PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 175 



worthy of note. By the old method two poles, from fifteen to 

 thirty feet in length, were necessary to each hill ; by the horizon- 

 tal method, one stake eight feet in length, with seventeen feet of 

 twine, is all that is required. Several hundred stakes, eight feet 

 in length, take the place of 1,400 expensive hop poles. Prices 

 vary in dilferent portions of the country, and yet the relative 

 prices remain the same. 



" In picking hops the universal practice has been to cut off the 

 vine, raise the pole, and carry it with the vines to the box, leaving 

 the roots to bleed freely. By this means the roots are all greatly 

 weakened, and the stronger and most vigorous plants, if they sur- 

 vive the trial, prove the weakest plants the ensuing season. 

 Canada thistles would scarcely survive the treatment, in this 

 respect, which has most thoughtlessly been practiced upon hop 

 vines. By using stakes and twine the necessity for cutting off 

 the vine at the root is obviated. The box-tender, by the aid of a 

 stool, if necessary, can reach every arm and cut it from the vine 

 without injuring the vine that is left, and this secures a strong, 

 vigorous plant for another year. 



"It requires an experienced hand to manage every department 

 in the cultivation and marketing of hops, and in none is more skill 

 required than in curing them so as to preserve the color, flavor 

 and texture without diminishing the strength. Hops that would 

 otherwise turn out a prime article, are frequently spoiled in cur- 

 ing ; either heating in the bale from not being sufficiently dried, 

 or they are subjected to too great a degree of heat, and the aroma 

 injured. If even a small portion of the hops are scorched the 

 flavor is injured, and for this reason pipes should be used to dis- 

 tribute the heat evenly under the drjdng floor. The floor should 

 be made of strips of plank one and one-half inches by two and one- 

 half inches, set on edge one and one-half inches apart, covered with 

 a floor cloth of linen or hair. The French kiln is much the best in 

 use, as by that the hops can be dried evenly and rolled oflT into 

 the cooling room without being broken. Hops should be neatly 

 pressed. A good shaped bale of good hops, properly cured and 

 pressed, as whole as possible, will always command a fancy price. 



"The principal enemies with which the hop-grower has to con- 

 tend are the mold and the blight caused by the aphis. The mold 

 is a fungus that grows in the branches and stems of the hop, and 

 often upon the bur, thickening the part aflected, and preventing 

 any further development. It has not yet appeared in American 



