288 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



The v r ines, or bines, grown from seed will be fit to be poled the 

 third year ; those from cuttings or layers, the second year. The 

 business of the first year is, to keep the ground as clean as pos 

 sible, and the plants well earthed up. Though they are not 

 poled the first year, yet a stick is put into the ground, to which 

 they are tied and trained. The hop is an enduring plant, and 

 some fields in Kent have been in hops beyond the memory of 

 persons now living ; but it is deemed best to renew them once in 

 twelve or fifteen years. 



The hills require, every spring, to be opened and carefully 

 trimmed the last year s shoots to within an inch of the main 

 stem, and the suckers close to it. In some cases, they are 

 manured only once in two years. Farm-yard dung is an excel 

 lent manure for them j and the clippings, or waste, of woollen 

 mills, called shoddy, are much valued and used. The land on 

 the borders of the chalk formation is much preferred for the 

 growth of hops. 



There are several different kinds grown, and distinguished, in 

 different places, by different names. These are the grape, the 

 white bines, and the golden, vulgarly called the goldings. 

 The white bines are most esteemed in Farnham, Surrey, and 

 there are no hops in the market, which bring a better price than 

 the Farnham. 



The poles used for the hops are of chestnut, ash, or larch, and 

 are cultivated in plantations, oftentimes, by the hop-growers 

 themselves ; and these plantations admit of being cut once in ten 

 years. Beech, birch, and elder, are quite inferior, though some 

 times used. The poles arc from twelve to sixteen feet ; but it is 

 said to be an error to have them too long, as the bine becomes 

 feeble by too much extending itself. With a view to avoid the 

 effects of violent winds, the plantation is sometimes hoodwinked 

 by a row of trees upon the side most exposed and to give more 

 firmness, one cultivator has taken pains to have the poles strength 

 ened by an iron wire extending from one to another on the top. 

 The experiment was considered of doubtful advantage.* 



* &quot; Improvements in Hop-poling. Mr. Knowlcs s plantation (Kent) consists of 

 about forty -two acres, lying on a very beautiful slope of the Ragstonc IIil&amp;gt;, having 

 a warm aspect and an excellent soil, which, however, evidently owes murh of its- 

 productiveness to liberal dressing and spirited cultivation . Mr. Knowlcs digs his 

 land twice once early in the winter, and again at the vua. period in the spring 



