24 



" I can recollect talking this matter over more than 30 years 

 ago with the late Mr. S. J. SANKEY, of South Hill, Hastingleigh, 

 when he instanced the case of a garden at Hastingleigh Court 

 Lodge Farm, which had always been a good one and had always 

 had a considerable number of male plants in it, but at one time a 

 fresh tenant came who thought them useless, and destroyed them 

 all, after that the garden moulded, went to the bad, and was soon 

 grubbed. 



" Personally, I have always thought it best to Keep a few male 

 plants in my own garden." 



Mr. H. O. HUBBLE, of Hunton, Maidstone, writes : 



11 1 consider that the influence of the male hop in a hop planta- 

 tion is decidedly a matter worthy of further experiments on your 

 part, especially because the results you have already obtained seem 

 conclusively to prove what some growers in Mid Kent have for 

 many years believed, as the result of observation only. 



" I cannot pose as an experienced grower,' but I have often 

 noticed that the female hops in close proximity to a ' seeder '* come 

 into hop earlier, are larger and more mature, in fact are generally 

 more * complete,' if I may so put it, than those which are not so 

 situated. 



" The rule does not, of course, always hold good, but that, you 

 have explained, is because the male hop has come to maturity either 

 too early or too late for ' pollination ' to take place. 



"Your statement that a 'pollinated' hop is better able to 

 resist mould is extremely interesting and valuable, and the fact that 

 'pollinated hops' always contain seeds is surely a weighty argument 

 in favour of the preservation of the male plant. 



" My uncle, a grower of long experience, has always insisted on 

 the value of the male plants, and would always have some of them 

 planted about each garden, and there are other large growers in this 

 district who think and act in the same way." (Letter, Nov. 4th, 

 1904.) 



* In Kent, male hops are often spoken of as " seeders." 



