26 



Interesting references to the value of the male plant are to be 

 found in the older writings on hops in this country. Thus in the 

 account of the hop crop in WILSON'S Our Farm Crops, published in 

 1859, it is stated: 



" Care should be taken that the cuttings from the male plants 

 should be kept distinct from those from the female plants, otherwise 

 they are likely to be irregularly distributed, instead of having them 

 dispersed at given regular distances over the ground." 



" Respecting these distances, and indeed the function and 

 value of the male plants altogether, a difference of opinion appears 

 to exist with practical men. Some growers plant and retain every 

 tenth or up to every fifteenth hill with male plants; others 

 distribute them with less regard to regularity throughout the 

 ground. Again, another plan recommended is to keep the male 

 plants on the outside, so that the pollen may be carried over the 

 ground by whichever wind may blow, while there are some growers 

 who search for the unproductive male plants at the time of flower- 

 ing and at once extirpate them as useless incumbrances of the soil." 



It seems, therefore, that the practice in England with regard 

 to this question has undergone some change in recent years. 

 Fewer males seem to be grown than formerly. This idea is con- 

 firmed by a recent paper by Mr. D. G. FAIRCHILD, on " Hop Culture 

 in Europe," presented to the 53rd annual meeting of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, held recently at 

 St. Louis. The author remarks on the fact that in America male 

 hops are numerous, while in Europe the male plants are hardly 

 tolerated in the hop field. 



It is clear, therefore, that the subject is well worthy of inde- 

 pendent investigation, and the directions in which further work is 

 desirable seem to be as follows : 



i. The effect of pollination and its absence in gardens which 

 are particularly liable to mould at the present time. It is well known 

 that, other things being equal, mould is most prevalent where the 

 air is still, and where the hops are " housed in." In such situa- 

 tions there is also the smallest chance of pollination, and it is 



