.."Upcultivation. 
 
HOP CULTIVATION. 
 
 BT 
 
 CHAELES WHITEHEAD, P.L.S., F.G.S. 
 
 WITH : fMlMTMEW ILLUaTMATJVNS. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 JOHN MtJEEAY, AliBEMAELE STREET. 
 
 1893. 
 
PAMPHLETS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 HINTS ON VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GROWING. 
 
 Fourth and Enlarged Edition, 1893. With 7 Illustrations. 
 
 METHODS OF PREVENTING AND CHECKING 
 THE AHACKS OF INSECTS AND FUNGI. 
 
 With 26 Illustrations. 1891. 
 l^vloe SISCPEilSrCE:. 
 
HOP CULTIVATION. 
 
 Contents. 
 
 FAGi: 
 INTEODUCTION X 
 
 HISTOBY 2 
 
 THE HOP DISTEICTS OF ENGLAND 4. 
 
 VAEIETIE^ OP HOPS AND MODES OP PLANTING 9 
 
 DEESSING, 12; POLING li 
 
 AEEANGBMBNTS OP WIEB AND STEING I5 
 
 TYING, 17; LADDBK TYING Ig 
 
 MANUEIjS 18 
 
 CULTIVATION, 21 ; EAETHING > . . 24 
 
 WASHING POE APHIS. BLIGHT 21 
 
 WIEBWOEMS, 27; JUMPBES, 27; BED SPIDBB, 27; HOP PLEA . .29 
 
 BENEFICIAL INSECTS 29 
 
 MILDEW 31 
 
 "LBWING" 34 
 
 PICKING, 34; DEYING, 37; PBESSING 41 
 
 THE COST OP HOP PEODUCTION 44 
 
 PEOPITS AND PEOSPECTS .45 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 As there is a considerable demand for detailed infortnatibn upon 
 the cultivation and management of hops, in the methods of which 
 many changes and improvements have been made of late, this 
 account has been prepared at the request of the Eoyal Agricul- 
 tural Society, in whose Journal there has been no full description 
 of all the branches of this subject since the elaborate contribu- 
 tion by Mr. Eutley in 1840 on The Best Mode of Managing 
 Hops. In 1864 Mr. J. P. Smith wrote a capital paper for the 
 Journal (vol. xxv.) on the Hop Cultivation of Worcester, and 
 
 A 
 
2 Sop Culdvation. 
 
 tte present i waiter recorded in 1870 (vol. vi., 2nd series) Becent 
 It}np'ovements in the Oldtit'ja'tipn arid Management of Hops in its 
 pages, and again in 1890 (vol. i., 3rd series) gave a short 
 sketcli of the progress of this industry entitled Fifty Tears of 
 Hop Farming. He also wrote an article on Hop Cultivation for 
 the Journal of the Bath and West of Fngland Society in 1881, 
 and reprinted in 1880 a series of articles written for the 
 Country Brewers' Gazette entitled Hops from the Set to the 
 Shylights. Beyond these papers there is not much literature of 
 a practical nature upon the subject. The Hop Farmer, by 
 J. Lance, published in 1838, gives full particulars of hop 
 growing and hop drying, but these naturally are not up to date. 
 A Treatise on the Cultivation and Management of Hops was 
 written by Mr. H. M. Main waring in 1855 : this chiefly relates 
 to methods in use in Herefordshire and Worcestershire. 
 Mr. P. L. Simmonds wrote Hops, their Cultivation, Commerce, 
 and Uses in Various Countries, in 1877, which deals more with 
 commercial than cultural points. ^ 
 
 History. 
 
 Hops have been grown in England since the beginning of 
 the fifteenth century. Hasted, the historian of Kent, states 
 that a petition was presented to Parliament in 144<2 against the 
 hop plant, which was termed a "wicked weed." ^ Hops are 
 first mentioned in the English laws in 1552, the fifth year of 
 the reign of Edward VI., when some privileges were given 
 to " hop grounds." There was a hop plantation in the village of 
 Bourne near Canterbury, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, as 
 may be proved by old records, and in the year 1603 a code of 
 penalties was enacted against the importation of spoiled and 
 adulterated hops; from this it may be inferred that the 
 English hop grounds did not produce enough hops for the home 
 requirements, and that foreign importers, as sometimes in these 
 days, sent some rubbish to the English markets. 
 
 Hop gardens, humularia, for yielding hops for making beer,, 
 existed in Germany as early as the ninth century, according to 
 old documents in the Freisingen collection written in the time 
 of Ludovicus Germanicus.^ Hops were used in the Netherlands 
 for brewing beer in the commencement of the fourteenth 
 century, and the technical knowledge, or at all events improved 
 
 ' The History amd Topographical Survey of the County of Kent. By E 
 Hasted, Esq., F.R.S. 
 
 * Beckmann's History of Inventions, vol. ii. p. 380. 
 
Hop Oultivation. 3 
 
 teclinical knowledge of their cultivation and management, was 
 without doubt brought from the Netherlands by the Walloons, 
 who introduced many other cultures, plants, and manufactures 
 into Kent. 
 
 A pamphlet upon hops, the first work published on the 
 subject, was written by Eeynolde Scot, printed by Henrie 
 Denham, " dwelling in Paternoster Eowe at the Sign of the 
 Starre," in 1576, and dedicated to the " Eight Worshipfull 
 Mayster William Lovelace Esquire, Sergeaunt at Lawe," who 
 lived at Bethersden in Kent, and is advised by Mr. Scot in his 
 dedication to " looke downe into the bowels of your grounde 
 and to seeke about your house at Beddersden for a convenient 
 plot to be applyed to a Hoppe garden." ^ This quaint writer 
 evidently thought highly of hop land, as he says, " One acre of 
 ground and the third part of one man's labour, with small coste 
 beside, shall yealde unto him that ordereth the same well fortie 
 marks yearly and that for ever," or about 261. 13s. Tusser, 
 who wrote in the middle of the sixteenth century, alludes fre- 
 quently to the various operations connected with hop culture.^ 
 
 In his curious Way to get Wealth, written in 1668, Mark- 
 ham has an interesting description of hop husbandry, in a 
 chapter headed "The enriching of all manner of barren grounds, 
 and so to make it fruitfull to bear Hopps." ^ In the Riches of 
 a Hop Garden Explained, dated 1729, Professor Bradley holds 
 that 
 
 It is time to come more immediately to the purpose of planting the 
 hop, which, considering the small space of ground it taies up in comparison 
 to other plants and small expense of planting, the prodigious profit to the 
 proportion, and the great advantage it brings to the crown of Great Britain 
 IS well worth the consideration. For even ground that was never hefore 
 esteemed worth a shilling an acre per annum is rendered worth forty, fifty, 
 or sometimes more pounds a year by planting hops judiciously iipon it, 
 which motive induces me to give a work of this nature to the public. At 
 the first time when hops were planted with us they were sold at 11. 6s. per 
 hundred, as it is observed in one of my memorandums of early date, and it 
 is also remarked by the same curious observer that an acre of ground culti- 
 vated for hops shall bring to the owner clear profit about 30/. yearly, for a 
 long season ; but I have known hop-grounds that have cleared above 50/. 
 yearly per acre to be sold at the first hand.* 
 
 * A Perfite Platforme of a Hoppe Garden. By Eeynolde Scot, 1S76. 
 
 * Fwe JBwndred Points of Good Husicmdry. By Thomas Tusser, Gentleman, 
 1367. 
 
 ' A Way to get Wealth, eonta/ining six principal vocations or callings in 
 tbMcTi every good Imsbamd or housewife may larefully employ themseVoes. By 
 Gervase Mariiham, 1668. 
 
 * The Riehes of a Hop Garden Explained. By E. Bradley, Professor of the 
 University of Cambridge, and F.E.S. 
 
 A 2 
 
4 Sop Cultivation. 
 
 The Hop Districts of England. 
 
 From the time when hops were " fetched out of Flanders " 
 into Kent, this county has been the principal English hop-pro- 
 ducing district up to this date. According to the latest returns 
 (1892) of the Board of Agriculture, there were 34,052 acres of 
 hop land in Kent, out of 56,259 acres in the whole of England, 
 and this proportion has been maintained for many years. The 
 Kentish acreage has fluctuated with the rest of the English 
 acreage. In 1863 there were 36,367 acres; in 1873, 39,040 
 acres; in 1883, 42,737 acres. It maybe seen that hops are 
 grown in almost the same parishes in Kent as at the beginning 
 of this century. There were 290 then, there are 296 now. 
 
 The hop-growing limits are defined somewhat sharply by 
 geological conditions. For instance, in the district in Kent 
 between Chatham and Faversham, and from Faversham nearly 
 to Canterbury, extending for some miles, chiefly below the 
 London, Chatham and Dover Railway, the finest hop land in 
 England, or, as some hold, in the world, is situated. The soil is 
 clay, loamy clay, and sandy loam upon the Thanet, "Woolwich, 
 and Oldhaven beds, which crop up here and overlie the Chalk on 
 the "backbone of Kent." As the Chalk appears again with a thin 
 and gradually decreasing surface of loam, the hop land becomes 
 less valuable, and at a short distance from this point hops are 
 not cultivated at all until, longo intervaUo, the "Bastard" East 
 Kent district begins, where the hops produced are of inferior 
 quality as compared with East Kent hops proper, being grown 
 upon useful, somewhat heavy soils, lying for the most part upon 
 the belt of Gault alternatiug with the Folkestone beds inter- 
 vening between the Chalk and the Weald Clay. Below Canter- 
 bury there is a district between Challock and Barham where 
 hops of first-class quality are grown, upon loams of a lighter 
 character resting on the Chalk. The crops here are not so heavy 
 as those yielded on the deep loam and brick earth in the Faver- 
 sham district, and the plants will not take such long poles, but 
 the quality is most excellent. 
 
 " Bastard " East Kent hops form a line of demarcation be- 
 tween East Kent hops proper and those known as Mid Kents, 
 which are for the most part produced upon the soils of the Lower 
 Greensand formation — the loams, and clay loams, and hassoeky 
 detritus of the Hythe and Folkestone Beds and the Atherfield 
 Clay — between the Chalk and the Wealden formation, running 
 from Lenham nearly to Tonbridge. A small part of the Mid 
 Kent district is upon the Weald Clay, but it is Weald Clay 
 modified and improved by admixture with Greensand soils. 
 
Hop Oultivation. 5 
 
 The area upon which . " Wealds " are grown lies between 
 Edenbridge in the west and Ashford in the east, extending 
 southward to Tunbridge Wells, Lamberhurst, and Hawkhurst, 
 on the borders of Sussex. The soils are argillaceous clays and 
 sandy clays, more or less tenacious and stifiF, with occasional 
 patches of loam and alluvium, upon the Weald Clay, the Tun- 
 bridge Wells Sand, the Ashdown Sand, and the Wadhurst Clay; 
 the three last being varieties of the Hastings Sand. Much of 
 this hop land gives large crops in kindly seasons, far larger than 
 those in other parts of Kent. 
 
 There are two other small districts in Kent, one known as 
 West Kent, running from Westerham to a little beyond Seven- 
 oaks, and northerly to Orpington and the surrounding parishes. 
 The best land is upon the curiously narrow strip of Gault of the 
 Upper Greensand, alternating with a broader strip of various 
 Lower Greensand soils cropping up between the Ohalk and Weald 
 Clay. The Gault here is not anywhere wider than five miles, 
 and the Sandgate Beds and Atherfield Clay running parallel 
 with it are not more than seven or eight miles in width. The 
 other district, whose hops are styled North Kents, embraces an 
 expanse of Ohalk hills with hop grounds at distant intervals, 
 between Parningham and Eochester. It is only in places where 
 the marl on the Chalk is least tenacious that hops are grown. 
 In some spots, as at Cobham, Southfleet, Gravesend, there are 
 outcrops of Thanet Sand where clay loams suit hops ^ell. 
 
 Sussex has always ranked next to Kent in respect of its hop 
 acreage, which has ranged between 7,000 and 11,000 acres 
 during the last thirty years. The acreage has increased con- 
 siderably since the beginning of the century, but the list of 
 parishes, as in Kent, in which hops are cultivated, remains almost 
 the same now, being determined by geological conditions. 
 Though without doubt the fanners of Sussex imitated their close 
 neighbours in the Weald of Kent, and, having the same kind of 
 land and equal opportunities of getting plenty of wood for 
 drying ■ and for poles, planted hops extensively, they did not 
 extend their culture across the boundary of the Upper Cretaceous 
 formation. They confined their hop land to the soils of the 
 Lower Cretaceous formation — the Tunbridge Wells Sand, the 
 Wadhurst Clay, and the Weald Clay — and to the rich alluvium 
 of river courses in the eastern part of the county, where heavy 
 yields are produced in good seasons. And to this day the 
 same boundary is observed. 
 
 ' In the early days of this cultivation hops were dried with wood. The 
 old " cockles," or stoves, were made for this. 
 
6 Hop Cultivation. 
 
 It must not be concluded that hops can be well or profitably 
 grown on any of the soils that have been indicated as suited for 
 their production in Kent and Sussex ; for it happens frequently 
 that the land in some pai'ts of a parish will grow them well, 
 while in other parts they prove a failure. On one side of a river 
 the land occasionally is far more fitted for hop growing than 
 that on its opposite side. Even in adjoining fields this one will 
 produce good hops while that one will not. So much depends 
 upon the situation, and the composition of the soil, and espe- 
 cially upon its substratification, because the hop plant likes a 
 permeable subsoil. • It is supposed by many that hops will do 
 well in any part of hop-growing districts, but the fact is that 
 there is a very small extent of land thoroughly suitable for hops 
 beyond that which is now in cultivation. In most of the 
 parishes the present plantation has been determined by selection, 
 and the survival of the fittest. When the least depression has 
 occurred, the unsuitable land has been promptly grubbed. 
 
 Next in importance to Sussex come Herefordshire with 
 6,797 acres, and Worcestershire with 3,369 acres, in 1892. Both 
 these counties show an increase in their hop acreages since 1871, 
 and a considerable increase since 1850. Here again it is found 
 from an examination of old lists, that the hop-growing parishes 
 detailed therein are almost identical with those in which hops 
 ^re now grown. The hop grounds, or " yards," of Herefordshire 
 and Worcestershire are situated upon the eastern side of the 
 former county, extending as far as Leominster, Eoss, and Here- 
 ford ; and upon the western side of the latter county, mainly 
 upon the better marls of the New Eed Sandstone, and soils 
 formed of the debris of Cornstones of the Old Red Sandstone 
 formation, and the rich and extensive alluvial deposits by the 
 courses of the rivers Wye, Lug, Teme, and Severn, and other 
 rivers and streams.^ A small part of the Worcestershire hop 
 plantation in the direction of Pershore is upon clays of the 
 Lias formation, but hops do not thrive so well as upon the 
 Triassic and Keuper systems in the west of the county. 
 
 In Hampshire and Surrey there has been but little increase 
 or change in the extent of the hop land during the last thirty 
 or forty years. The 2,775 acres returned in 1892 in Hampshire 
 
 ' Marshall, in his Eccmomy of the Southern Counties (1798), says : " Hops 
 require not only an absorbent but a calcareous base. No art has been dis- 
 covered to induce lands with non-calcareous subsoils to endure in this crop." 
 
 ^ Dr. Nash in his exhaustive History of Worcestershire (1781) describes 
 the Teme as watering " fine meadows, a rich country, and one particularly 
 famous for its many hop yards." 
 
Hop CuUwaUon.] 7 
 
 are situated about ten miles north, south, and east of the town 
 of Alton, Surrey hop land, of which there weie 1,955 acres in 
 1892, is located between Famham and Guildford, and within eight 
 or nine miles of Famham in a south-eastern direction. Here, in 
 both of these hop districts, as in all others, it is found that little 
 or no addition has been made to the number of hop-producing 
 parishes during the last 100 years, though in many of these the 
 acreage has considerably increased. Here also, as in other in- 
 stances, the limits of the hop plantation are sharply demarcated 
 by peculiarities of soil. The Hampshire hop land is for the most 
 part upon the strip of Upper Greensand which runs out below 
 the Chalk escarpment,' whose soil is particularly rich in phos- 
 phoric acid and silica. This soil, the celebrated " Malm," has 
 been formed by the d6bris of a soft white rock, having the 
 appearance of chalk or limestone to a casual observer. Gilbert 
 White calls it " a kind of white land neither chalk nor clay but 
 kindly for hops. . . . This soil produces the finest hops."* 
 Messrs. Way and Paine writing of this land say : — 
 
 In the parish of Famham this bed traverses its whole extent from east 
 to west comciding with the line of the very best hop-grounds, those which 
 are perennially continued under hop ciilture. This is a remarkable circum- 
 stance tending to confirm the opinion of the profuse abundance of phosphoric 
 acid in the soil, as well as the facility with which the hop-plant appears to 
 be able to assimilate the acid it naturally contains. For the analysis of the 
 hop proves it to be a great consumer of phosphoric acid, annually carrying 
 on many pounds per acre, in addition to the quantity abstracted by the bine 
 «nd leaves.* 
 
 Aubrey, the historian of Surrey, shows that the value of this 
 " Malm " for hop growing was known in the sixteenth century^ 
 Camden writes that " near Famham, hops are growing nearly 
 in as plentiful a manner as in any parts of England." * 
 
 From the descriptions given of the centres of hop cultivation 
 in England, it will be seen that the hop land is upon soils of 
 the Wealden formation, except in the case of Herefordshire 
 and Worcestershire. From these descriptions, and a study of 
 surface maps of this formation, it ^ill appear that in almost all 
 cases, and particularly where the best hops are grown, there are 
 exceptional conditions of soil or subsoil. 
 
 It must not be inferred that there is no other land than 
 
 ' Tlie Geology of the Weald. By W. Topley, F.G.S. 
 " TTie History of Selhome. By Gilbert White. 
 
 ' On the I'hosphaUe Strata of the Chalh Formation. By Messrs. Way 
 and Paine, vol. ix., 2nd series, Journal of the Eoyal Agricultural Society. 
 * Magna Britannia et Hibernia, Antiqita et Nova. Camden, vol. v. p. 395^ 
 
8 JIop Gultivation. 
 
 that in the charmed districts enumerated where hops can be 
 successfully grown. Mr. Topley remarks upon this * : — 
 
 Hops take up a large area in Kent, next to which county come 
 Sussex and Hereford. Besides those counties, it is only in Surrey, Hants, 
 and Worcester that hops are grown in any quantity. The unequal distri- 
 bution of this crop is very remarkable, as there appears no sufficient reason 
 why it should not be cultivated in other districts. Everywhere below the 
 Chalk escarpment hops might probably be cultivated with success, and the 
 vale of Pewsey, for instance, would seem especially suited for them. ^ 
 
 There are, no doubt, other districts where hops could be 
 produced, but their introduction into new localities would be 
 attended with great initial expense. Oasts, hop-pickers' huts, 
 and other buildings must be provided, and skilled labourers in- 
 troduced, and, as will be seen later on, the cost of hop cultivation 
 increases year by year. The cultivation of hops has been tried 
 in many counties, notably in Nottinghamshire and Essex, and 
 has been abandoned. 
 
 Some of the hop grounds in the best districts are more than. 
 100 years old. In some cases there is no record of the date of 
 the first planting of certain Golding grounds in East and Mid-. 
 Kent, Parnham, and in Herefordshire, by the river Teme, where 
 it is said the land will grow hops for ever. It is, however, being 
 discovered by hop planters that the plants in such very old 
 grounds do not crop well, and are more liable to blight and 
 mould, and less able to resist these attacks and climatic varia- 
 tions. In several cases of very old grounds a sacrifice has been 
 made, the plants have been grubbed up and change of crop 
 has been resorted to for a time with much advantage. 
 
 In order to show the fluctuations in the hop acreage and 
 hop yield in England the following table is given : — 
 
 Tear, 
 
 Area, 
 
 Total yield, 
 
 
 acres. 
 
 Gwfc. 
 
 1800 
 
 38,436 
 
 500,000 
 
 1820 
 
 50,048 
 
 275,000 
 
 1840 
 
 44,085 
 
 68,000 
 
 1860 
 
 46,272 
 
 107,000 
 
 1880 
 
 66,703 
 
 473,000 
 
 1892 
 
 56,259 
 
 413,259 
 
 The maximum area was 71,789 acres in 1878. It may be 
 added that in 1872 hops were grown in twenty-three counties, 
 while in 1892 there were but eleven counties in which they were' 
 cultivated, and the whole acreage in five of these only amounted 
 to 198 acres. 
 
 ' On the Agncnltural Geology of the Weald. By W. Topley, F.G.S. Journal 
 of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. vill., 2nd series, ] 872. 
 
 '^ I have seen splendid samples of hops grown in the Vale of Pewsey.— C. W. 
 
Ilof Cultivation, 
 
 Varieties of Hops and Modes of Planting, 
 
 It is well known in practice that the seeds of hop plants cannot 
 be depended upon to reproduce plants similar to those from which 
 the seeds are taken. New varieties are by chance occasionally 
 obtained from seeds, but no attempts have been made in the 
 direction of artificial fertilisation of hop plants to obtain new 
 sorts. These have been evolved by careful and close processes 
 of selection, by means of which desired characteristics, as early 
 and late maturity, and variations in the form and arrangement 
 of the strobiles or cones, have been acquired. White's Early 
 Golding was developed thus, and the Buss's Golding of late habit ; 
 also the Puggle's Golding, which has now again become the 
 fashionable variety on account of its success in 1892. There 
 are not many varieties of hops in this country, though it is said 
 that there are as many as 160 different varieties in the world ; ' 
 and it is thought that valuable kinds might be obtained by cross- 
 ing approved varieties. 
 
 Sets are cut in the early spring from the hills, or stocks, from 
 the strong fibrous growth at the bases of the bines of the previous 
 season. Lengths of from six to eight inches of these are put in a 
 nursery at once, and are fit to plant out in the subsequent autuibn. 
 Planters are in these days very particular as to their sets, and 
 are careful that those they plant and those with which they re- 
 place the dead stocks are good and true to variety. Experience 
 has taught them that this is of the first importance in ensuring 
 a " level growth " and a series of uniform samples. 
 
 Sometimes when sets are very dear the pieces of root cut off 
 in the spring are planted out at once without having been put 
 in a nursery. This is risky, especially in a dry spring season. 
 
 Two bedded sets ^ of fair size are quite sufficient to form a 
 stock, and are much better than three or four sets. 
 
 The fashion as to varieties changes in accordance with the cir- 
 cumstances of the demand. Until the last year or so hops of the 
 finest quality were required by the brewers. Land which pro- 
 duced these was at a premium. The East and Mid Kent and 
 Pamham planters were in the ascendant and planted the best 
 varieties, as Bramlings, and others of Golding character. Pro- 
 ducers of more common hops, in the Weald of Kent, Sussex, and 
 elsewhere, were disposed to consider their occupation gone, and 
 made some efforts to improve their quality. But now this has 
 
 ' The Varieties of Hops. Photographed and published by H. Braungart, 
 Weihenstephan, Germany. 
 
 ' " Bedded " sets are those which have been grown in a nursery. 
 
10 -Hop Cultivation. 
 
 changed for the nonce. Fine-flavoured hops full of aroma seem 
 just now to be only required for pale ales and export ales, and 
 for the comparatively small quantity of stock beer now brewed. 
 For beer for quick draught common hops, it is said, are good 
 enough. There has been a large demand for these of late, and they 
 have made prices relatively higher than those of the finer sorts. 
 Varieties of common hops have therefore been extensively planted 
 even in districts producing hops of fine quality, and among them 
 the Fuggle's Golding, as cropping heavily, has been largely 
 selected. Many planters, however, refuse to make any alteration 
 in this respect, as they say that there will be a reaction, when the 
 market is crowded with common hops. 
 
 In East Kent the prevailing varieties are Goldings of several 
 kinds, Bramlings, Gobb's Early Goldings, Petham Goldings, 
 Canterbury, and Old Goldings. Bramlings and other Goldings 
 are still generally grown on the best land ; Whitebine Grapes and 
 Grapes on that of not so good quality. 
 
 In Mid Kent, Goldings, Bramlings, Grapes, and Jones are 
 principally cultivated. Fuggle's Goldings are now being planted 
 rather extensively. 
 
 The Golding is undoubtedly the best English hop, having 
 unsurpassed aroma and brewing value. Marshall writes * : — 
 
 The Golding is a sub-variety," 1 understand, of the Canterbury hop 
 which was raised by a man still living — Mr. Golding, of the Mailing quarter 
 of this district, Kent — who observed in his grounds a plant of extra- 
 ordinary quality and productiveness, and marked it and propagated from it, 
 and furnished his neighbours with cuttings. 
 
 This variety has small compact cones, shaped somewhat like 
 a filbert, of a light golden colour when ripe. The cones do not 
 cluster together, but grow in bunches of two or three cones. 
 Bramlings are Goldings of slightly different shape, coming earlier 
 to pick, having valuable Golding attributes. White's Early Gold- 
 ing is the earliest hop with Golding characteristics, but it is 
 rather delicate, and a shy_ bearer. 
 
 The " Grape " and " Whitebine Grape " are very useful hardy 
 sorts, having large cones growing to a very great size in some 
 soils, and hanging in clusters like grapes. There are other kinds 
 of Grapes, as the Farnham Whitebine, full of quality and a very 
 good bearer. Cooper's White is a rather early variety. May- 
 field Grape is a hardy, useful, prolific kind. 
 
 Buss's Golding and Fuggle's Golding have not many Golding 
 qualities. They are rather coarse^ coming to pick later than 
 Goldings, but they are good cropping sorts, especially the 
 
 > The Rural Economy of the Southern Courvtiei. By Mr. Marshall, 1798. 
 
Hap Cultivation. 11 
 
 Fuggle's Golding, and are not as a rule so disposed to blight and 
 mould as others. 
 
 The Jones is a very useful hop, yielding well on some 
 soils. It has large cones, and when grown on good land has 
 much quality. 
 
 There are very early and common varieties as Prolifics, 
 Meophams, and others, which yield large crops of inferior 
 quality, and are not much in favour with brewers when other 
 kinds are available at reasonable rates. 
 
 The "Mathon," which originated at Mathon, a parish in 
 Worcestershire, and is peculiar to that county and Hereford- 
 shire, approaches nearly in flavour to the East Kent Golding. 
 
 In Sussex and the Weald of Kent, the " Colegate " is grown, 
 but not nearly so extensively as twenty-five years ago, and many 
 planters are eliminating it altogether and planting Fuggle's, 
 Hobbs's, Henham's, and Buss's Golding. It comes to pick latest 
 of all hops. It is accurately described by Mr. Eutley as 
 
 A variety first propagated from a plant growing wild in a hedge on a farm 
 at Chevening in Kent, by a gentleman of the name of Colegate. It is a very 
 hardy but backward hop, and will grow on any soil ; it runs much to bine, 
 and requires as long poles as Goldings. The hop is generally very small, 
 when quite ripe before it is picked ; they have a rich, thick appearance 
 when dried, but the smell and flavour are not good, and some brewers object 
 to them.^ 
 
 Hops of a Golding type are cultivated on the best soils in 
 Hampshire and Surrey, while Grapes, as the ordinary Grape, and 
 Williams's Whitebine Grape, and the Grape Green Bine, Hen- 
 ham's and Fuggle's have been planted on the poorer soil. There 
 has been a disposition of late, in Herefordshire and Worcester- 
 shire, to plant hops of Golding character, and to improve the 
 quality generally of the growths of these counties, which find 
 much and increasing favour among brewers. At the same time 
 early varieties, as Meophams and Prolifics, have been put in to 
 some extent, and Fuggle's, which are coming into favour. 
 
 As a rule, hops are now planted six feet apart each way, or 
 1,210 hills, or stocks, per acre. It is found that this number of 
 hills is quite sufficient, and that as many hops can be grown on 
 this plant as upon a closer plant, especially if cocoa-nut fibre 
 string is fixed on the tops of the poles. In Herefordshire and 
 Worcestershire the number of hills is smaller, varying from 889 
 to 1,000 hills ; but the planters have latterly set them more 
 closely together. 
 
 Old pastures and old apple and cherry orchards are well 
 
 ' On the Best Mode of Managing Hops. By Mr. Eutley. Journal of the 
 Boyal Agricultural Society of England, 1840. 
 
J 2 Hop Cultivation. 
 
 suited for planting with tops. Their situation, aspect, and soil 
 are almost always good, as our forefathers planted their fruit 
 trees in the best and most sheltered spots. The land should 
 be ploughed deeply, with a subsoil plough following, or it 
 should be trenched deeply. The former method is preferable 
 and less costly. When land is trenched, unless the superficial 
 soil is very deep, it often happens that a tenacious or heavy 
 subsoil is brought to the surface, while the good upper soil is 
 buried, so that°the texture of the soil is spoilt and probably 
 made unkindly for working. The land is set out for planting 
 •with a line in which, at equal lengths, according to the number 
 of hills required to the acre, stitches of red worsted are put. At 
 each point indicated by the worsted stitch, a stick is placed in 
 the ground as the centre of the hill. The " setting out " must be 
 performed with mathematical accuracy for cultivating with horses 
 or steam between the rows and, especially in these days when 
 mildew and blight are general, for the passage of sulphurators, 
 and of horse- washing machines, whose delivery would be afiected 
 by the plants being out of true line. 
 
 Planting should be done in October and November. Square 
 holes are made with a spade, with the sticks placed by the 
 setter-out as their centres, and the sets are pressed in firmly 
 with the hand and foot, an inch or two of the sets being 
 above the ground. A good spit of farm-yard manure is put 
 into each hole where the land is stale and poor. Before being 
 j)lanted the sets must have their roots well trimmed and the 
 dead bines cut off. In the spring, a small pole is put to 
 each hill and the bines are tied to it. The ground between the 
 rows and close round the hill must be kept clean by nidgetts 
 (horse-hoes) and hand hoes. It is better not to put any crop, 
 as turnips, potatoes, &c., between the rows, for hops are a most 
 exhausting crop. Poles, two or three to a hill, and twelve, 
 fourteen, or sixteen feet long, according to the variety of hop, 
 are carried on to the ground during the following winter, and 
 in the ensuing summer the hop plants will bear a good crop if 
 well- manured and not over-poled. 
 
 Dressing. 
 
 Dressing, or cutting, is usually done in March, or early 
 in April, as soon as the ground will work down well, and before 
 the plants have sent forth shoots. The hills ' are opened, and the 
 
 ' In the summer, the bases of the plants are " earthed up " by putting four 
 or fire shovels of earth over them among the bines, to protect the " crowns "" 
 from wet, and to encourage a growth of fibre for propagation. Hence the term 
 "hill." 
 
Hd^ Cultivation. 13 
 
 earth upon the stock is moved with an ordinary three-pronged hoe. 
 All the fibrous growth is cut off close to the ground with a 
 peculiar knife (fig. 1), having a thin, sharp, hooked blade, and fine 
 earth is drawn over the cut stocks with a little hoe (fig. 2), and they 
 are neatly ringed round. It is well not to " dress " hop plants 
 too early, as if the shoots or bines are forward, they are exposed 
 to the action of spring frosts which will either cut them up, or 
 blacken and spoil them, or make them " sticky," unkindly, and 
 more liable to blight and mildew.' The French vine cultivators 
 dread the influences of white frosts upon the young and tender 
 shoots of the vines, which are most pernicious, especially if the 
 sun shine on them while they are covered with dew. On the other 
 hand, if the plants are dressed very late, and cold dry weather 
 come in May, as is sometimes the case, the bines get behind and 
 
 _ -^j^i^W;sflM'-*^*'«l';,.iW(-J»^Ji*',^,HtSMfc^ 
 
 Fig. 1. — Dressing Knife. PiG. 3. — Hoe. 
 
 cannot make up for lost time. But most planters now hold that 
 moderately late is better than too early dressing. 
 
 Care must be taken in dressing not to cut the stocks too 
 low, thus getting them too much below the ground level, nor too 
 high, so that they are much above it. The dressing knife 
 should be kept very sharp to give a clean cut, as in all pruning, 
 Eeynolde Scot says with regard to dressing : — 
 
 You must, at the first time of cutting and dressing, with a sharpe knife 
 cut away all such rootes and sprynges as grewe the year hefore out of your 
 settes within one inch of the same. Every years after you must cut them 
 as close as you can to the olde rootes even as you see an osyer-hed cut. 
 
 He adds : — 
 
 At what time soeur you pull downe your hylles cut out your rootes 
 before the end of March, or the beginning of April, and then remember the 
 wynde.'' 
 
 • In 1880, when mildew was very prevalent, it was noticed that hop plants 
 which had been dressed exceptionally late escaped mildew to a considerable 
 extent, and planters who adopted this late dressing were convinced that it 
 was the cause of their comparative immunity from mildew. 
 
 " The Perfite Platforme of a Boppe Garden. By Beynolde Scot, 1576, 
 p. 4T. 
 
14 -Hop Cultivation. 
 
 Poling. 
 
 In no part of hop farming has there been so much improve- 
 ment and change as in poling, or providing supports for training 
 the plants. Until a comparatively recent date, poles pitched 
 into the ground in the spring and removed in the autumn were 
 the only modes of supporting and training the plants. Now there 
 are systems of wire fastened to permanent uprights, and methods 
 of cocoa-nut fibre strings and wires combined, also fixed to 
 permanent uprights. These will be explained later on. An 
 extraordinary use is made of cocoa-nut fibre string tied to the 
 tops of the ordinary poles, and carried from pole to pole across 
 and down the rows of poles. The bines after reaching the tops 
 of the poles make their way on to the strings, and are sometimes 
 tied on to them by women on folding ladders, made specially 
 for the purpose. Festoons are made by the bines from pole to 
 pole, and the hops upon them are full of quality and strength, 
 as they get all the air and sunshine available ; whereas, without 
 these strings the bines are crowded together in a mass between 
 the poles, so that sunshine and air are limited and the hops are 
 poor and light. The adoption of this means of training the 
 bines upon strings has largely increased the production of hops 
 in this country. A clever instrument fixed to a long handle, 
 termed a " stringer," has been devised by which a man can 
 rapidly put the strings from one pole to another.' 
 
 Poles are used of sizes according to the variety of hop and 
 the nature of the soil. Goldings take two or three 16 ft. poles in 
 Mid Kent and parts of East Kent, but in some districts of Bast 
 Kent 14 ft. and even 12 ft. poles are put to them. In Hants 
 and Surrey, Goldings take poles from 14 ft. to 16 ft., and. even 
 18 ft. in some districts. In Worcestershire and Herefordshire 
 14 ft. poles are used for Goldings. Grapes generally take poles 
 of from 11 ft. to 14 ft., according to the locality. Jones take 
 poles 10 ft. to 11 ft. long, and Colegates from 14 ft. to 16 ft. 
 Sometimes Goldings have two poles to each hill in one row and 
 three poles in the next row, and so on alternately. Two poles 
 to each hill are generally sufficient for Goldings, especially 
 where the stringing system is adopted. In poling it is essential 
 to keep the poles wide apart at the tops, in order that the bines 
 may not grow together in masses and obstruct air and light. 
 This is most important, and it is curious to note that it is a 
 point made by that close observer Reynolde Scot, who says in 
 
 ' Cocoa-nut fibre strings are also frequently tied about half-way up each 
 pole, and carried on to the tops of the poles of the next hill, and bines are 
 trained on them when the poles have been furnished with bines. 
 
Hop Cultivation. 15 
 
 his Perfite Plafforme of a Roppe Garden, " Let the Poales of 
 euery hill leane a little outwarde one from another." As the 
 plants are set out with mathematical precision -it is absolutely 
 necessary that the poles should be pitched ' with the greatest 
 regularity, so that the plants may not be gradually drawn from 
 their proper position by careless and irregular poling. It is 
 desirable that the workmen should use a garden line which, 
 stretched from hill to hill, may indicate the exactfplaces where 
 the poles should be pitched. Now that hop washing by horse- 
 machinery has become very general, it is imperative that the 
 hills should be correctly in line and the poles also set as much in 
 line as possible, in order that the spray from the delivery tubes 
 and jets of the machine may be distributed evenly. 
 
 Poles form an expensive item. The first outlay to furnish 
 an acre of hop land with poles may be put at from 201. to 30Z. 
 for the smaller poles, and from SSI. to 45Z. for larger poles. The 
 price per 100 at this time (1893) ranges between 10s. and 30s. 
 Not long since the range was between 17s. and 55s. per 100. 
 In 1790 Mr. Marshall says, " The price of poles varies from 14s. 
 to 40s. per 100 according to size and quality." The annual 
 cost of replacing poles is from 21. to 4L per acre. 
 
 Hop poles are now universally dipped in creosote, which 
 effectually preserves their ends or " feet " in the ground, and 
 just above the ground, from the effects of damp. Upon most 
 hop farms there is a " dipping tank," either fixed in brickwork 
 or portable, into which the poles are stood upright in gently 
 simmering creosote to a depth of from 1| feet to 2 feet, for at 
 least twelve hours. This practice has caused a vast saving of 
 expense to hop planters. Ash, fir, and chestnut grown on some 
 kinds of land are considered the best for poles. Chestnut on 
 some soils is without heart and sappy. Maple, oak, red birch, 
 alder, willow, white birCh, and hornbeam follow in order. 
 
 Akbangements of Wire and String. 
 
 Many arrangements of wire and string on permanent up- 
 rights are in vogue. As a rule, they are only adopted by 
 planters who farm their own land, or who have long leases, 
 because the first cost is heavy. Their chief advantages are that 
 the hops are not so much battered by the winds which invari- 
 ably prevail while hops are ripening, as those grown upon poles, 
 and the hops are better grown, have more condition, and are 
 developed earlier. There is a saving of labour to some extent 
 in this permanent system, as the poles have not to be put up 
 
 ' This is done with a pitcher with a wooden crossbar as a handle. 
 
16 
 
 Hop Galiivation. 
 
 annually. On tbe other hand, more tying is requisite, because 
 the bines do not go up string and wire so well as up 
 poles. 
 
 One arrangement of wires and string is much adopted in Bast 
 Kent. It consists of stout posts set at the end of every row of 
 hop stocks, and fastened with stays to keep them in place. At 
 certain intervals in each row a post of similar size is fixed. 
 Prom post to post in the rows wires are stretched at a height of 
 half a foot from the ground and at a height of six feet from the 
 ground, and again from the tops of each post ; so that there are 
 three lengths of wire in all. Upon these wires hooks are fastened 
 or " clipped " at regular intervals, so that cocoanut fibre string 
 can be threaded on to them horizontally from the lower to the 
 next wire, and in a vertical direction from this wire to the top 
 lateral wire of the next row. The string as threaded on the 
 
 Hop FhtnL^^^-^' Hop Plant-S^^ T-op P:mU 
 
 Fig. 3.— Arrangement of TVires and String. 
 
 hooks is continuous, no knots are necessary, and it is put on the 
 hooks of the top wires with a " stringer." The first cost of this 
 is about 40Z. per acre. 
 
 Another method is known as Partridge's patent (fig. 3), and 
 prevails in Worcestershire and Herefordshire, whilst it is now ex- 
 tensively made use of in Kent and Sussex. Stout posts are placed 
 at the ends of each row of plants, and at intervals where requisite. 
 Wires are fastened to the tops only of these posts, and cocoa-fibre 
 strings are fastened by pegs to the ground close to each hop 
 stock (fig. 3, a, a, a), and to the wires at the liops of the posts, 
 at b, h, b. This is more simple and less expensive than the first 
 described system, costing from 2U. to 281. per acre. In this 
 case the plants require to be well " lewed ", as the wind blows 
 the strings about, being so light. 
 
Hop Cultivation. 17 
 
 Tying. 
 
 Hop bines are tied to the poles by women. Now and then 
 it happens that men do this in seasons when the weather is 
 forcing, but it is essentially woman's work. Before tying it is 
 well to have the strongest rank-growing, " pipy " bines pulled 
 out by careful men who know what they are about, as such bines 
 are frequently unfruitful. If the bines are strong, two are tied up 
 to a pole in three-pole work, that is when three poles are put to 
 each stock. In the case of two-pole work three bines are put 
 to a pole, but different planters have different ideas on this. 
 The hop plants climb with the sun, in contradistinction to the 
 French bean and convolvulus, which twine in the opposite direc- 
 tion. As soon as they have been tied to the poles, the "heads" 
 or leading shoots grow upwards and onwards, their curious, 
 almost instinctive habit of revolving helping them to find and 
 lay hold of the support as they grow. Darwin gives most 
 interesting descriptions of this peculiar habit of the hop plant. 
 In one he writes : 
 
 Wten tlie shoot of a hop (JSumulus lupuliis) rises from the ground, 
 the two or three first joints, or internodes, are straight, and remain station- 
 ary ; hut the next, formed while still very young, may be seen to bend to 
 one side, and to travel slowly round towards all points of the compass, mov- 
 ing like the hands of a watch with the sun. , . . The first purpose of the 
 spontaneous revolving movement, or, more strictly speaking, of the continu- 
 ous bowing movement, directed successively to all points of the compass is, 
 as Mohl has remarked, to favoui- the shoot finding a support.' 
 
 And Darwin adds : — 
 
 This is admirably efiected by the revolutions carried on day and night, 
 a wider and wider circle being swept as the shoot increases in length. This 
 movement also explains how the plants twine ; for when a revolving shoot 
 meets with a support, its motion is necessarily arrested at the point of con- 
 tact, but the free projecting part goes on revolving.'' 
 
 This explains how it is that the hop bines after they have 
 been once tied to the poles keep to them. When the support 
 has been found by the leading shoot in its revolutions, the re- 
 curved hooks with which it is furnished lay hold of the pole 
 and keep to it with tenacity. By reason of this admirable 
 provision of nature the tyers have in ordinary circumstances but 
 little trouble after the bines have once been tied. They fasten a 
 
 ' Tlie Movements a/nd HaMts of CUmHng Plants. By Charles Darwin, 
 M.A., F.E.S. 
 
 ^ Sachs in his Text BooTi of Botany thus describes this revolving motion of 
 the hop plant : " As new internodes develope from the bud they begin to 
 revolve, while the third or fourth ceases to do so, becomes erect and manifests 
 another form of movement, becoming twisted until its growth ceases." 
 
 B 
 
It, Hop Cultivation. 
 
 rush, not with a knot but with a " half hitch," round the bines to 
 each pole, two or three bines as the case may be, about 1^ feet 
 to 2 feet from the ground. In a week or two another rush 
 is put two feet higher up to keep the bines in their places. 
 After this, unless the bines are " sticky" from white frosts, or 
 their " heads " have been blown away from the poles by persis- 
 tent winds, but little further attention is necessary. When the 
 bines are out of reach and, each pole is well furnished, those that 
 remain on the stock are cleared out.' Later on, when a new 
 growth appears, it is checked by earthing or putting a few 
 shovels of earth over each stock in the beginning of July. Well- 
 harvested supple rushes are best for tying. Bast used by 
 gardeners, and matting shreds, will serve. String of any kind 
 will not answer, as it expands and contracts too much with 
 changes of weather. 
 
 Much depends upon the manner in which tying is performed. 
 Inexperienced tyers must be prevented from putting up rank, 
 "pipy," unfruitful bines, and supervision exercised to ensure 
 each pole getting its proper complement of bines. In seasons 
 when there is a deal of bine, careless tyers recklessly pull out 
 handfuls without considering what they will require for furnish- 
 ing each pole, and are left at last with short, uneven, poor bines. 
 Many planters set a man specially to superintend tyers. This 
 is an excellent and economical practice. 
 
 Ladder Tying. 
 
 After the bines have reached the tops of the poles and the 
 cocoa-nut fibre strings, women are employed to tie those there 
 which show signs of falling away or slipping down, and to 
 fasten them to the strings which are now almost generally 
 stretched from pole to pole. They have light folding ladders 
 and short step-ladders for this operation, which is of the greatest 
 importance, and pays over and over again for being carried out 
 thoroughly. 
 
 Manuees. 
 
 Professor Way calculated that by an average crop of hops, 
 equal to a little over 7 cwt. per acre, 11 lb. of silica, 10 lb. of 
 phosphoric acid, 1 6 lb. of potash, 5 lb. of lime, and smaller 
 quantities of other mineral substances, are taken from an acre 
 of land.^ Mr. Nesbit had previously made analytical experi- 
 
 ' This is the ordiDary practice, thoBgli there are a few planters who think 
 it Jjetter not to pull away all surplus bines, and twist them in a knot and 
 earth them in, or let them run on the ground. 
 
 2 Eeport on tJie Analysis of Plants. By Professor Way, Journal of the 
 Epyal Agricultural Society of England, vol. ix., 1st series. 
 
flop Cultivation. 
 
 19 
 
 ments upon hop plants, which showed that very large quantities 
 of mineral matter are required for a crop of hops. Of these, as 
 Mr. Nesbit points out, the most important are silica, phosphoric 
 acid, lime, potash, phosphate of iron, and magnesia. His con- 
 clusion is that : — 
 
 As tte produce of a hop crop is almost wholly exported from the farm, 
 it must be evident that unless the mineral matter is replaced, the richest soil 
 would eventually he impoverished by the growth of this plant. This un- 
 doubtedly is the cause of the necessity for manuring this plant so highly. 
 
 The late Professor Brazier, who occupied the chair of 
 Chemistry at Marischal College, Aberdeen, made analyses of the 
 bines, leaves, and cones of Kent Goldings and Sussex hops, in 
 1880, with the following results : — 
 
 The Bine yielded 5-67 per cent, of ash. 
 The Leaves „ 23'45 „ „ 
 The Cones „ 8'38 „ „ 
 
 The ashes of these gave the following percentages : — 
 I. — Kent Goldings. 
 
 
 Bine 
 
 Leaves 
 
 Mowers 
 
 Chloride of sodium . . . 
 Chloride of potassium . . 
 
 Potash 
 
 Lime 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 Oxide of iron 
 
 Phosphoric acid .... 
 
 Sulphuric acid 
 
 Silica 
 
 5-75 
 
 4-25 
 
 16-79 
 
 43-66 
 
 10-12 
 
 1-04 
 
 11-26 
 
 2-61 
 
 4-52 
 
 2-08 
 7 00 
 2-36 
 
 54-63 
 7-16 
 0-86 
 4-24 
 3-51 
 
 18-16 
 
 2-81 
 1-90 
 
 25-53 
 
 21-73 
 7-14 
 1-81 
 
 18-16 
 5-31 
 
 16-11 
 
 
 100-00 
 
 100-00 
 
 100-00 
 
 II. — Sussex Grape Hops. 
 
 
 Bine 
 
 Leaves 
 
 Flowers 
 
 Chloride of sodium . . . 
 
 5-07 
 
 4-79 
 
 3 08 
 
 Soda 
 
 20O 
 
 0-20 
 
 — 
 
 Chloride of potassium . . 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 0-34 
 
 Potash 
 
 31-66 
 
 12-95 
 
 38-26 
 
 Lime 
 
 35-46 
 
 44-97 
 
 15-10 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 6-59 
 
 7-60 
 
 6-49 
 
 Oxide of iron 
 
 0-82 
 
 0-81 
 
 1-51 
 
 Phosphoric acid .... 
 
 10-10 
 
 5-86 
 
 18-71 
 
 Sulphuric acid 
 
 2-55 
 
 3-09 
 
 3-67 
 
 Silica 
 
 5-75 
 
 19-73 
 
 12-84 
 
 
 100-00 
 
 100-00 
 
 100-00 
 
 B 3 
 
20 -Hop Cultivation. 
 
 These analyses show that there is a considerable difference 
 in the composition of the ashes of different kinds of hops, and of 
 hops grown upon different soils. 
 
 If hop land is to retain its power of producing hops satis- 
 factorily and suflBciently, the various necessary mineral substances 
 must be supplied by- means of manures containing them. Some 
 soils have a larger natural supply of certain, of the essential 
 constituents of hops than others, and the manures therefore must 
 be suited to their conditions. For example, clay soils contain a 
 larger amount of potash than calcareous soils, while calcareous 
 soils have naturally a greater quantity of phosphoric acid than, 
 clay soils. The good supply of phosphoric acid in the best Green- 
 sand soils makes them especially suitable for hop production. 
 
 Besides the mineral or inorganic matter that must be sup- 
 plied, large amounts of organic matter are necessary to force 
 luxuriant crops of rich quality. This is conveyed by means 
 of ammonia and carbonic acid. 
 
 Among the chief manures applied to hop land is farmyard 
 manure. Although styled farmyard manure, this in reality 
 comes to a great extent from the stables and cowsheds of 
 London and large towns, at least within reasonable distance 
 of the hop plantations. Many of the large hop planters in 
 Kent have given up fattening cattle, and purchase " London 
 manure," which costs from 6s. to 7s. 6d. per ton. From 15 to 
 25 tons are put on per acre. In Sussex, Worcestershire, and 
 Herefordshire most of the planters still make farmyard manure 
 of the old-fashioned type. 
 
 For the most part farmyard manure is dug in during the 
 winter. Sometimes it is carried on between the rows of poles 
 in the summer, by means of narrow trolleys drawn by a horse, 
 and spread over the whole of the ground, or only put round the 
 hills. In the former case it is worked in by the nidgetts. In 
 the latter case it is dug in with the spud, or hoed in with the 
 Canterbury hoe. 
 
 For winter use the other manures are, woollen rags, shoddy, 
 the refuse of cloth factories, put on at the rate of from one to two 
 tons per acre. This costs from 21. to 4L 4s. per ton, and contains 
 from 5 to 9 per cent, of ammonia, which should be guaranteed. 
 Fur waste from furriers' shops is a fine manure when pure, costing 
 from 4Z. 15s. to 71. per ton, used at the rate of from 10 to 20 cwt. 
 per acre according to quality. There are many other of these 
 bulky manures, as " fleshings," hair, "scutch" and "trotters," 
 which are good if pure and not too wet and heavy. These must 
 be put on early, as they decompose slowly. Fish of various 
 kinds, sprats, mussels, "five-fingers," &c., are very largely made 
 
flop Cultivation. 21 
 
 use of in Kent, being put on during the winter at a cost of from 
 31. 15s. to 4Z. 10s. per acre. 
 
 Of manures used in the spring and summer there are many 
 kinds. Special hop manures are numerous, made of various pro- 
 portions of superphosphate, kainit, nitrate of soda, or sulphate 
 of ammonia, which hop planters had better manipulate for them- 
 selves, as they will then know they are pure and in the desired 
 proportions. Eape dust, however, is the most valuable manure, 
 and by far the most generally adopted for summer priming. It 
 appears to suit all localities, and gives a quick, continuous and 
 rich supply of nitrogenous food to the plants just when they 
 require stimulating most. From 8 to 15 cwt. per acre are put 
 on round the hills and dug or hoed in. Guano is also approved 
 of in some localities, and nitrate of soda in dry seasons. In very 
 many cases hop land is manured well in the winter, and again in 
 the summer, particularly if there is any indication of weakness 
 or flagging energy in the plants. 
 
 Basic slag has been tried with some advantage in soils not 
 abundantly supplied with phosphoric acid, as, for instance, those 
 in the Weald of Kent and Sussex. As Sir John Lawes has 
 pointed out, there can be no question concerning the efficacy of 
 slag as a cheap substitute for superphosphate. 
 
 Cultivation. 
 
 Hop land is dug by hand in the late autumn and winter with 
 the spud (fig. 4), and farm-yard manure, rags, shoddy, fish, and 
 other heavy manures are dug in then. It is thought best by many 
 planters to dig as early as possible, especially if there is much 
 chickweed, Stella/ria media, the most common and troublesome 
 weed in hop plantations, which takes much out of the land in mild 
 and open winter seasons. In some districts hop land is ploughed, 
 
 Fig. 4.— Hop Spud. 
 
 but as the poles are placed in conical stacks, like wigwams, at 
 regular intervals upon the ground, a large part cannot be got at by 
 the plough, nor can the spaces between the hills be touched — one 
 way at least. Ploughing is a very unsatisfactory process, and in 
 the end is nearly as expensive as .digging, and should only be" 
 adopted when labour is scarce. Hop land is somewhat extensively 
 ploughed in Herefordshire, "Worcestershire, and Sussex. 
 
 Directly the poles are up and the bines out of the way a large 
 
22 
 
 Hop Cultivation, 
 
 shim ' or horse hoe (fig. 5) is put deeply into the ground, drawn 
 by two and in some districts by three horses, to break it up 
 
 FiS. 5.— Hop Shim. 
 
 thoroughly. After this a smaller horse-hoe or nidgett (fig. 6) 
 drawn by one horse is held to be sufficient by many planters, 
 
 ^5'Wcy^j^^''" 
 
 FiQ. 6.— Niflgett. 
 
 and is used at intervals during the season, deeply at first 
 and until the middle or the end of July, in order to get a deep 
 tilth of triturated soil — " crumb," as it is termed. Some planters 
 
 ' A " shim " means in some districts a very strong horse-hoe for two or 
 more horses, or steam, in deep soils without rock and stones. 
 
flop Oultivation. 23 
 
 continiaally stir hop land deeply througliout the summer. Others 
 stir in this way until the middle of July, and only very lightly 
 afterwards, in order not to disturb or break through the net- 
 work of fibres running through the soil just beneath the 
 surface in every direction. In summer it is unlikely that the 
 soluble elements of manures could be washed down to the roots 
 of the hop plants, and it would seem that these fibres are the 
 only means of conveying the manurial elements to them. No one 
 who has not seen the masses of these delicate fibres, mere fila- 
 ments, traversing every part of the surface soil in a well-cultivated 
 and well-manured hop ground, would believe in this extraordi- 
 nary provision of nature. 
 
 It would seem to be utterly wrong to deliberately disturb 
 this host of foragers, yet it is the practice of some planters to 
 have the nidgetts put in deeply just when the fibres are in full 
 work, and tear them up in quantities. The reason for this has 
 never been logically demonstrated, and it would appear to be 
 more rational to let the fibres work without interruption, and to 
 
 Fig. 7.— The Canterbury Hoe. 
 
 merely skim the ground in the late summer with nidgetts having 
 wide hoes to keep down the rapidly-growing weeds. 
 
 Nidgetts do not cover all the ground, as they cannot be drawn 
 close to the poles. A space around the hills must be tilled 
 by hand. This is dug round with the spud, directly after the 
 poles are set up. After this it is prong-hoed with the Canterbury 
 hoe, an admirable tool (fig. 7), once or twice during the summer. 
 
 If the ground is hard, and weeds are very rampant, the 
 ordinary " plate " hoe is used. Manure, as rape dust, is fre- 
 quently chopped in with the Canterbury hoe in summer. 
 
 On some very extensive hop farms shimming, or nidgetting, 
 is done by steam, especially at first, when the ground is hard 
 and weatherbound. This is arranged as in the case of ordinary 
 steam-ploughing and scarifying. 
 
 The object of all enlightened planters in these days is to get 
 as good a tilth as possible, and to have a depth of at least a foot 
 of triturated earth in every part of the ground, for the fibres to 
 work in, and for absorbing and retaining heat and moisture. 
 
24 Hoj} Cultivation. 
 
 Earthing. 
 
 Earthing, or putting earth over the stocks between the poles, 
 is done by placing four or five shovels of fine earth over them in 
 June to keep the bines in their places and to ensure a growth of 
 roots for cuttings, or sets. It also stops the extraneous growth 
 of bines from the stocks, which would exhaust them, and keeps 
 them in their places. 
 
 Washing for Aphis Blight. 
 
 This has become in recent years almost a necessary opera- 
 tion, as the " hop fly," or aphis, known by the systematic name 
 of Phorodon humuli, makes its appearance every season. This 
 aphis, called by Lance " the barometer of poverty," ' before 
 methods of preventing its increase were discovered, often 
 changed in a few weeks the appearance of the whole of the 
 plantations, from the prospect of a bounteous crop to the black- 
 ness of utter blight. For instance, in 1823, the aphides were so 
 persistent that only 1 cwt. 1 qr. 5 lb. were grown per acre. 
 In 1825, the worst attack on record, only 1 cwt. 8 lb. were 
 yielded per acre. 
 
 Until 1860 there were no means known, in any degree 
 eflBcacious, of checking the progress of these aphides, and the 
 planters bore the periodic inflictions without seriously attempting 
 to avert them. The practice of washing or spraying the plants 
 with insecticides, or insectifuges, was introduced about thirty 
 years ago, and it is now regularly adopted by planters as soon 
 as there are signs of blight. It has been found by experi- 
 ence that directly aphides are seen on the plants, washing 
 should be at once commenced, because of their extraordinary 
 power of reproduction described by Professor Owen as follows : — 
 
 The first formed larva of early spring procreates not one, but eight 
 larvse like itself in successive broods, and each of these larvse repeats the 
 process ; and it may be again repeated in the same geometrical ratio until a 
 number which figures only can indicate and language almost fails to express 
 is the result.'' 
 
 If the aphides once get ahead, it is most difficult to clear them 
 off, and at the same time the plants have lost sap and become 
 unhealthy from their action. Spraying, or washing, as it is gene- 
 rally called, must be repeated again and again, if fresh aphides 
 appear. During the last three or four years, some planters have 
 washed their hop plants all over three and even four or five times 
 in the same season. This entails an expense of at least 21. per acre 
 
 ' The Hop Farmer. By J. Lance, 1838. 
 
 •' Owen On Partlienogenesis. Van Voorst : London, 1849. 
 
Hop Cultivation. 25 
 
 each time of washing. If water has to he fetched from distances 
 this expense is, of course, increased. Water has heen laid on 
 for the purpose by some planters to convenient places near their 
 hop grounds. Quassia and soft soap solutions are generally 
 made use of for washing, in the proportion of from 4 lb. to 8 lb. 
 of soft soap, and the extract of from 8 lb. to 10 lb. of quassia 
 chips to 100 gallons of water. The soft soap retains the bitter- 
 ness of the quassia upon the bines and leaves, making them 
 unpleasant for the aphides, which are thus starved out. Many 
 of the winged as well as the wingless aphides are also washed 
 off in the spraying process, and in the later stages the foulness 
 upon the leaves, caused by the excreta and " honeydew " from the 
 aphides, is removed, renewed health and vigour being given to 
 the plants. But good managers now do not allow the aphides 
 to remain long enough to produce this state. 
 
 Soft soap, of the quantity required, is dissolved in a large 
 tub of warm water, and the solution is well stirred. Quassia 
 chips are boiled to extract their bitter principle. This extract 
 and the soap solution are mixed together in proper proportions 
 and put into the water-carts as they are brought alongside, nearly 
 filled with water. The jolting of the carts on their way to the 
 hop ground serves to mix the materials together. 
 
 Upon smaller hop farms hand-washing machines are em- 
 ployed, worked by three men — one to push the machine and 
 pump, and one on each side with a long hose to distribute the 
 wash over the plants. Other men bring the wash in pails to the 
 machine, as required, from tubs set at the ends of the hop grounds. 
 
 The machines used are large-sized garden engines, with 
 strong pumps and broad wheels. A very useful machine of 
 this kind is shown in fig. 8, p. 26, which, from its narrow 
 shape, may also be utilized in fruit plantations. 
 
 Various nozzles are used to distribute the liquid. Most have 
 a simple aperture. Some have a chamber or arrangement to 
 divide the stream and send it forth in spray. This is the proper 
 method. In the use of single jets a great quantity of liquid is 
 required. The main object is to cover every particle of leaf and 
 bine surface with spray, or mist, and it is contended by many 
 that forcing up single streams violently is a great waste of 
 material, and dees not achieve the desired end. The Riley 
 nozzle is a good nozzle, and there are several imitations and 
 adaptations of this of more or less merit.' 
 
 ' As to machines, nozzles, &c., see Methods of Preventing and Cltccldng the 
 Attachi of Insects and Fungi. By Charles Whitehead. Published for the 
 Royal Agricultural Society by John Murray, Albemarle Street. 6d. 
 
26 
 
 flop Cultivation. 
 
 Upon larger farms horse-machines are adopted. They are 
 long tanks upon two wheels, fitted with strong pumps moved 
 by the wheels, which force the liquid through rows of tubes 
 having holes perforated in them, and adjusted so that the wash 
 is sent up evenly over the plants. - ] 
 
 In a horse hop-washing machine latelyjpatented by Mr. Muir- 
 head, of Maidstone, rows of pipes, which' can be easily adjusted, 
 having chambered nozzles, are substituted for the perforated tubes 
 
 Fig. 8. — A Hand Hop-washing Machine. 
 
 arranged in rows. This machine will distribute from 100 to 
 350 gallons per acre, being intended, as its name of " Mistifier " 
 implies, to diffuse liquid in a dense mist. The ordinary horse 
 hop-washing machines put on from 500 to 700 gallons per acre. 
 There are two sizes of these machines, one requiring two horses 
 and the other only one.' 
 
 The expense of washing with these machines is not much 
 less than by hand ; but the advantage of them is that a large 
 
 ' The cost of horse hop-washing machines is from 35Z. to 48Z. 
 
Hop CiiUivation, 27 
 
 breadth of land can be got over quickly, and before the aphides 
 can do any serious injury to the plants. 
 
 It is difficult to explain the reason of the continuous visita- 
 tions of hop aphides. It is supposed to be from the numbers of 
 damson and plum trees that have been planted in many places 
 in the vicinity of hop plantations ; as it has been demonstrated 
 by Professor Eiley, the United States entomologist, that the 
 winged female aphides migrate from the hop plants to damson 
 and plum trees in the autumn, and place their eggs thereon. 
 From these eggs, according to the great authority cited, winged 
 viviparous females come in the spring, and fly to the hop plants, 
 and begin at once to produce larvae, termed lice by hop planters. 
 It is held by some that the larvae hibernate in or round the roots 
 of the hop plants, as they have been seen upon young bines a,s 
 early as March, 
 
 WiEEWORMS. 
 
 These do much harm, sometimes, to young hop plants, and 
 may be entrapped by putting pieces of mangel wurzel, swede, 
 potato, or rape cake round the hills, which must be examined, 
 and the wireworms picked from them twice a week." 
 
 Jumpers. 
 
 The jumper, Euacanihns interruptics, a species of the Oicadse,* 
 is most troublesome to the young bines, especially on light and 
 stony soils. It pierces the bines with its sucking organ, or 
 rostram, causing the sap to exude, and frequently much weakens 
 the plants. 
 
 Many can be taken by holding tarred boards near the pole's 
 and tapping these with a stick, making the jumpers leap into 
 the tar. Washing with soft soap and quassia mixed, as for 
 aphides, has been found efficacious, and with soft soap and 
 paraffin at the rate of 2 or 3 quarts to 100 gallons of water. 
 
 Eed Spider. 
 
 The Eed Spider, Tetranychus telarins, is most destructive in 
 very hot summers. It gets under the leaves, extracts their sap, 
 and makes them drop off. In Germany its action is called fire- 
 blast — Kupfer-brand. As washing for aphis blight is now so 
 generally adopted, it was hoped that red spider would not be 
 the cause of serious injury, as it cannot bear moisture, but 
 during the drought and heat of the season of 1893 the crop was 
 
 ' Mimograph of BntuTi CicadcB- or TettigidtE. By George Bowdler 
 Bnckton, F.R.S. 
 
28 So^ Oultivation. 
 
 materially affected by its action, especially upon the lightest 
 soils, and those where the subsoil does not allow the roots of 
 the hop plants to go deeply down, and where the land had been 
 indifferently farmed. In the drought of 1868 hundreds of acres 
 yielded no hops whatever, and all the leaves of the plants fell off. 
 
 If the leaves of hop plants infested with red spiders are 
 examined, quantities of very tiny mites, just discernible by the 
 eye, will be seen on the undersides snugly covered with thick 
 webs. Under the webs fastened to the leaves are round whitish 
 eggs which can only be seen by the help of a strong pocket lens. 
 The spiders, though called red spiders, are light green when 
 young, with dark marks on the sides. They get darker when 
 older, being in some cases almost brick-dust in colour. At first 
 they have six legs only. After a stage of moult they have eight 
 legs. They exhaust the juices of the plant, already weakened 
 by drought, and cause the leaves to become yellow, and finally 
 to drop off unless the temperature falls considerably, or soaking 
 rains impart renewed vigour to the bine. 
 
 Many washes were tried in 1893, bat in no case can 
 complete success be recorded. Strong soft soap solutions made 
 of from 8 to 101b. of soft soap to 100 gallons of water, with 3 
 pints of paraffin added, and strong soft soap solutions without 
 paraffin were the best that were tried. It was necessary to 
 repeat the washing two or three, and even more times. A com- 
 position made by Mr. White, of Beltring, Kent, was said to be 
 very efficacious. Sulphur soap obtained from the Ohiswick Soap 
 Company was also useful. MacDougall's hop- wash was found to 
 be of some avail. Carbolic acid at the rate of 3 pints to 2 quarts 
 of acid, according to the state of the bine, to 100 gallons of water, 
 with a little soft soap added, was also effectual in some degree.' 
 The ordinary hop-wash of quassia and soft soap, so valuable 
 against aphides, was of little- avail in the case of the red spider. 
 It was found necessary to apply the washes with great force in 
 order to break through the protective webs. Some planters 
 irrigated their hop land with advantage. Other planters poured 
 buckets of water round the hills. In parts of Tasmania hops 
 cannot be grown unless the land is irrigated. 
 
 Bines should be cleared away at once from infested land 
 and burnt, and the ground well limed and dug early, so as to 
 cover up the dead leaves soon. The land should be kept free 
 from weeds, as the spiders hibernate upon many of these, as well 
 as in the ground and probably upon the poles. 
 
 ' It was found that applications of flowers of sulphur put on immediately 
 after the plants had been washed with plain water by the horse machine 
 proved of some benefit. 
 
Hop Cultivation. 29 
 
 Hop Flea. 
 
 This insect, Haltica concinna, allied to the turnip flea-beetle, 
 or turnip fly, Haltica nemorum, very often seriously attacks 
 hop bines just after they have sent forth shoots, and completely 
 stays their growth. Sometimes it follows the bine throughout 
 the season, and finally gets into the cones and much injures 
 them. To prevent their attacks, all old bines should be care- 
 fully removed, as the fleas winter in them. The ground should 
 be well pulverised, and soot and lime mixed and put on where 
 the plants are attacked. 
 
 The insects described above are those most troublesome to hop 
 planters. There are others, but they need not be mentioned here, 
 except a tiny fly, or rather its maggots, which do much mischief 
 just when the cones are ripening, by mining their strigs, or stems, 
 entailing premature and rapid decay. It is not known exactly 
 to what species this fly belongs, and it is feared from its habits 
 that there is no remedy against it. As it evidently hibernates in 
 the ground in the vicinity of the hop hills, caustic applications 
 might be of some use, but the larvae and pupae are most minute. 
 
 Beneficial Insects. 
 
 Among the insects that infest cultivated crops some are 
 found to be most useful in reducing the numbers of those that 
 are especially injurious. Unfortunately, it frequently happens 
 that such valuable friends are not distinguished from foes, and 
 either no attempts are made to encourage their increase, or they 
 are recklessly confounded and destroyed with their bad com- 
 panions. In the case of the hop plant, there are several kinds 
 of insects peculiarly beneficial. Chief among these are some 
 species of the Coccinellidce,^ whose dusky, six-legged larvae, 
 termed " niggers " in the hop districts, devour aphides in all 
 stages with the greatest voracity. Foremost among these 
 " ladybirds " is the species distinguished as Goccinella septempunc- 
 tata, which is red, with seven black spots. Its larva is half an 
 inch long, having red and yellow marks upon it. The other 
 species are smaller. One has only two spots ; another has four. 
 In hot, dry weather ladybirds appear in great quantities. Their 
 little conical yellow eggs can be seen fastened in groups of from 
 six to twelve on the under sides of the hop leaves. From these, 
 tiny larvae emerge, and immediately begin to scour the plants 
 for aphides. Ladybirds should be preserved,"not only in hop- 
 
 ' Profefsor Forbes of Illinois, U.S., found that some species of the Coaci- 
 iieUidtB feed upon the sjo .es of certain fungi. 
 
30 IIo^ Cultivation. 
 
 producing districts, but everywhere, as they feed indiscriminately 
 upon all kinds of aphides infesting field and garden crops, and 
 although they may be sometimes rather unpleasant in houses, 
 where they frequently hibernate, they should not be killed. 
 Housekeepers often sweep them — these hetes d bon Dieu, as the 
 French call them — from their winter retreats in the corners of 
 sunny windows and behind window shutters, and other places, 
 and, in barbarian ignorance, put them into the fire. 
 
 There are two or. three species of ichneumon flies which 
 destroy hop aphides by depositing eggs within their bodies at 
 various stages of their life history. If aphides upon hop plants 
 are examined, red spots can be often seen upon their backs. 
 These are the larvse of ichneumon flies, in the act of consuming 
 their hosts. 
 
 Larvajof species of the Hemerobiidse (Lace-wing flies), notably 
 Chrysopa perla, nearly three-quarters of an inch long, ugly- 
 
 FiG. 9. — Syrphus pyrastri. !Ply aud larva, magnified. 
 
 looking, and so ferocious and rapacious that the French term 
 them lions des puaerons, also destroy quantities of aphides, and 
 must not be mistaken for enemies. 
 
 Another friend of the hop planter is the greenish larva of the 
 large, pretty dipterous fly known as Syrphus pyrastri (fig. 9) . This 
 larva is about three-fourths of an inch in length, with the ante- 
 rior part of its body tapering to a point. Its mouth is provided 
 with a three-pronged harpoon, by means of which it transfixes the 
 aphides. After it has transfixed them, it flourishes them in the 
 air ip a triumphant manner, and devours them with marvellous 
 speed. Being without eyes, it makes sweeping motions on 
 every side with its head, and nearly the whole of its body, as 
 shown in fig. 9, in order to find aphides near to it. The quantity 
 of aphides consumed by one of these larvae is extraordinary. It 
 clears a hop leaf in a few mimjtes, and proceeds to another." 
 Yet specimens of these have been sent to the writer with the 
 
Hop Cultivation. 31 
 
 suggestion that they were new foes of the hop plant. The larva 
 of a kindred fly termed Syrplius halteatus is also useful, but is 
 not so generally found in hop plantations. It may be stated 
 here that the larva of 8yrphus pyrastri will eat almost every 
 kind of aphis, and was found in exceeding quantities last year 
 (1892) upon wheat plants infested with Aphis granaria. 
 
 Mildew. 
 
 Mildew, or mould, as it is usually termed by planters, is 
 frequently a serious scourge, which not only reduces the crop 
 but materially damages its quality, and there is not at present 
 a remedy for it that is perfectly efficacious. 
 
 Mildew is caused by the action of a fungus, styled scientifi- 
 cally Splicerotheca castagnei or Podosphcera castagnei, belonging 
 to the group of fungi known as Ascomycetes, and to its division of 
 Erysipheee, according to De Bary's classification.' The vine 
 mildew, Oidium Tuokeri, which causes much harm in French 
 and German vineyards, also belongs to the group of the Erysiphae, 
 but this must not be confounded with the other fungus, Feronospora 
 viticola, far more injurious to vines than Oidium Tuckeri. 
 
 This fungus is propagated by germs, or spores, carried in 
 the air to the hop plants, upon which they speedily germinate, 
 sending haustoria, or suckers, through the epidermis of the 
 leaves. De Bary shows that the conditions necessary for the 
 germination of the spores are pretty much the same as for seeds, 
 namely, a certain temperature and a supply of oxygen and 
 moisture. When the spores find congenial hosts, liyphse are put 
 forth, forming the mycelium, an aggregation of white threads, 
 which appears upon hop leaves attacked by the mildew. Haus- 
 toria from the mycelium permeate the tissues of the leaves and 
 live upon them.^ Much harm is not, however, occasioned by 
 the fungus upon the leaves, but when the burr, or incipient cone, 
 begins to form, it is frequently infected at once by the spores of 
 the fungus from the leaves, which fasten upon its stalk and the 
 bases of the forming bracts, and stop its growth, so that it 
 ultimately shrivels up. Or the fungus attacks the fully-developed 
 cones on their stalks and the bases of the bracts where there is a 
 good supply of sap, reducing them to decay in a short time. 
 
 After a while the whiteness of the mildew becomes brown 
 from the formation of perithecia, or cases containing an ascus, 
 or bag of eight spores, upon the mycelium. The spores remain 
 
 ' Vergleiohende Morpliologie und Biohgie der Pihe. Von A. De Bary. 
 1884. 
 
 ^ The hop fungus, Podosphara castagnei, is epiphytic, that is, it lives upon 
 the plant and not within it, as the endophytic potato fungus, for example. 
 
32 Hop GuUivation. 
 
 in the bag until circumstances favour their further development. 
 Do Bary points out that this period of rest coincides with periods' 
 of vegetation and seasons in many fungi of this group, and it 
 may be assumed that the resting spores of the hop mildew are 
 dormant during the winter, as in the case of the rose mildew, 
 Podosjphcera pannosa, resting in the asci or bags, upon dead hop 
 leaves and bines, or upon the pieces of bine left on the stocks, 
 or on weeds, such as groundsel, so prevalent in hop grounds', 
 plantain, dandelion, and others, or upon the ground.' The asci 
 may be carried in the air to the hop plants in the spring, and, 
 bursting, deposit their spores upon the leaves. After these have 
 established mycelia, or centres, continuous generations of spores 
 will be discharged if the surroundings are favourable, and con- 
 veyed by breezes to infect other plants. As is well known to 
 planters, in some seasons mould does not "run : " that is, infection 
 is not continued, from climatic influences, or other reasons that 
 have not been determined. White spots appear on the leaves, 
 but the cones escape ; while in other seasons infection is rapid 
 and disastrous, extending from the leaves to the burr and cones. 
 
 Prevention. — Hop bines from infected grounds should be burnt 
 in order that all the asci upon them may be destroyed. Every 
 particle of dead bine should be cut away in the early spring and 
 burnt. Quicklime may be put over the hills in the winter. Sets 
 or cuttings taken from plants that have been infected are very 
 likely to spread infection. It is said that mould was introduced 
 into Sussex with cuttings of new varieties. 
 
 It would be well to dip suspected sets or cuttings in a solu- 
 tion of sulphate of lime, or sulphate of copper ; or lime and 
 sulphur mixed should be dusted thickly over them. 
 
 Weeds should be kept from hop grounds, especially the 
 dandelion. Taraxacum dens leonis ; groundsel, Senecio vulgaris ; 
 and other composite plants ; and plantain, Plantago ; which are 
 hosts of the fungus. 
 
 Remedies. — Sulphur is the only remedy that has been found 
 of any efficacy. This is largely used in Kent and Sussex, but 
 not nearly so extensively in Hants, Surrey, Herefordshire, and 
 Worcestershire. Some planters put on black sulphur, Sulphwr 
 vivum, at first, and then finely-sublimated sulphur, flowers of 
 sulphur. Others make use of flowers of sulphur only as being 
 lighter and more adhesive to the leaves. This form of sulphur 
 is much preferable, as it contains, if good, 95 per cent, of sul- 
 phur, while the black common sulphur only contains 55 to 70 
 
 ' Mohl says the spores of the Erysiphese winter on the ground, as well as 
 on the decayed leaves of their host plants. Ueher die Traubmkranltheit. 
 Von Hugo Mohl, Botaniiche Zeitung, Berlin,1874. 
 
So]p OuUivation. §3 
 
 per cent, of sulphur. The application is made by day now, 
 almost invariably, and as far as possible in sunshine. From 
 40 lb. to 60 lb. of sulphur are applied per acre at each sulphur- 
 ing. When the plants are fairly up the poles, the first sulphur- 
 ing is given. About three weeks or a month afterwards it is 
 repeated, and frequently again three weeks later, if there is the 
 least indication of mildew.' If mildew persists sulphuring is 
 continued, and even when the cones are out — though this is 
 avoided if possible, on account of the objection of brewers, who 
 aver that the particles of sulphur retained upon the cones affect 
 the fermentation of the beer. 
 
 Sulphur acts by the evolution of sulphurous acid gas, which 
 is destructive to fungoid life. The sulphur is volatilized by the 
 influences of moisture and heat, and sulphurous acid gas is 
 given off. In very cold, dull, summer seasons, the action of 
 sulphur is most weak. In hot weather there is a considerable 
 evolution of this gas, whose fumes can be smelt on passing by 
 sulphured hop plants. It has been noticed that sometimes, in 
 veiy hot, dry weather, the action of sulphur seems most ineffi- 
 cient ; this is probably because there is not sufficient moisture to 
 cause adequate volatilization. The uncertainty of volatilization 
 and want of concentration of the sulphurous acid gas upon the 
 fungus make sulphuring a rather unsatisfactory operation, and 
 frequently entail the necessity of doing it over and over again, 
 without apparent advantage. But it is the only remedy known 
 that is in any way efficacious as against mildew ; and indepen- 
 dently of this, its application to hop plants is considered to 
 impart vigour to them in some mysterious manner, in the same 
 way that sulphate of copper dressings preserve the green colour 
 and luxuriance of potato plants. 
 
 Sulphur is applied to hop plants by a machine drawn by a 
 horse between the rows. This is light of draught, having two 
 large wheels, upon which there is a hopper where the sulphur is 
 placed. A fan within this, moved rapidly by cog-wheels con- 
 nected with the travelling wheels, drives the sulphur through a 
 blast-pipe, from which it is distributed in a dense wide-spreading 
 cloud. An arrangement to regulate the supply can be adjusted 
 while the sulphurator is moving. About five acres per day can 
 be sulphured with this machine, which costs about 121. 
 
 Sulphate of copper has been tried for hop mildew, but only 
 to a very small extent. It would seem that a happy combina- 
 tion of sulphate of copper with the soft soap and quassia solution 
 
 ' This is the practice of the French wine-growers, who sulphur vines for 
 the vine mildew three times at regular periods in the growth of the vine. 
 
34 -Hbj3 OultivaUon. 
 
 used for aphis blight ought to have the result of stopping both 
 mildew and blight. Experiments in this direction will be made 
 in the ensuing season. 
 
 " Lewing." * 
 
 Wind has a baneful effect upon hop plants when the burr is 
 forming, and afterwards in all stages of the growth of the cones. 
 It hinders their full development, and when they are getting 
 ripe the heavy gales which invariably come towards the end of 
 August make them brown by bruising them. Many kinds of 
 screens, or '' lews," are adopted to lessen the force of the wind; 
 some natural, as quick hedges, in parts of Kent, which grow as 
 high as twenty to twenty-five feet in some districts, and rows of 
 Lombardy and other kinds of poplar. Others are made of high 
 poles set closely together, or of hop plants put as near to each 
 other as possible, and trained up poles pitched close together 
 round the outsides of hop grounds. Light cloth of a coarse 
 mesh, made of cocoanut fibre, is stretched about twelve feet wide 
 at about eight feet from the ground ^ upon wires fixed to perma- 
 nent poles, in those parts of the hop ground exposed to the pre- 
 vailing wind. Where considerable lengths of this are put up, 
 strong posts are required at intervals between the poles, or the 
 whole screen will go down with a mighty smash. " Lewing," or 
 screening, in this way, is expensive, but it is now adopted by 
 most of the large planters. 
 
 Picking. 
 
 Hops are not, as many suppose, distinct flowers, but 
 strobiles, or collections of imbricated scales, or bracts, under 
 which are yellowish, aromatic, lupulinic glands. These strobiles 
 are like the cones of firs, being in reality the fruit of the hop- 
 plant rather than its flower, which is inconspicuous and 
 situated at the base of the bract. The time for picking 
 these strobiles is indicated by their change from a light gold 
 colour to a somewhat deeper hue, also by their closing up at the 
 tips and making a rustling sound when touched. Their seeds 
 are firm and dark-coloured when the strobiles are fit to pick. 
 At the same time, it must be said that hops "go off" so fast 
 in these degenerate days, and get brown so soon, that in many 
 cases they have to be picked before they show these indications of 
 ripeness. Light-coloured hops are in much demand also for 
 
 ' In Pegge's Alphabet of Kentidsms, " lew " is given as meaning sheltered. 
 The word is vised in Kent as a verb, noun, and adjective. 
 
 ' This is generally made in wiclths of sxx. feet, and costs about a shilling 
 per running yard. 
 
Hop Cultivation. 35 
 
 pale ales ; consequently many planters begin to pick as soon as 
 the hops will take the fire, and before they are actually ripe, 
 though this entails a sacrifice of weight and brewing power. 
 
 Picking now generally begins from about the commence- 
 ment to the end of the last week in August. In hot seasons 
 early hops are ready even before these dates, such as Meophams, 
 Prolifics, and White's Early Goldings. Bramlings follow on 
 quickly in order of ripening. Then come Grapes and Goldings 
 of various kinds. In Herefordshire and Worcestershire, after 
 Meophams, etc., Bramlings and Cooper's Whites follow on, 
 then Mathons and Puggle's. 
 
 Planters, as far as possible, arrange their plantations so as 
 to have a regular succession at picking time. As a rule, the 
 picking season lasts about three weeks. Formerly it lasted 
 five or six weeks, when brown samples were in considerable 
 demand, but now these are difiicult to sell, and there is a 
 general rush to get the hops picked as quickly as possible. 
 
 The hop-picking season is a great harvest for the labouring 
 classes in the hop districts, and all with one accord turn out to 
 this work, which is light and pleasant. Besides the inhabitants 
 proper, crowds of immigrants swarm to many of the hop- 
 producing villages in Kent and Sussex from London, and in 
 Herefordshire and Worcestershire from Birmingham, Wolver- 
 hampton, and other large towns. In Hants and Surrey pickers 
 come to the hop gardens from the neighbouring villages and 
 small towns. At least 60,000 strangers come into Kent and 
 Surrey from the courts and alleys of London and elsewhere by 
 special " hoppers" " trains, at cheap rates, and by road. These 
 are provided with lodgings, straw for bedding, faggots for fuel, 
 and water for cooking and washing, by the planters. The 
 lodgings are, ordinarily, rows of single rooms or compartments, 
 seven feet by nine feet, each having a door, built of brick, or stone, 
 or lath and plaster, with slate, tile, or corrugated iron roofs.' Some 
 planters provide bell tents, but they are not quite fit for women 
 and children in wet seasons. Cooking-houses are also provided, 
 lean-to buildings with open fronts, with chimneys, and rows of 
 hooks to hang cooking-pots upon. Accommodation for hop- 
 pickers entails considerable expense upon the owners and 
 occupiers of hop farms, especially as it is required by public 
 opinion that this should be fit and proper for haman beings. 
 -JJpon some farms in -Kent as many as 1,500 strangers are 
 annually employed and housed. 
 
 ' The Sanitary Authorities in the hop districts have codes of bye-laws 
 regulating the accommodation for hop-pickers. 
 
 C 2 
 
36 Sop OuUivaUon. 
 
 The pickers are told off in companies of eight to ten, under 
 the charge of a " binman," who pulls up the poles for them, 
 and holds the pokes, or sacks, when the measurer comes round 
 to measure the hops picked. The binman cuts the bines about 
 3 ft. from the ground and pulls up the poles with a wooden 
 lever with iron teeth, termed a "dog," and carries them to the 
 pickers, who pick them into a bin, a long, light, wooden frame 
 with a, sacking bottom, or in some places into a basket. It is a 
 good method when hops are picked before they are quite ripe, 
 or if the plants are weak, to cut the bines 5 ft. or 6 fb. high and 
 push the part with hops upon it up and over the poles with 
 forked sticks. By this the lower portion is kept to the poles, 
 and the bines do not bleed or lose sap nearly so much as if they 
 are cut close and lie on the ground.' This is extensively adopted 
 in many of the hop-producing districts. Two pickers take one 
 bin. Bins are used in many parts of Kent and in Sussex, 
 Worcestershire, and Hereford. In East Kent the hops are 
 picked into large baskets holding 5 bushels. In Hampshire 
 and Surrey they are picked into baskets holding 7 bushels. 
 When picked, the hops are measured from the bins or baskets 
 into " pokes," " greenbags," or sacks, holding 10 bushels.^ The 
 measurer, who measures the hops for six or seven companies, is 
 accompanied by a boy who enters the number of bushels picked 
 in a book kept by each picker, and also in a book retained by 
 himself. 
 
 Before a ground is picked, it is divided or set out into as 
 many small " sets," or portions, of 100 hills, as there are com- 
 panies, for which lots are drawn by each binman, so that there 
 may be no wrangling over good or bad sets. It is necessary to 
 supervise hop-pickers with close care and to see that they pick 
 the hops free from leaves, and singly, and not in bunches. 
 Leaves show in the samples and spoil their appearance ; besides, 
 buyers object to pay for leaveSi 
 
 Calculations as to the number of pickers required are based 
 upon the amount of kiln accommodation upon each plantation 
 and the probable out-turn of the crop in bushels. The price 
 paid to pickers runs from l^d. to Sd. per bushel. The average 
 price is 2d. per bushel. When the hops have been measured, 
 they are taken to the oast-houses in the " pokes," " greenbags," or 
 " sarpliers," and put on the kilns at once in the morning. In 
 
 ' This practice is of very ancient origin, as Eeynolde Scot wrote in 1576. 
 " Then you may with the forked ende thrust up or shove off all such stalks as 
 rerdayne upon eohe hoppe poale." Op. (At- 
 
 '^ In Hampshire and Surrey these sacks are called " sarpliers," and hold 
 fourteen bushels. 
 
Hop Cultivation. 37 
 
 the evening, as the kilns are not free till past midnight, the 
 pokes are placed upon scaffolds round the oast-house so that 
 the hops may not heat, as they would if laid on the ground, which 
 must be avoided. 
 
 Drying. 
 
 Everything depends upon the drying of the hops. They may 
 be grown to perfection, being bright, aromatic and full of 
 lupulin^ but if they are not dried enough, . or if they are too 
 much dried, these qualities are sacrificed. It may be said that, 
 as a rule, hops are dried too rapidly and at too high a tempera- 
 ture. This is to a great extent necessitated by the limited 
 amount of kiln accommodation, as kilns are expensive to build, 
 and landowners somewhat naturally object to put up more than a 
 certain number, as hop growing is a most speculative business and 
 the kilns can hardly be turned to other purposes.' It is therefore 
 the general practice to load each kiln twice a day, so that each 
 loading gets about ten hours' drying. In these circumstances, 
 •during almost the whole of this time of drying it is necessary to 
 maiutain a high temperature of from 120 to 140 degs. Pahr. By 
 this great and continuous heat a serious waste of valuable and 
 •essential principle is entailed. Hops that are dried by sun 
 heat and air in Germany have much higher percentages of 
 essential oil, and other principles valuable in brewing, than the 
 finest East and Mid Kent hops that have been dried at high 
 temperatures. Spalt hops do not contain naturally a larger 
 proportion of these principles than those of Kent ; but in the 
 former the slow mode of desiccation preserves their intrinsic 
 ■qualities, while in the latter the merciless treatment of stewing 
 or baking to which many, of them are subjected causes the 
 •absolute, visible loss of lupulin, or gold dust, besides the escape 
 of ethereal essences. English hops dried slowly at a temperature 
 never rising beyond 100° Fahr. were found on analysis to contain 
 larger quantities of resin, oU, and bitter principles, and at the 
 same time considerably less moisture, than Spalt hops dried by 
 the same process. Worcester hops dried in this gradual manner 
 were found to be infinitely richer in desired qualities, and to 
 have far less moisture than those from Kent — East, Mid, and 
 the Weald — Sussex, Bavaria, Belgium, and America, dried 
 according to the ordinary practice. 
 
 The kilns for drying hops are of simple construction, being 
 occasionally square, but more frequently round chambers, from 
 
 ' Hop kilns are occasionally used for malting barley for cattle food, for 
 •drying com in the sheaf in wet seasons, and for storing apples. 
 
38 
 
 Hop Cultivation. 
 
 16 to 20 feet in diameter, with stoves or fire-places in them, 
 and from 14 to 18 feet high; at this height a floor of narrow 
 joists or oast laths, an inch and a-half or so apart, is laid over 
 the chamber. At this point the sharply-sloping roof commences, 
 being carried up to an apex with a circular aperture of from 
 two to three feet, upon which a cowl is fixed. The roof is from 
 20 to 26 feet high. A section of a kiln is given in fig. 10, B, in 
 which the relative height of the various parts is indicated. 
 
 The kiln or chamber is in some cases merely a room with open 
 iron stoves in ifc, as shown in the two lower kilns of the ground 
 plan D in fig. 11 , and in fig. 10, E, having holes at intervals in 
 the walls just above the ground-level to allow the admission of 
 cold draughts to drive up the hot air through the hops above. 
 
 A B 
 
 Fig. 10. — Section of Group of Kilns and OooUng Boom. 
 
 Over the open stoves, iron plates are hung five or six feet from the 
 floor, to break and distribute the volume of heat from the stoves. 
 The cold air currents can be regulated by shutters over the 
 draught-holes. 
 
 It is better that the stoves in the chambers should be set in 
 brickwork, forming an inner circle (fig. 10, A, and the two upper 
 kilns in fig. 11), so that the hot air is more concentrated, while 
 the cold draughts do not mingle with it directly and diminish 
 its heat. Upon the floor of joists or oast laths horsehair cloth is 
 nailed to prevent the hop dust from falling through, and to 
 keep the hops from burning (fig. 10, a).' 
 
 Welsh anthracite coals are generally used for drying. Coke is 
 
 ' These figures of kilns and cooling rooms (10, 11, 12) were kindly drawn 
 for the writer by Mr. Hubert Bensted, of Maidstone. 
 
Hcyp Cultivation. 
 
 39 
 
 mixed with these coals by some planters. In Worcestersliire and 
 Herefordshire a good deal of coke is burnt. Charcoal is employed 
 
 i^^\ 
 
 _^ — _>^ 1^ 
 
 Ko. 11.— Garand Floor of Kilns and Cooling Eoom. 
 
 Fig. 12.— Upper Floor of Kilns and Cooling Eoom. 
 
40 Sop Cultivation. 
 
 extensively to keep the fires going, and many dryers put much on 
 the fires, as it is considered that it makes the hops soft. For 
 the first hour or two the fires are ashed up and allowed to glow 
 gradually, so that the heat is increased slowly. A temperature 
 of from 120 to 130 deg. Fahr., and even higher, is reached, and 
 must be maintained in order to dry the hops, laid at from 8 to 10 
 inches thick upon the floors, in less than 12 hours, and so that 
 the kiln may be loaded twice in the 24 hours.' This temperature, 
 as has been pointed out before, is too high. The hops would 
 be far better in every respect if they could be slowly desiccated 
 at a temperature of from 80 to 100 deg. Fahr. But this 
 would take 18 or 20 hours or more, and would necessitate a 
 double amount of kiln accommodation, as the hops must be 
 picked within a very short time. 
 
 Sulphur is burned on the fires generally in all districts. It is 
 put on soon after the hops are on the kilns, when they have begun 
 to reek ; and again later on, when the hops are turned, another 
 quantity is put on the fires. From 10 to 20 lb. of best " Virgin 
 roll " brimstone are burnt for each kiln load. Sulphurous acid gas 
 is generated from the burning sidphur, which has a strong acid 
 reaction and has in a degree the effect of bleaching the drying 
 hops. This action of sulphur, however, is limited, as the fumes 
 being driven off by the air currents cannot be properly concen- 
 trated upon the hops ; but planters have considerable faith in the 
 virtue of sulphur fumes for imparting a yellow colour to the cones, 
 and in bleaching those that have been made brown by sun and 
 wind. The application of sulphur to drying hops does not 
 injure them for brewing in any way. No sulphur is retained in 
 or on the cones. This process must not be confounded with that 
 of throwing up powdered sulphur over the plants for mildew, 
 some of which may possibly be retained in the strobiles in cases 
 where sulphuring is done when these are formed. 
 
 Two kilns of 20 feet square, or of 18 feet diameter, would 
 suffice for 20 acres of hop land. These, with suitable cooling 
 rooms, would cost 500Z. If the hops are dried at a lower tem- 
 perature, the kilns must be doubled. 
 
 Several systems of drying hops at comparatively low tem- 
 peratures have been introduced, some of which have been 
 patented, but not one has been adopted extensively. The labe 
 Mr. Hopkins, of Worcester, invented a process of drying by 
 means of a rapidly-revolving fan, which drives currents of heated, 
 air through the hops, arranged in two series of trays, one 
 above the other. When the lower tray of hops is desiccated, 
 
 ' As a rale, kilns are loaded about noon and midnight. 
 
Sop Cultivation. 41 
 
 it is drawn out and tlie upper tray is let down into its place. 
 The hops are taken directly on the tray to the pressing machine, 
 without having been trodden on, or turned, and without any 
 loss of quality or flavour by the volatilization of oil and resin, 
 and as whole as when they were picked. 
 
 Upon ordinary kilns the hops have to be turned over while 
 drying that they may all be thoroughly desiccated ; this naturally 
 breaks them and causes the " gold dust," or lupulin, to escape ; 
 and the process of clearing the kilns and of pushing the dried 
 hops to the presses, in many cases a considerable distance, 
 further disintegrates them. A kiln floor of wrought iron rods 
 with strong iron supports has been patented by Messrs. Hether- 
 ington, of Alton, arranged so that when the hops are dried the 
 hair cloth upon which they are lying is drawn out by a drum 
 with pulleys and chains, and the hops are delivered by the sides 
 of the presses as whole as when they were put on, or they fall 
 into a receiver, if the presses are distant, and are carried in it. 
 
 Above the floor, and well above the level of the drying hops, 
 a light tramway is fixed to carry a trolley for the dryer to get 
 upon to see how the hops are drying, and to turn them without 
 trampling on and breaking them. Very good samples have 
 been seen from kilns fitted with this patent, the hops being 
 whole and, consequently, having retained their lupulin. 
 
 Pressing. 
 
 Hops, after being dried, are now generally packed quickly 
 into the pockets, and not left long to cool, as formerly. Extensive 
 cooling rooms are therefore not required. No hops are trod 
 into the pockets by men's feet in these days. They are invariably 
 pressed into them by a machine, as shown in fig. 13. 
 
 Pressing machines are made upon the same principle as that in 
 fig. 13, and differ only in details.' A circular foot, just large enough 
 to go into a pocket which is 3 feet in diameter, is fitted to a ratchet 
 lever, worked up and down by handles. This is fixed immediately 
 over the pocket hole cut in the floor of the cooling room. 
 The pocket is fastened to a movable frame or collar, to keep it 
 firm to the floor while it is being filled. After it is pressed 
 full, the collar, is taken ofi" and the mouth sewn up. A " lug," 
 or ear, is left on each side of the mouth. At the lower end two 
 " comers " are made by putting a few, hops in and tying them 
 tightly with string. According to Act. of Parliament (Vic. 29, 
 cap. 87), the name of the parish in which the hops are grown 
 
 • Pressing machines complete cost from HI. 10s. to 201. 
 
42 
 
 flop Cultivation. 
 
 must be legibly marked upon each pocket, together with its 
 weight and the name of the planter. It is illegal to mix hops 
 
 of different 
 qualities and 
 values. 
 
 Pockets are 
 made of coarse, 
 thick sacking, 
 costing about 
 4(^. per yard. 
 They are rather 
 over 6 feet long, 
 and about 3 
 feet in diameter. 
 
 When the 
 crop is picked, 
 the pockets are 
 generally sent 
 at once to the 
 Borough, the 
 great centre of 
 the hop trade, 
 either for sale, 
 or to be kept 
 properly in 
 well-aired and 
 well -ventilated 
 store rooms. If 
 the hops remain 
 long in the store 
 room attached 
 to oast houses, 
 they frequently 
 become crusted 
 from damp and 
 want of aera- 
 tion. 
 
 For 
 
 Fio. 13.— Hop Pressor. 
 
 quiring great care and nicety. 
 
 purposes a 
 
 sample is taken 
 from each 
 
 pocket. Samp- 
 ling is a delicate 
 operation, re- 
 A clumsy sampler will soon 
 
Hop Cultivation. 43 
 
 take off many shillings per cwt. from the look of the hops 
 by want of skill in his manipulation. A good sampler, 
 on the other hand, will give a good " face " to the samples, 
 and make as much of the hops as possible. The process 
 is as follows. The pocket is laid down with the seam 
 side uppermost. The seam is cut a foot and a-half towards 
 the middle of the pocket, its edges being fastened back with 
 iron pins. An extractor with sharp knives and lever handles is 
 thrust in, and a wedge of hops is drawn out. This is reduced 
 with a sharp knife to a square of five or six inches by the 
 sampler, who takes care to leave a smooth, uncut face. All 
 the perfections and imperfections of management, colour, and 
 character can be seen by the face, while the thickness, quantity 
 of seed, " condition," and state of maturity at picking time, are 
 indicated from the sides of the sample cleanly cut by the knives 
 of the extractor. 
 
 In a perfect sample the cones, as seen on the face> should 
 be whole, with the strigs or stalks completely free from mois- 
 ture, and the lupulin or " gold dust " adhering to the bracts. 
 A very few leaves should be seen, and the cones should be single 
 and not in bunches, and of a pale gold colour. An aromatic 
 odour should pervade it, without the slightest trace of the sweet, 
 " gingerbready " smell, like heated clover hay, indicative of too 
 much fire. Upon rubbing down some of the sample in the hand, 
 there should be no fibrous residue, but the whole should chaff 
 finely, leaving a yellowish resinous deposit on the fingers. A 
 well-managed and properly desiccated sample is most elastic, 
 and can be compressed by the hand into a small compass, re- 
 bounding to its original size when the compression is removed. 
 This is a valuable indication of judicious drying. 
 
 Many of the Kent and Sussex hops are sold by sample by 
 factors in the Borough to merchants, who sell them to the 
 brewers. Some are sold direct to brewers by the planters. This 
 practice is becoming more frequent ; by it the planters save 
 the factor's commission, and the brewers do not have to pay for 
 merchant's profits. 
 
 A certain part of the Hampshire and Surrey hop crop is sold 
 at Weyhill fair in October.^ The rest is sent to London. In 
 Herefordshire and "Worcestershire many planters take their hops 
 to Worcester, where there is a hop market, and the hops are 
 sold to merchants and brewers, and weighed at the public 
 scales. 
 
 ' A percentage of pockets representing each growth is "pitched" at Wey- 
 hill fair In barns. 
 
44 Hop Cultivation. 
 
 The Cost of Hop Production. 
 
 The cost of hop production has greatly increased within the 
 last thirty years, on account of the enhanced price of skilled 
 labour, the necessity of employing expensive methods to combat 
 the attacks of insects and fungi, and the generally improved 
 style of farming which has been rendered imperative in con- 
 sequence of the competition of foreign countries. 
 
 It costs from 20Z. to 25L to plant and establish an acre of 
 hop land, including manure, ploughing, snbsoiling, setting-out, 
 planting, purchase of sets, cultivating, rent, rates, &c. Some- 
 times sets cost 10s. per hundred, which would be equal to 
 121. 10s. per acre for sets alone, but their average price is 5s., 
 or 61. 5s. per acre for a six-feet square plant. Lance, in his 
 Hop Fwrmer, put the cost of planting an acre of hop land at 18?., 
 in 1838. Mr. Buckland estimated this at 221. 15s. per acre in 
 1845,' including draining. 
 
 To this first cost must be added the amount for equipping 
 the hop land with proper poles required at the end of the first 
 year. This, as shown before, ranges between 20?. and 40L per 
 acre, according to the sizes of the poles. 
 
 Hop land costs close upon 35Z. per acre annually, taking an 
 average of the whole of the districts. On highly-farmed hop 
 land in East and Mid Kent the cost per acre often amounts to 
 401. per acre. The average cost, put at 35?., is made up of 
 the items set forth in the following table. 
 
 Annual Avekage Cost oe an Acre op Hop Land. 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 Manure (winter and summer) , . . . 6 10 
 
 Digging 19 
 
 Dressing (or cutting) 6 
 
 Poling, tying, earthing; ladder-tying, stringing, 
 
 lewing 2 3 
 
 Shimming, nidgetting, digging round and hoeing 
 
 hills .300 
 
 Stacking, stripping, making bines, &c. . . 17 
 
 Annual renewal of poles 2 10 
 
 Expense of picking, drying, packing, carriage, 
 
 sampling, sale, &c., &c., of an average crop, 
 
 of, say, 7 cwt. per acre . . . . 10 6 
 Hent, rates, taxes, repairs of oast and tacks, 
 
 interest on capital 6 
 
 Sulphuring 10 
 
 Washing, say " 2 
 
 Total .... ^£35 10 
 
 "> On tJie Farming of Kent. By George Buckland. Journal of the Eoyal 
 Agricultural Society, vol. vi., 1st series, p. 287. 
 
 " In the last few years washing has been done three or even four times, 
 and sulphuring also. 
 
Sop Cultivation. 45 
 
 In 1798 Mr. Marshall put the yearly expense of hop land in 
 Kent at 22Z. per acre, exclusive of all charges connected with 
 picking, packing and selling, which he estimated at \l. per cwt.^ 
 Mr. Mainwaring reckoned that the total cost of producing 
 8 cwt. of hops per acre in Worcestershire was 24Z. in 1855,* 
 but practical Worcester planters say that a crop of 8 cwt. per 
 acre now costs from 30Z. to 35Z. 
 
 Profits and Prospects. 
 
 Hop farming is a most speculative business, on account of 
 the precarious character of the crop, and the heavy expenses 
 connected with its production, as well as the peculiar 
 fluctuations of the hop market, due in a great degree to the 
 unsatisfactory practice of the chief part of the crop being sold 
 by the growers in October and November, through factors, to a 
 very limited number of hop merchants. These are, as a rule, 
 men of large capital, and are able by action or inaction to 
 influence materially the prices of hops, to some extent irrespec- 
 tive of the positions of supply based on production, and demand 
 based on the actual requirements for consumption. The growers 
 in these circumstances frequently will not take prices thus offered, 
 and in many cases miss the market, and have to take much 
 lower rates later on. 
 
 Sometimes large profits are made — of from 50Z. even to lOOZ. 
 per acre — by fortunate individuals or good managers, who have 
 grown large crops in seasons when the general yield has been 
 short. Upon the whole, taking the average of the past few 
 years, hop growers have fared better than other agricul- 
 turists, and it seems probable that hop growing will continue to 
 be remunerative if the growers do not extend their acreages 
 beyond their capital and plant hops in unsuitable land, and if the 
 foreign importations do not materially increase. The importa- 
 tions have averaged 193,943 cwt.^ per annum during the last ten 
 years. The chief importing countries are Belgium and Holland, 
 from which quantities of hops of inferior quality are sent. 
 America comes next, and Germany next. 
 
 The following table shows the quantities of hops imported from 
 each country into Great Britain in 1891, and their value : — 
 
 ' Bwal Ebmwmy of the Southern Counties. By Mr. Marshall, 1798. 
 
 2 A Treatise on Sops. By T. Mainwaring, Worcester, 1855. 
 
 » From the total available supplies of English and foreign hops imported 
 into England, 127,920 cwt. of English and foreign hops exported from Great 
 Britain during the last ten years must be deducted ; or 12,792 cwt. per annum. 
 
46 Sop Cultivation. 
 
 Hops Imported into Great Britain in 1891. 
 
 Belgium and Holland . 
 
 United States of America 
 
 Germany 
 
 France 
 
 Russia 
 
 Other foreign countries 
 
 Total 
 
 Cwt. £ 
 
 77,992 346,776 
 
 80,226 426,068 
 
 17,199 91,689 
 
 15,893 94,813 
 
 301 1,135 
 
 16 116 
 
 191,627 960,597 
 
 In 1892 the quantity of hops imported into Great Britain 
 was 187,507 cwt. Their value, and the details as to the 
 countries from which they were exported, have not yet been 
 published. 
 
 It is estimated that the total amount of hops grown in 
 England during the last ten years, ending 1892, is equal to 
 4,852,381 cwt., or an annual average yield of 485,238 cwt. 
 The quantity of hops required on an average for a year's con- 
 sumption in Great Britain is estimated at between 600,000 cwt. 
 and 650,000 cwfc. 
 
 In order to show the extent of hop cultivation in the world, 
 the figures published in 1892 by Messrs. Earth, German hop 
 merchants, may be quoted. According to these, there are 
 287,395 acres of hop land in the world, of which 229,895 acres 
 are in Europe, 55,000 in America, and 2,500 in Australia. 
 
 A further interesting estimate, issued by Messrs. Barth, 
 shows that the total produce of the world's hop land was 1,566,000 
 cwt. in 1892, while the total consumption of hops for the same 
 year is put at 1,624,000 cwt. 
 
 The prices of hops fluctuate exceedingly, ranging from 2Z. ] Os. 
 to 5L per cwt. in abundant seasons, to 20Z., and even 30L iu 
 those when the yield is very small. The average price of the 
 last thirty years is about 7L, and if the average crop is reckoned 
 at 7 cwt. per acre, there does not appear to be a large margin 
 for profit, though some growers do far better than others in the 
 same seasons, and in their turn they fare worse. 
 
 Prices of hops also vary according to the district in which 
 they are grown, and their variety. Generally East Kents 
 make from 15s. to 25s. per cwt. more than Mid Kents, which 
 are worth from 10s. to \l. per cwt, more than Weald of Kent 
 and Sussex hops. Hants and Surrey hops range in value 
 between Bast and Mid Kents, and Worcester and Hereford 
 growths, as a rule, rank with the latter of these in price. 
 
 Chables Whitehead. 
 
 Spotlitwood* df Co. I^interSy New-street iSquart, London. 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 METHODS 
 
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 PREVENTING AND CHECKING 
 THE ATTACKS OF 
 
 INSECTS AND FUNGI, 
 
 CONTAINING PAETIOULARS OF 
 
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 THIB.TY DIAGBAMS OF HTJITRrOTTS INSECTS. Drawn from Nature 
 
 Miss Georgiana B. Ormerod, in conjunction with Miss Eleanor A. Ormbrod, F. R. Met, £., j 
 
 Price Is. 6(i. each. Varnished and mounted on canvas, with rollers, 2«. 6d. Seta of Six, 7*. 6} ' 
 
 or varnished and mouuted, 125. 6d. j 
 
 EIGHT DIAGRAMS REPRESENTIMG THE LIFE HISTORY OF TH! 
 
 "WHEAT PXjAKT (after Francis Bauer). With Explanatory Pamphlet by ! 
 
 Oaukuthkrs, P.R.S., Consulting Botanist to the Society. Price Ciocluding Pamphlet) !■ 
 
 per Set of Bight Diagrams. ; 
 
 THE POTATO DISEASE. By W. Oarruthers, F.R.S., Oonaulting Botanist to . 
 
 Society. Price Is. 
 
 Spoitimoode d; Co, Printers, New-street Square, London, 
 
Binder 
 Gaylord Bros. Inc. 
 
 Makers 
 Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
 PAT. m 21, 1908 
 
lit 
 
 I iiiili 
 
 1 
 i 
 
 ill 
 '1 
 
 ijiii