| Kent. | Hereford. | Sussex. | Worcester. | Hants. | Surrey. |
| 9.31 | 7.14 | 9.41 | 7.79 | 8.78 | 7.23 |
Table III. shows the average acreage, yield and total home produce of England during the decades 1888-1897 and 1898-1907.
Table III.
| Periods. | Average Annual Acreage. | Average Annual Yield per acre (cwt.). | Average Annual Home Produce (cwt.). |
| 1888-1897 | 56,370 | 7.76 | 438,215 |
| 1898-1907 | 48,841 | 8.84 | 434,567 |
The wide fluctuations in the home production of hops are worthy of note, as they exercise a powerful influence upon market prices. The largest crop between 1885, the first year in which figures relating to production were collected, and 1907 was that of 776,144 cwt. in 1886, and the smallest that of 281,291 cwt. in 1888, the former being more than 2½ times the size of the latter. The crop of 1899, estimated at 661,373 cwt., was so large that prices receded to an extent such as to leave no margin of profit to the great body of growers, whilst some planters were able to market the crop only at a loss. The calculated annual average yields per acre over the years 1885 to 1907 ranged between 12.76 cwt. in 1899 and 4.81 cwt. in 1888. No other staple crop of British agriculture undergoes such wide fluctuations in yield as are here indicated, the size of the crop produced bearing no relation to the acreage under cultivation. For example, the 71,327 acres in 1885 produced only 509,170 cwt., whereas the 51,843 acres in 1899 produced 661,373 cwt.—19,484 acres less under crop yielded 152,203 cwt. more produce.
Comparing the quantities of home-grown hops with those of imported hops, of the total available for consumption about 70% on the average is home produce and about 30% is imported produce. The imports, however, do not vary so much as the home produce. Table IV. shows the average quantity of imports to and exports (home-grown) from Great Britain during the decades 1877-1886, 1887-1896 and 1897-1906.
Table IV.
| Periods. | Annual Average Imports (cwt.). | Annual Average Exports (cwt.). |
| 1877-1886 | 215,219 | 10,805 |
| 1887-1896 | 194,966 | 9,437 |
| 1897-1906 | 186,362 | 14,808 |
The highest and lowest imports were 266,952 cwt. in 1885 and 145,122 cwt. in 1887, the latter in the year following the biggest home-grown crop on record. On a series of years the largest proportion of imports is from the United States.
During the twenty-five years 1881-1905 the annual values of the hops imported into England fluctuated between the wide limits of £2,962,631 in 1882 and £427,753 in 1887. In five other years besides 1882 the value exceeded a million sterling. The annual average value over the whole period was £921,000, whilst the annual average import was 194,000 cwt., consequently the average value per cwt. was nearly £4, 15s., which is approximately the same as that of the exported product. The quantities and values of the imported hops that are again exported are almost insignificant.