II. THE PRODUCTION OF NEW VARIETIES OF 

 CROSS-FERTILISATION. 



A consideration of the possible lines of investigation by which 

 science may be applied to the hop industry, points to the conclusion 

 that the systematic production of new varieties of the hop from 

 seeds offers the greatest likelihood of success and also promises the 

 largest increase in the crop. It is probable that the variety of hop 

 is of more importance than the soil or manurial treatment. 



Of the many varieties grown in Kent at the present time, two 

 only Bennett's Early Seedling and Fuggle's are known with 

 certainty to have arisen from seed. It appears that, on many 

 occasions, hop seeds have been grown, but the resulting plants have 

 varied considerably, and therefore doubt has been thrown on the 

 possibility of improving the hop in this direction. In all these 

 cases, however, no attempt seems to have been made to control 

 the fertilisation, and only seedlings arising through chance pollin- 

 ation have been raised. The field of hop breeding is therefore 

 open. 



During the past year, various English and German female 

 plants have been crossed with widely different males, and 23 sets of 

 seeds have been obtained for growth next spring. 



In the first instance, the characters of the seedling hops will 

 be carefully compared with those of the parents, and an attempt 

 will be made to see how these characters resemble and differ from 

 those of the parents. Secondly, any promising new forms will be 

 propagated under ordinary conditions and their value tested. 

 Possibly some of the seedling males thus produced may be useful 

 in making further crosses, and for propagation for use in hop 

 gardens. 



The method adopted in crossing varieties of the hop was as 

 follows : The laterals selected were cut back as soon as the burr 

 was just visible, and placed in thin, white, tough paper bags which 

 were tied on with fine wire. The bunches shown in Fig. 2 are 

 examples of laterals which have been bagged in this way. About 

 eight days after the bags are placed in position, the burr is usually 



