34 



THE FARMERS MONTHLY VISITOR. 



change less than is usual in tlie towns farther in- 

 terior. Seldom does the property pass out of the 

 family. A vast deal more in value is annually pro- 

 duced in the town tlian is e.-tpended in tlie town, 

 so that the people necessarily musthe growing rich: 

 the annual increase of the capacity of the land 

 from its improved cultivation Ts a great increase of 

 the wealth of the town.' 



Could the fanners of all our towns realize the ex- 

 tent of tlie advantage g-ained by ,so cultivating 

 their ground as to make every acre produce two or 

 three for' one— could they witness Wifot has been 

 done by the industrious farmers of H}e— few ot 

 them would fail to make efforts to elevate thcm- 

 selves and their calling in that easiest method which 

 human ingenuity can devise. 



Culture of Hops. 



Col. Peabody has favored the editor v/ith the 

 following essay on the culture of Hops, which to 

 every reader who feels an interest in the produc- 

 tion of that article AviU be worth at least the price 

 of a year's subscription : 

 Hon. Isaac Hill, 



Dkar Sir : — With much pleasure 

 I see your name at the editorial department of an 

 agricultural paper. As to myself, 1 have long been 

 not only an amateur, but an actor upon tlie subject 

 of agriculture. Upon no otiier subject do I think, 

 speak, read or act with more cordiality. An agri- 

 cultural paper printed at our own capital, ably con- 

 ducted, is better adapted to meet the wants of the 

 citizens of this State, than one calculated for the 

 meridian of some other place. 



Since you have taken the liberty of introducing 

 my name through 3'our first number, connecting it 

 with one particular brandli of agriculture, inviting 

 a communication, I will therefore not disappoint 

 you in the appearance if I do in the substance. 



I cultivate the various farinaceousproductions of 1 

 NewEngland like most farmers. But hops constitute 

 my princijial crop. I have picked twenty succes- 

 sive crops of that vegetable. I here give you a 

 list of the quantity raised by me in the following 

 years : Ihs. 



1829 too 



1830 3,400 



1831 4,rjt;5 



1832 6,400 

 13-33 H,-60 

 1834 11,000 

 1S35 .'3,207 



1836 ]3,.540 



1837 i 1,100 

 . X838 7,824 



In some years, I have, averaging the whole, rais- 

 ed more than two pounds to the hill, but oftener 

 less. The years 183.5 and 133S were very unfavor- 

 able and thfi'crops suftered much. This crop like 

 otliers is vi'ri'able. It is impossible to calculate 

 With much accuracy befure Jiand, t!ie quantity to 

 be raised from a given number of hills. Hut il iiia}' 

 be done with more certainty, than upon corn or 

 wheat. Ib 1838" the drought bore very hard and 

 stinted''this' particular crop more, than otliers. But 

 at GofTstown and northward, I understand that the 

 drought was not known, or if known not felt. 



When a man has concluded to di)) into the hop 

 business, the first thing to be attended tii is thf poles. 

 The best species of trees are the cedar, spruce, 

 hemlock and white pine: white birch and hard wood 

 are sometimes used, when those named are scarce: 

 "but they are poor things, and the sooner they are 

 converted to fire wood the better. Thej)oles should 

 1)e cut in the winter, drawn liome and shaved all 

 over lightly, e.-vcept near the top, and sharpened 

 ready for use. 



- The soil for hops may be good, dark, deep, rich 

 loam, or it may be light, sandy and poor. Like 

 other crops, however, similarly situated, the crop 

 of hops will accordingly be heavy or light. I have 

 tried different kinds of soil, even to the cctreme.. 

 Of late years, 1 have used good intervale, and m}' 

 reward has corresponded. In short, good corn 

 ground is good hop ground. 



The jireparalion of the i^routid is no difficult mat- 

 ter. Prepare a piece well for Indian corn, and it is 

 prepared for hops. 



Some people are very particular in lining out 

 their rows of hops, while others strike out the 

 ground with a horse and plough, judging of distan- 

 ces by the eye. In striking out my rows, I o-ener- 

 ally use a pole to be drawn by two men ; to which 

 pole is attached three or four draft chains, placed 

 at half the distance of hop hills. Because every 

 other row each way istobeplanted the first year with 

 the seed of some other crop, generally Indian corn. 

 As hops become more or less troublesome by risino- 

 or growing up very inconveniently above the level 

 of the field. I therefore, of late, take pains to sink 



my hills, where the ground is sufficiently dry to 

 admit of it. Tliis is done by men, who take eacli 

 a sharp steel shovel and at every cross of the chain 

 where the hop is to be planted, spade down about 

 the length of the blade, and take out the turf and 

 soil, one and a half to two feet square, and lay it on 

 one side. Into these holes I usually put two shovels 

 full of old manure, or good compost. I will just ob- 

 serve, however, that before ploughing, I have of late 

 spread a good coat of manure, which wafl of course 

 turned under by theplougli. Upon the top of tliis 

 old manure in the ht^le and near the centre of the 

 hill we drop three cuts of liop roots nine to tvvclve 

 inches l'»ng, and then cover tlie depth of corn. 



The ro&tsfor plonfhig must be taken, as is well 

 known among all hop grov,'ers, from what is 

 called the sprout roots. These are entirely differ- 

 ent from the ground roots. The latter like roots of 

 o'her plants support the stock, and, ha-, ing no eyes, 

 would nut, if planted, produce a blade. Whereas, 

 the sprout roots appear fo be arms, shooting out un- 

 der ground, and if unmolesiod, would llirow up tops 

 from every pair of eyes at every distance of about 

 six inches. These sprout roots are cut, as I have 

 said, into lengths of about one foot for planting, al- 

 lowing three pairs of eyes to a piece. 



Tit r distance hctn^een hills is iinportmit. On rich 

 soil, well husbanded, they should be furtlier apart, 

 than on that of poor or medium quality. At my 

 last planting on a deep rich loam, I put the hills 

 eight and a half feet apart by measure, and witii 

 which I am satisfied. On poor soil seven feet dis- 

 tance might do. If they be too near each other, 

 there is too much shadi?, and the fruit is both small 

 in quantity and poor in quality. 



The pairs should be of a proper length; twe'nty 

 feet or more, on rich land : and on poor land siiort- 

 er. If poles are too short, tlie bind or vine, after 

 running to the top, doubles down and running round 

 makes a great bushy head, or otherwise strikes 

 off to the poles of the neighboring hills. In tile 

 last case there may be ten or twenty hills with the 

 vines completely interlocked, producing a very un- 

 jilcasant effect. This is what the English call 

 "AoH^mi,**:" the connected tops bearing si.>me lesein- 

 blance to the roof of a house'. The conse(}uence is, 

 that the fruit grows in the shade and single instead 

 of in clusters, soft, green, feeble and deficient in 

 strength. It also makes the picking slow and 

 troublesome and the labor of the boi-tenders much 

 more severe. 



The opening and dressing of the hills is another 

 important epoch of the season. I begin as soon as 

 the frost is out of the ground by back furrowing 

 lengthwise and crospwi:,e with a strong team, u.su-, 

 ally two pairs oxen, and two bouts in a row. Then 

 come the men with the prong hoes, throwing off 

 the soil from tlie top and sides of the hill and haul- 

 ing up the sprout rents, as they come to them, and 

 opening the hill, as I'ar down as they can, without 

 injury to the ground roots. Wo take pains to 

 make tlie liiU soft and suitable to receive tlie rains. 



The trimming is next in order. This operation 

 is always performed witli a knife, cutting the 

 sprout roots two or three inches from the slump, 

 taking care to amputate tlie old snout, i. e. the 

 stump of the old vine do\\'n for two sets of e^'es 

 and even more, ifit will admit.. Cutting olfthe old 

 snout should never be omitted ; as vines from the 

 eyes of it never prosper; and an additional reason 

 is to keep the hill, as low down as possible. 



The "nannring of a bearing field mnslhc .attended 

 to. The manure is applied in various ways and at 

 various times, according to the taste and judgment 

 of the grower. Some manure in autuum, la\-ing 

 one or more shovels full on the top of the liill, with- 

 out any covering. This is an old tashioned prac- 

 tice, and as I view it, a very indiscreet one. If the 

 owner should not 'lose more than one half of h is ma- 

 nure, he may con.sider, himself well off. Another 

 method is to spread the manure in the spring and 

 plough it in. This plan 1 consider very judicious, 

 if Ihe planter have a good supply of the article ; 

 -and in that case, no matter how strong tire manure. 

 One old way was to lay the manuTe on the top of 

 the hill after trimming ofi" the Sprout roots in the 

 spring, and then covering, with soil. But this is 

 bad. In the first place, the requisite quantity of 

 soil to cover the manure to a projjer de]iih inakes 

 tlie hill too liigli and troublesome. Another incon- 

 venience is, that the j-oung hop blades find it diffi- 

 cult to penetrate the covering, and many are com- 

 pelled to find their way out of the sides. For the 

 last eight or ten years, I have invariably laid my 

 manure, generally two shovels full to Ihe liill,(and 

 1 prefer old or good compost) round the hill in tlie 

 circle made by the hoes in opening. Thus apjdied, 

 I consider it better for the hops, giving a better 

 shaped bill also, better saved, as it is covered deep- 

 er, and better every way ; in fact, the best way, ex- 



cept perhaps spreading. This being done, then 

 cover the hill and the manure : the top of the hill 

 two or three inches and the sides will get co-rered 

 necessarily double that thickness, as they should 

 be. 



Selling the poles is the most laborious part of the 

 whole work. I always have my own poles laid 

 out between two rows of hills, four together and 

 the biitts opposite the two hills in which they are 

 to be placed, and so on tiirough tlie field. The hol- 

 ing, (which is a previous step to setting the poles,) 

 is done with iron bars. Here let me observe, that 

 the Mili'ord hop growers have invented a new and 

 much improved bar for that purpose, which greatly 

 facilitates the operation. For a few years, I hare 

 had m}' pole holes all made toward the diagonal 

 corners of the hills, placing them as near together 

 as ■::Ircumstances will admit to keep the -hill con- 

 veniently saiall, and leaning them, as all!ioppolo3 

 must lean, towards the Iiiila diagonatlit opjioaile. 

 For this method of setting poles there are strong 

 reasons. First the space between rov.'s is equidis- 

 tant each wav. But the principal reason is, that ife 

 gives more space between poles, so that the vines 

 shall not reach across and interlock. When th« 

 rows are eight feet, the distance gained for the 

 poles, compared with the old way, is about four 

 feet. 



Tiling the vines to the poles \s an indispensable 

 part of the operation. It requires care not to in- 

 jure the tender shoot. If injured, break it off and 

 let the stump throw out another. The tying should 

 be repeated as often as circumstances require. In 

 Milford we continue to apply our strings as occa- 

 sion may require, till the vines mount near to the 

 top of the Doles, using hop ladders. Old j^woolicn 

 stocking legs furnish the best tie yarn. 



After the bind has run near or quite to the top of 

 the pole, some in Milford go through the yard with 

 ku:ves, trimming off near the main vine or bind, 

 all arms, as high up as they can reach, as such 

 rarely bear fruit. This operation is done upon the 

 same principle, that suckers are cut from Indian 

 corii. It leaves the sap, that would naturally go 

 to support the lost arms, to be bestowed wholly tor 

 the .benefit of the bearing arhis. .1 have tried the ex- 

 periment for two or three 3-ears, but have notpcrse- 

 verirgly followed it. 



Jjt the fist hoeing^ the useless \-ines should all 

 be killed To prepare for hoeing, I always plough 

 two bouts in a row each way, sometimes from and 

 sometimes to the hill. I never plough from the hill 

 more than once in a season. Atthe second or third 

 hoeing, 1 frequently hoe from the hill, or rather 

 down the hill. 1 settle. the hoe into the ground to 

 the depth of one and a half inch, aiid as near the 

 pole and vine, as safety to the latter will admit, 

 drawing the hoe down to tlie furrow, and skimming 

 off the "top of the hill to that depth. This plan kills 

 weeds equally well, lightens and opens the ffvound, 

 and abates that nuisance to all liop growers, viz: 

 an overgrown hop hill. 



Hop yards are kept up so many seasons, as to be 

 much exposed to weeds. The most eminent grow- 

 er in Massachusetts, now deceased, once informed 

 me, that his practice was to pasture his horSe at 

 times in his hop field to reduce the -weeds. And I 

 have repeatedly known the growers to go into their 

 fields with scythes and shorten them in that way. 

 Years s'ince, when I was suffering with these diffi- 

 culties and the weeds Avere carrying on ojien hos- 

 tilities against me, and the cfuestion must be set- 

 tled who should fall and who survive, I had the 

 presumption to plough and hoe my Imps, as late as 

 the middle of August. On the succeeding year 

 there was scared v a vestige of a weed. And I 

 have repeated the practice, a.s occasion required. 

 On my first experiment, I did it with trepidation, 

 as' on examination, I found the ground near the 

 surface exuberantly interlarded with capillarv 

 hop roots. The operation destroyed all my vegetable 

 enemies for that and some succeeding years; and as 

 1 judged did the field as much good (and pcriiaps 

 more) by getting rid of so many dcjiendants and 

 loosening thf^ ground, as harm bv deslroying the 

 capillary foots. At any rate, I had a noble cro]i 

 that year. I ^lo not recommend it for general and 

 annual practice. ' BufI do recommend it as indis- 

 pensable, on certain occasions. 



There is little more to be done to hops, at hay 

 time, but occasionally to set up -windfall poles. On 

 the 25th of July you will find them in full blossom. 



Success in this crop depends more than any oth- 

 er, upon the care and skill of man. 



Hops must be picked when they are ripe, and 

 upon no consideration before that tune. All other 

 business must be made to accommodate itself to hop 

 picking; as the whole labor upon thein is lost or 

 saved by timing this matter with much precision. 

 I believe that there have been more hops darttaga/d 



