HOPS. 



237 



stirred and kept clear of weeds. When matured, it should be 

 carefully cut with the scythe or sickle, and if so ripe as to 

 sheil, laid into a wagon box with tight canvas over the 

 bottom and sides, so as to prevent waste. As soon as it is 

 perfectly dry, it may be threshed and cleaned, when it is 

 ready for market. 



The white mustard is a valuable crop as green food for 

 cattle or sheep, or for plowing in as a fertilizer. For feed- 

 ing, the white is much preferred to the black, as the seed 

 of the latter is so tenacious of life, as to be eradicated with 

 difficulty when once in the ground. The amount of seed 

 required per acre is from eight to twenty quarts, according 

 to the kind and quality of the land, and the mode of planting 

 or sowing. It may be sown from early spring till August, 

 for the northern and middle States, and till the latter part 

 of September for the southern. 



The crops yield from 25 to 30 bushels per acre. Both 

 are excellent fertilizers for the soil. 



THE HOP, (Hnmulus lupulus, Fig. 54). 



There are several varieties of hops, indigenous to this 



country. They grow best 

 on a strong loam or well- 

 drained clay, with light 

 sub-soil. If the latter be 

 retentive of water, the hop 

 will soon dwindle or die. 

 If made sufficiently rich, 

 it will flourish on light 

 loam or gravels ; but a new > 

 strong soil is better, and 

 this requires little or no 

 manure. The most de- 

 sirable exposiire is a gentle 

 slope to the south : but 

 this should be where there 

 can be a free circulation 

 of air arnidst the tall vege- 

 table growth, which characterizes the luxuriant hop field be- 

 yond every other northern Crop. 



Cultivation. If the land has been long in use, it should 

 be dressed with compost and alkaline manures ; or what is 

 nearly equivalent, with fresh, barnyard manures, on a pre- 

 viously well-hoed crop, made perfectly free of all weeds, and 



FIG 



