242 Variation in Wild Hop 



In 1915 we were informed by Dr M. Corvi, of the R. Istituto Superiore 

 Agrario of Perugia, that in the years 1860-70 the hop was cultivated 

 near Bologna "with good results," and that experiments with its culture 

 were being conducted in Umbria. Further, we found that although all 

 the authors of Italian " Floras " give the hop the status of a wild plant, 

 one of them, Parlatore {Flora Italiana, iv. 303 (1867)) remarks: "II 

 Luppolo e coltivato in alcune parti d' Italia, come a Forli ed altrove. 

 Tali coltivazioni sono pero ancora molto ristrette tra noi, facendosi 

 venire il Luppolo stesso dalla Germania." The following information, 

 however, supplied by Prof P. A. Saccardo in April 1916, makes it 

 practically certain that the parent plant of the seedlings described below 

 was the wild species. " Apres investigations chez mes collegues Mittirolo, 

 Peglion, Beguinot, etc. je peux vous assurer, Vhouhlon n'a ete jamais 

 cultive dans la province de Treviso d'ou je vous I'ai expddie et ou il se 

 trouve sauvage partout abondamment, surtout sur les haies. M. le prof. 

 Peglion qui va publier dans ce moment un Monografia del luppolo in 

 Italia m'ecrit de Bologna que en toute Italie on cultive : 3 hectares de 

 houblon dans la plaine d'Orvieto et dans I'haute-plaine de Alfina 

 (Ombria), | hectare a Pedavena (Feltre). Comme vous le voyez vous 

 pouvez etre sur, tres sur, que les exemples que je vous ai expedies 

 sont absolument spontanes et sauvages." 



The seedling plants have been raised and grown in the following 

 manner. The bulk of the seed from Italy was sown in seed-boxes in the 

 greenhouse in 1914 and 1915. Some of the seed germinated the same 

 year it was sown and some in the second and even the third year after 

 sowing. Portions of the same seed (collected in 1913) were retained and 

 sown in 1916 and also in 1917 ; germination was poor and only a few 

 seedlings were raised from these later sowings. As soon as each seedling 

 was old enough to transplant, it was placed in a pot and kept in the 

 (unheated and well-ventilated) greenhouse during its first year and 

 sometimes during its second year. The 1- and 2-year old seedlings 

 reached a height of from three to five feet. During the winter they 

 were planted out, in blocks of 50 or more, distributed through the 

 Experimental Hop-garden of 2f acres at Wye College, Kent. The 

 seedlings were planted 3 ft. 6 in. apart in the row, and the rows were 

 6 ft. 6 in. apart. The plants have been given the treatment usual in a 

 commercial hop-garden; the underground rhizome is "cut" or "dressed", 

 each winter — an operation which removes the living, swollen bases 

 (" strap cuts ") of the annual shoots, so that the next year's shoots arise 

 from buds lower down on the rhizome ; each spring the superfluous 



