CLIMATE AHD SOIL FOR HOPS. 67 



lected in setting a hop yard, when it might just as well 

 have been attended to. 



Of course the site must be sunny and warm, and 

 chosen with reference to the least possible danger from 

 early and late frosts. The rows should run in a south- 

 erly direction, that the sun may freely penetrate the 

 foliage to the utmost extent. 



The main root is a deep feeder, its lateral and sur- 

 face roots covered with fine rootlets that utilize the 

 food in the upper layers of soil. Hence the need of a 

 well drained soil the hop abhors wet feet and a soil 

 of open texture, that air and water may freely penetrate, 

 to aid in rendering available to the plant the elements 

 stored up in the earth. Yet so gross a grower must 

 have a sufficiency of moisture and drouthy lands may 

 well be provided with irrigation. 



PREPARATION OF THE SOIL 



for a new hop yard is a more serious matter where the 

 soil is not of just the right character. In Kent, expen- 

 sive underdraining is often necessary to insure the 

 needed openness of subsoils. Comparatively light 

 yields in New York and in Germany are partly due to 

 a moist or impacted subsoil. In such lands, thorough 

 subsoiling to a depth of 18 inches, or even more, should 

 precede planting. It is not much practiced, but is to 

 be highly recommended. If subsoiling is needed for 

 the sugar beet, which is dug in one season, how much 

 more is it needed for the hop, whose roots go much 

 deeper, but are not disturbed for from six to twenty 

 years, or longer? 



It has also been suggested that subsoiling between 

 the rows in early spring would be an admirable way of 

 rejuvenating an old "root-bound" yard, at least on 

 heavy soils. But Clark, speaking for New York con- 

 ditions, says: "I disagree very strongly with subsoiling 

 between the rows, or even deep plowing of an estab- 



