NEW ZEALAND HOPS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XIX, Issue 165, 28 July 1883, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND HOPS.

Writing by v the last' mail the Post's London correspondent says : — More than once, lately,: reference has been made m the Home papers to the oxcellont quality of the .New. Zealand hops. Land and Water, of Saturday last, contained the following paragraph:—"A cargo of 325 bales ;.6f hops, which lately arrived from Melbourne, are found to be m capital condition, and far superior m quality and color to any which have been previously imported from that colony. A few bales only have been received m the past few years, the English: market having hitherto supplied Australia with this necessity. Within the past aix years,- however, a spirit of emigration has set m amongst the .Kentish hop-groweis, and scattered them over the faco of the globe. Some have'settled m Tasmania and New 1 Zealand. Soils and situations favorable for the cultivation of the plant were soon found, especially m the North Island ot New Zealand, both the Nelson and Manawatu districts producing rbinarkably fini specimens. Hop roots, or sets, as they are .called, were gent out from England, together with other appliances necessary for hop cultivation and it is a fact that m Tasmania, Nelson, and Manawatu, hop gardens m complete cultivation, poled with straight poles, and with kilns for drying, aro to be found, almost equal to anything existing m old hop counties—Kent and Sussex. . A remarkable feature so far i 3 that in.tha boloniea no destructive insects have as yet presented themselves. The aphis and red spider, so often recorded as destroying one of the most valuable agricultural crops m England, are at present conspicuous by their absence. The excessively high prices reached by hops m our market, and still more so m Nuremberg and New York, are duo to the fact that the hop crop of tho Noithern Hemisphere was a failure. In Australia, however, the season has been good, and thus it is we find .a' speculator bold' enough to : bring into the London market a large, parcel of Australian hops of the 1883 growth. Unfortunately for the speculator,'the maiket prices are much lower now than when the consignment left thd colonies, and as prices ara very high m Melbourne, it is a question whethei any groat amount of money will be realised by the venture. There 1 is however, something gained., English' planters can now see that New Zealand and Tasmania can grow hops aa well as themselves— superior m color, though not quite so strong m flavor "