CHAPTER III. SYSTEMS OF CULTIVATION. THE culture of the hop involves a larger outlay than perhaps that of any of our other crops, ranging from 357. to 607. per acre. The returns from it are exceedingly variable, owing to the extreme liability of the plant to suffer from disease, and range from a little over 1 cwt. to 13 cwt. per acre; but unlike other crops known to our farmers, the duration of a plantation is almost indefinite, usually lasting, according to the situation and kind of treatment, from two to twenty years; indeed, some of the hop gardens at Farnham have not been changed for a new stock of plants since the introduction of hop culture into England more than 330 years ago. The great value of the hop under favourable circumstances illustrates more forcibly the value of what is termed high farming than any other of our cultivated crops, and although its entire tillage and management are exceptional, yet from the examination of hop culture, as practised in some parts of the south of England, the agriculturist may derive many suggestive hints worthy of being acted upon in his ordinary operations. The outlay there in tillage, in manures, and in saving the crop is so large as almost to appear fabulous to those unacquainted with the details of management; but the enterprising and successful hop grower is aware that it is only by a liberal outlay (of course judiciously) that he can calculate on an adequate return. The soil best adapted for the cultivation of the hop is a deep rich loam. In preparing the soil for this plant care should be taken to thoroughly destroy the weeds, and to reduce the soil to as pulverized a state as possible. Well-rotted dung must be applied with a liberal hand. The plants or cuttings are prepared from old stools, and each should have two joints or eyes; from the one springs the root, and from the other the bine. They should be made from the healthiest and strongest bines, each being cut to the length of 5 or 6 inches. The following is the best mode of planting: Strike furrows with the plough at equal distances of 8 feet; when finished repeat the process in the opposite direction. The hills are then to be made where the furrows cross each other, by digging out a spadeful of earth, and after mixing it with two spitsful of rotten dung, replacing the whole so as to form a small hillock; in this three or four plants are set at the distance of 5 or 6 inches from each other. In dressing the hop plant, the operations of the first year are confined to twisting and removing the haulm, The former should be done about Christmas, by twisting the young vines into a knot so as to stop any further growth. The latter is performed with a sickle annually in the month of March; they should be cut even with the surface of the ground. The plants are generally ready for polling towards the end of September in the second and succeeding years. The poles should be from 16 to 20 feet long, the shoots should previously have risen 2 or 3 inches; three poles are generally set in each hillock; they should be planted at least 20 inches in the ground, and well secured, and they should not on any account lean toward each other. About the close of November the season for tying the bine commences. The most forward shoots should be extirpated, and the others tied to the pole. As the bines progress the persons employed to tie them will have to provide themselves with light ladders. This is all that will require to be done until the season for taking the crop. Hops are known to be ready for pulling when they acquire a strong scent, and the catkins become firin and of a brown colour. The bines are then cut even with the ground, the poles lowered carefully, and the hops picked off, after which they are dried in a kiln. This should be done as speedily as possible after they are picked, as if left for five or six hours they are apt to ferment and become unsaleable. It is usual to plant one male to one hundred female sets; but one to one thousand might probably suffice. It requires good deep soil, as the plant roots deeply, and lasts a number of years. Two or three sets should be put in together, and the earth heaped over them, these mounds being 6 feet apart every way. By having the mounds in one row opposite the spaces of the next, it enables you to run the plough, or horse hoe, in three directions, which is an advantage. At this distance apart 1200 mounds will go to an acre; and as the average yield of each mound is about one bushel, or 1 lb., an acre will produce in a favourable season 16 to 18 cwt. of hops. The first year poles of 6 feet are sufficient, but afterwards REESE LIBRARY 31 SYSTEMS OF CULTIVATION. OF THE UNIVERSITY they will be required of 12 feet. No uning is needed the first two years. After the second year the earth should be removed around the stump at the fall of the year, the old stem cut away, leaving two or three young shoots for the following year, and the mounds made up again over them. Though from the yield per acre the profit would appear to be considerable, it must be borne in mind that hops are a very uncertain crop. The expense of preparing the ground is large; trenching or double digging is in most cases indispensable, yet small patches of good earth may be found of several feet deep, in which case the labour would be saved. The drying of the hop constitutes a very important part of its management; it is performed in kilns, generally of very unscientific construction, and apparently capable of great improvement. These are usually termed oasts or oast houses. The heat imparted by the fire in drying is of great importance, and should in no instance exceed 119° or 120° Fahr. The farina, or pollen, which falls through the hair-cloth or wire, in the course of desiccation, is a valuable article, and is denominated hop dust. If care is taken that no particles of fire fall into the kiln pit, and the hop dust be frequently removed therefrom, so as to ensure its freedom from extraneous matter, it is scarcely less useful to the brewer than hops themselves. One pound of the dust is equal to four times the quantity of the strobiles. In dark-coloured or common beer a small quantity might always be used without injury. In order to give the hops a good colour, they are subjected to fumigation with sulphurous acid; after this process they are packed into sacks or pockets, and subjected to great pressure, so as to prevent access of air, and their consequent deterioration. Mr. John P. Smith, of Worcester, has published in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society,' vol. xxv. p. 52, the following prize essay on the culture, which furnishes much useful information: "The hop thrives best in moderately warm climates, and this may account for Kent and Sussex, two of the most southerly counties, being selected for its cultivation, and producing a very large proportion of the annual yield of the kingdom. Worcester and Hereford stand next in importance, and yield about one-eleventh of the yearly average growth. Farnham and its neighbourhood stand next as to quantity. The district known as the North Clays, in Nottinghamshire, formerly grew a fair quantity of good hops, but of late years the plantations have been much reduced; the same remark applies to the district around Stowmarket in Suffolk, and also to the county of Essex. "A south-eastern aspect affords, in my opinion, the best situation for a hop garden, and if it be well protected from the west winds that prevail during the autumn, so much the better, as great mischief is often done by wind. Due care must be taken to adapt the planting to the peculiarities of the soil. The Golding hop will be found to succeed best on dry friable soil, with a gravelly or rocky subsoil, such as we find in the hilly districts of Middle and East Kent, while Mathon, White, and Grapes, prefer a stronger soil, approaching to clay; the former variety flourishes on the deep land in the vale of the Teme, and the latter in the Weald of Kent and |