CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PLANT. 



33 



English or American seed hops, and vice versa. But 

 the increase in the sale of American and English beer 

 has outstripped that of their German competitor, indi- 

 cating that the demand is not so fastidious about seed 

 hops as some people think. Further testimony on this 

 point is afforded by the fact that even Spalt hops, which 

 command the highest price and corne from a region 

 where the utmost effort is made to exterminate the 

 male plant, contain a goodly proportion of seeds. If 

 it is proposed to compete with German hops in the 



FIG. 14. VARIOUS SHAPES OF HOPS. 



German market, or to displace German hops that are 

 yearly sold in moderate lots at fancy prices to both 

 English and American brewers, then the male plant 

 must be extirpated, and every effort made to closely 

 imitate the peculiarities of the German marks. This 

 special market is to be got by catering to its whims, 

 not by opposing them. 



Aside from this special and limited demand for' 

 German seedless hops, it is evident that the bulk of the 

 trade does not particularly care about hops being seed- 

 3 



