The cultivation of hops in the British Isles is restricted to England,
where it is practically confined to half-a-dozen counties--four in the
south-eastern and two in the west-midland districts. In 1901 the English
crop was reported by the Board of Agriculture to occupy 51,127 acres.
The official returns as to acreage do not extend back beyond 1868, in
which year the total area was reported to be 64,488 acres. The largest
area recorded since then was 71,789 acres in 1878; the smallest was
44,938 acres in 1907. The extent to which the areas of hops in the chief
hop-growing counties vary from year to year is sufficiently indicated in
Table I., which shows the annual acreages over a period of thirteen
years, 1895 to 1907. The proportions in which the acres of hops are
distributed amongst the counties concerned vary but little year by year,
and as a rule over 60% belongs to Kent.