MUM 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



HUM 



709 



that it may be done with the breast-plough or spade, the 

 holes should be ranged in squares. Which way soever you 

 make use of, a stake should be. stuck down at all the places 

 where the hills are to be made. Persons ought to be very 

 curious in the choice of plants, as to the kind of Hops ; for 

 if the garden be planted with a mixture of several sorts of 

 Hops that ripen at several tiroes, it will cause a great deal 

 of trouble, and be a great detriment to the owner. The two 

 best sorts are the White and the Gray Bind ; the latter is a 

 large square hop, more hardy, and is a more plentiful bearer, 

 besides ripening later than the former. There is another sort 

 of the White Bind, which ripens a week or ten days before 

 the common ; but this is tender, and a less plentiful bearer, 

 although it has the advantage of coming first to market. But 

 if three grounds, or three distant parts of one ground, be 

 planted with these three sorts, there will be this convenience, 

 that they may be picked successively as they become ripe. 

 The sets should be five or six inches Ion":, with three or more 

 joints or buds on them. If there be a sort of Hop you value, 

 and would increase the plants and sets from, the superfluous 

 binds may be laid down when the Hops are tied, cutting off 

 the tops, and burying them in the hill; or, when the hops 

 are dressed, all the cuttings may be saved ; for almost every 

 part will grow, and become a good set next spring. As to the 

 seasons for planting Hops, the Kentish planters most approve 

 the months of October and March, both which sometimes 

 succeed very well ; but the sets are not to be had in October, 

 unless it be from some ground that is to be destroyed : and 

 there is some danger also that the sets may be rotted, if the 

 winter prove very wet; hence March is the most usual time 

 of procuring them, when the Hops are cut and dressed. As 

 to the manner of planting the sets, there should be five good 

 sets planted in every hill, one in the middle, and the rest 

 round about, sloping, the tops meeting at the centre; they 

 must stand even with the surface of the ground ; let them be 

 pressed close with the hand, and covered with fine earth, 

 and a stick should be placed on each side the hill to secure it. 

 The ground being thus planted, all that remains to be done 

 that summer, is to keep the hills clear from weeds, and to 

 dig up the ground about the month of May, raising a small 

 hill round about the plants. In June you must twist the 

 young branches or binds together into a knot ; for if they are 

 tied up to small poles the first year, in order to have a few 

 Hops from them, it will not countervail the weakening of the 

 plants. A mixture of dung or compost being prepared for 

 your Hop-ground, the best time for laying it on, if the wea- 

 ther prove dry, is about Michaelmas, that the wheels of the 

 dung-cart may not injure the hops, nor furrow the ground : 

 if this be not done, then you will be obliged to wait till the 

 frost has hardened the ground, so as to bear the dung-cart; 

 and this is also the time to carry on your new poles to recruit 

 those that are decayed, and to be cast out every year. If 

 you have good store of dune, the best way will be to spread 

 it in the alleys all over the ground, and to dig it in the winter 

 following. The quantity they will require will be forty loads 

 to an acre, reckoning about thirty bushels to the load. If 

 you have not dung enough to cover all the ground in one 

 year, you may lay it on one part one year, and on the rest in 

 another, or even a third year: for there is no occasion to 

 'liin^ the ground in this manner oftener than every three years. 

 Those who have but a small quantity of dung, usually content 

 themselves with laying on about twenty loads upon an acre 

 every year: this they lay on the hills either about November 

 or in the spring; which last some account the best time, 

 when the Hops are dressed, to cover them lifter they are cut; 

 but if it be done at this time, the compost or dung ought to 

 VOL. i. 60. 



be well rolled and fine. Dressing. As to the dressing of 

 Hops, when the Hop-ground is dug in January or February, 

 the earth about the hills, and very near them, ought to be 

 takrn away with a spade, that you may come the more con- 

 veniently at the stock to cut it. About the end of February, 

 if the Hops were planted the spring before, or if 'the ground 

 be weak, they ought to be dressed in dry weather; but if the 

 ground b". strong and in perfection, the middle of March will 

 be a good time ; and the latter end of March or the beginning 

 of April, if it be apt to produce over-rank binds, may be soon 

 enough. Then having with an iron picker cleared away all 

 the earth out of the hills, so as to clear the stock to the 

 principal roots, with a sharp knife you must cut off all the 

 shoots which grew up with the binds during the year pre- 

 ceding, and also all the young suckers, that none be left to 

 run in the alley and weaken the hill. It will be proper to 

 cut one part of the stock lower than the other, and also to 

 cut that part low which was left highest the preceding year. By 

 pursuing this method, you may expect to have stronger buds, 

 and also keep the hill in good order. In dressing those Hops, 

 which have been planted the year before, you ought to cut 

 off both the young tops and the dead suckers which have 

 sprung up from the sets, and also to cover the stocks with 

 a fine earth a finger's length in thickness. Poling. About 

 the middle of April the Hops are to be poled, when the shoots 

 begin to sprout up; the poles must be set to the hills deep 

 into the ground, with a square iron picker or crow, that they 

 may the better endure the winds ; three poles are sufficient for 

 one hill. These should be placed as near the hill as may be, 

 with their bending tops turned outwards from the hill, to pre- 

 vent the binds from entangling; and a space between two poles 

 ought to be left open to the south, to admit the sun-beams. 

 The poles ought to be in length sixteen or twenty feet, more 

 or less, according as the ground is in strength ; and great care 

 must be taken not to over-pole a young or weak ground, for 

 that will draw the stock too much, and weaken it. If a ground 

 be over-poled, you are not to expect a good crop from it ; for 

 the branches which bear the Hops will grow very little till 

 the binds have ovet reached the poles, which they cannot do 

 when the poles are too long. Two small poles are sufficient 

 for a ground that is young. If you wait till the sprouts or 

 young binds are grown to the length of a foot, you will be 

 able to make a better judgment where to place the largest 

 poles ; but if you stay till they are so long as to fall into the 

 alleys, it will be injurious to them, because they will entangle 

 one with another, and will not clasp about the pole readily. 

 Maple or Aspen poles are accounted the best for Hops, on 

 which they are thought to prosper, because of their warmth, 

 or else because the climbing of the Hop is assisted by the 

 roughness of the bark. But for durability, ashen or willow 

 poles are preferable ; but chestnut poles are the most durable 

 of all. If, after the Hops are grown up, you find any of 

 them have been under-poled, taller poles may be placed near 

 those which are too short, to receive the binds from them. 

 Tying. As to the tying of Hops, the buds that do not clasp 

 of themselves to the nearest poles when they are grown to 

 three or four feet high, must be guided to it by the hand, 

 turning them to the sun, whose course they will always follow. 

 They must be bound with withered rushes, but not so closely 

 as to hinder them from climbing up the pole. This you must 

 continue to do till all the poles are furnished with binds, of 

 which two or three are enough for a pole; and all the sprouts 

 and binds that you have no occasion for are to be plucked 

 up : but if the ground be young, then none of these useless 

 binds should be plucked up, but should be wrapped up toge- 

 ther in the middle of the hill. When the binds are grown 

 8 S 



