128 METHOD OF CULTIVATING THE HOP. 



and the end sewed up, two other handles having been pre- 

 viously formed in the corners in the manner mentioned 

 above. The brightest and finest coloured Hops are put 

 into pockets or fine bagging, and the brown into coarse or 

 heavy bagging. The former are chiefly used for brewing 

 fine ale, and the latter by the porter brewers. But when 

 Hops are intended to be kept two or three years, they are 

 put into bags of strong cloth, and firmly pressed so as to 

 exclude the air. 



The stripping and stacking of the poles succeed to the 

 operation of picking. The shoot or bind being stripped off, 

 such poles as are not decayed, are set up together in a 

 conical pile of three or four hundred, the centre of which is 

 formed by three stout poles bound together a few feet from 

 their tops, and their lower ends spread out. 



The produce of no crop is so liable to variation as that of 

 the Hop ; in a good season an acre will produce 20 cwt. but 

 from 10 to 12 cwt. is considered a tolerable average crop. 

 The quality of Hops is estimated by the abundance or 

 scarcity of an unctuous clammy powder which adheres to 

 them, and by their bright yellow colour. The expenses of 

 forming a EIop plantation are considerable ; but once in 

 bearing, it will continue so for ten or fifteen years before it 

 requires to be renewed. The Hop is peculiarly liable to 

 diseases; when young it is devoured by fleas of different 

 kinds ; at a more advanced stage, it is attacked by the green 

 fly, red spider, and ottermoth, the Iarva3 of which prey even 

 upon the roots. The honey-dew often materially injures 

 the Hop crop ; and the mould, the fire-blast, and other 

 blights, injure it at different times towards the latter period 

 of the growth of the plant." 



It appears from an article in the " Genesee Farmer," 

 that the culture of Hops is becoming an important branch 

 of husbandry in the State of New- York. A correspondent 

 observes, that " as fine samples have been grown in Orange 

 and Madison counties as in any part of the world. The 

 Hop is considered somewhat precarious ; but when the 

 season is good, the profit is very great. The average product 

 may be stated at 700 Ibs., though it has reached 1600 Ibs. 



