XI.] MANURES FOR HOPS 333 



should only be used when there is a crop or the prospect 

 of a crop to utih'se them. 



When land has been newly laid down to grass, there 

 often comes a very critical period from its fourth to its 

 seventh year, especially on stiff soils and when the first 

 two or three crops of grass have been fed off by store stock 

 only. At that period the leguminous plants have begun 

 to die away, and the grasses have lost vigour because 

 the plant food that had been rendered available by the 

 tillage has become exhausted. The mechanical con- 

 dition of the soil has also deteriorated because as yet 

 little humus has been accumulated. Applications of 

 basic slag have less effect than usual on such young 

 grass land, there are no residues of past growth to be 

 set in action by the lime of the basic slag. What is 

 wanted is either farmyard manure or applications of a 

 complete fertiliser such as has been described above. 

 Better still, the land should be carefully pastured, the 

 sheep should not be allowed to eat too closely, and 

 should be fed with cake or corn to enrich the land. 



Hops. — No other crop is so liberally manured as 

 hops ; potato land may perhaps receive as much in any 

 one year, but on hops the expenditure for fertilisers will 

 average ^8 or ;^io per acre year after year. The hop 

 plant shows no special requirements, so that it is the 

 needs of the soil rather than the crop which should 

 determine variations in the character of the manure. 

 The manurial treatment of hops should begin with a 

 liberal use of dung, and most hop growers either buy 

 it in quantities from London or other large towns, or 

 fatten cattle or pigs in order to make enough for their 

 requirements. As much as 40 tons per acre are some- 

 times employed and that year after year, but one such 

 application every third year will be sufficient to maintain 

 the requisite soil texture, and in the intervening years 



