of the River Styx. Here fifty-two acres are under crop with hops, and a large quantity of additional land is being prepared for the same purpose. The crop this year was very fine, the hops being large and the vines very prolific. There are at present 140 hop-pickers engaged, and more will be required, as the hops are ripening fast. The crop being heavy, and the hops thick and large, the pickers make good wages. The plantation is irrigated by water conducted in races from the Styx River, some distance above the grounds, and at a higher level, and it can thus be led in drains to any portion of the ground. Besides the dwellings erected and in course of erection for housing the labourers who are permanently engaged on the estate, a large hop-kiln has been lately built for the purpose of drying the hops. It is 120 feet long, and the floor is capable of drying 1,250 bushels of hops. Its construction embraces many improvements, and it is found to answer admirably. Mr. Shoobridge has also a hop plantation of twenty acres on the eastern bank of the Derwent, about a quarter of a mile above New Norfolk bridge. The grounds employ 125 hands at picking this season. They are irrigated by a force pump, worked by horse power, and there is a kiln on the place built of brick and stone, and capable of drying 1,500 bushels of hops per day. The estate of Redlands, the property of Mr. Robert C. Read, is one which is now well known to every Tasmanian, and to most strangers who have visited the island, as that on which the salmon ponds are situated. " Here Mr. Read has a hop ground of about twelve acres, and the time of our visit was fortunate," says the Mercwy, "as we were able to witness the whole process of picking, measuring, drying and packing. The picking-bins were arranged in the hop garden in three rows. These are strong frames of wood about three feet high, to which are attached by hooks square canvas bags. The frames can be made any size. The ordinary hop bin is nine feet by four feet, but most of those used in this colony are the long woolpack, which is about six feet by four feet. The poles are lifted by men, whose duty it is to supply the pickers, the vines being cut about two or three feet above the ground. The pole and vine are then laid sloping over the bin into which the hops are picked. From two to three pickers work at each bin, dividing the result of their work. When the bins are full the overseer comes round with a bushel measure, and the hops are measured out into large bags, the contents of each bin being duly noted. When bagged the hops are placed in a bullock dray, and conveyed to the kiln. The kiln at Redlands has been recently erected, and is, with the rooms attached to it, a very commodious structure, built entirely of red bricks manufactured on the estate. The kiln is a room about twenty feet square, having an air chimney in the roof, the floor is of hard wood covered with a coarse hair-cloth which lets the heat through, and upon which the hops are dried. In the room below the kiln is a large furnace, with four fires, one in eachface, and abovethisis what is called the fire-room, or conductor; a. closely bricked partition rising from the furnace on each side to the edge of the ceiling, and so enclosing the heat below the floor of the kiln; The hops being placed in the kiln, are turned frequently 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, forty or fifty feet long, where they are laid • in heaps, ready for packing or bagging. The plan adopted for packing hops in this colony is the same as that by which the wool is packed, and the ordinary screw wool press is fitted into every cooling room, communicating with the apartment below, which is the storing room." The hop plantation of Mr. A. Edddock,

of Turniff-lodge, New Norfolk, contains twelve acres, and this year employs over 100 pickers. The proprietor is erecting a thirteen horse-power engine, for the purpose of raising water from the Derwent to a height of ninety-five feet, for the purpose of irrigating the hop grounds. The water will be raised at the rate of 800 gallons per minute. The placo is provided with kiln, cooling room, press, &c. Mr. Reddock intends considerably to increase the extent of his grounds next season. Besides these, plantations there are several others at New Norfolk. " Mr. R. Terry, of the Lachlan mills, has now about ten acres under hops, and employs at present about sixty pickers. Mr. Sharland has thirty acres of hops ; Mr. Downie, of Glen Derwent, about four acres, which he is about to extend ; Mr. Nicholson, of Eing's-hill, about six acres ; Mr. Price, about four acres ; Mr. Yorke, of Sorell Creek, seven acres, besides others." Enough has been stated to make it evident that the industry is becoming a very important one, and if the above account should have the effect of stimulating any Victorian agriculturists to turn more attention to the hop cultivation than they have hitherto done, it will have served a very beneficial purpose.