4 SOME CONDITIONS INFLUENCING THE YIELD OF HOPS. 



The figures given in this table were taken at ten-year intervals, and 

 in the absence of those for the intervening years they are of little 

 value in determining either an increase or a decrease iu the average 

 annual yield. Assuming, however, that the apparent diminution of 

 yield for the State of California as indicated by the table was real, a 

 thorough stud}' of an individual acre in the central part of the State 

 was begun in 1909 for the purpose of determining some of the factors 

 which might be responsible for diminished production. 



The results of this study clearly indicate that closer attention to 

 certain cultural details should result in a substantial increase in yield. 



THE METHODS EMPLOYED IN THE INVESTIGATION. 



The acre selected for study represented, as far as inspection 

 alone could determine, the average of conditions existing in several 

 contiguous fields of hops aggregating about GOO acres. The soil, a 

 rich sandy loam, had been under hops continuously for the last ten 

 years. The rows were 7 feet apart, running from east to west, and 

 the hills were approximately 6| feet apart in the rows. The hops 

 were trained on strings about 18 feet long, depending from the wires 

 of the usual type of high-wire trellis." 



When the crop was ready for liarAesting, a plat was made of the 

 entire acre and a definite number assigned to every hill. The hops 

 were then picked from each hill separately, weighed, and the weight 

 recorded opposite the number assigned to that respective hill. The 

 number of vines to the hill, the occurrence of male, dwarf, " bastard," 

 nonproductive, and missing hills, and the general characteristics of 

 the product of each hill were also recorded. 



EFFECT OF IMPERFECT STAND ON YIELD OF HOPS. 



When the observations were tabulated it became evident that the 

 yield had been heavily reduced through the occurrence of a large 

 number of nonproductive and missing hills, as will be seen from the 

 following: 



Hills producing; hops 853 



Hills having vines with no hops 42 



Missing hills ; 5^^ 



Hills with dwarfed vines 1 



Hills having "bastard" vines 5 



Hills having only male vines T> 



Total '>6T 



Deditcting the number of male hiils. the presence of which is held to 

 be necessary for the proper development of the crop, there should 

 have been on this acre 957 productive hills, as against 853 hills 



" See Farmers' Bulletin 304, p. 14. 

 [Cir. 50] 



