hop. 245 



aware of the experiment having been made 

 of keeping them closer to the ground in the 

 manner of a vineyard, or by espaliers; but 

 by some observations which the author has 

 made on a few plants which he cultivated 

 for ornament, the flowers were found larger 

 and more abundant on the vines that were 

 trained horizontally, than on those which 

 climbed to a greater height ; and we notice, 

 that in all other fruits those nearest the 

 earth ripen the first, and the hop can obtain 

 no more sun at twenty feet from the ground 

 than it would at six feet. If the poles were 

 placed sloping, with horizontal and perpendi- 

 cular props, the vine could still extend itself 

 without being so subject to tempest. The 

 position of these ranges of trellis poles could 

 be so fixed as to admit the sun and air more 

 freely ; the tying and gathering would be 

 more easily accomplished; and it is a cu- 

 rious circumstance in the natural history of 

 this plant, that the vine always takes one 

 direction in winding itself round its pole, re- 

 gularly ascending from the right hand to the 

 left : this, in trellis work, would avoid confu- 

 sion or crossing of vines, which is injurious to 

 all plants. 



To describe the present manner of culti- 



