29 



ready for pollination. This operation is carried out by removing 

 the bag and dusting the young hops with the flowers of the male 

 plant selected for the cross ; as soon as this is completed the bag 

 is once more placed in position. In order to check the results, a. 

 large number of controls are used bunches which are not pollin- 

 ated so as to determine whether the laterals have been bagged in 

 time, and whether pollination took place before the beginning of 

 the experiments. In no single instance did the control bunches 

 contain seeds at picking time, thereby proving that the method 

 employed was a reliable one. As a rule, the bags were removed a 

 fortnight after pollination, when it was found that the crossed hops 

 had already grown out considerably, while the controls had only 

 just shed their brush. At this point it was sometimes found 

 necessary to spray the experimental hops with soft soap, so as to- 

 rid them of lice which had increased in large numbers on the 

 sheltered laterals. At picking time, the crossed hops were removed 

 and the controls examined. The seeds were picked out, after the 

 bunches had wilted in the air a few days, and placed in canvas bags 

 for storage during winter. 



These experiments naturally involved the examination of a 

 very large number of male hops. It was found that there is the 

 greatest variation in the vegetative characters of these plants. 

 The colour of the bine varies from a bright red to a very distinct 

 green and there is a wide range in the texture and shape of the 

 leaves and the time of ripening of the flowers. In some cases the 

 males were seen to be very liable to mould, both as regards the 

 leaves and flowers. 



The female varieties crossed during the present year were 

 Fuggle's, Old Canterbury Whitebines, Amos's Early Bird Bram- 

 ling, Cobb's, Colegate's, Wild hops with good aroma, and Saaz 

 (Nos. i and 2 in the College Garden). The males employed varied 

 considerably in their characters. 



