40 SYSTEMS OF CULTIVATION. 



regret to say that on the most important subject of its 

 history we are as ignorant as our forefathers ; we go to bed 

 leaving our garden free, and next morning we find aphides 

 from one to ten or twenty on a small leaf, which in the 

 course of a week have increased to countless myriads. These 

 pests are followed by nits and lice, which some seasons mul- 

 tiply so rapidly as to destroy the bine and the planter's 

 prospects. I would here repeat the recommendation which 

 I have already given to the planter, not to work his hops 

 when in a state of blight. When closely watching the 

 blights of 1860, '61, and '62, I have observed that in all 

 cases where the land was best tilled, manured, and cared 

 for, the blight remained until too late in the season for 

 the chance of a crop ; on the other hand, where nothing 

 was done, but weeds were suffered to grow nearly half-way 

 up the poles, the bine became yellow and clean, and the 

 result was a fair sprinkling of hops ; in such ground, the 

 vermin had left the hop for want of sap and taken to the 

 weeds. 



" Of late years a machine has been used to pack the hops 

 which is very useful when there is a large crop, as it enables 

 you to pack your hops much sooner. Treading up is pre- 

 ferable, if care be taken to have the hops in a fit state not to 

 break under the foot ; if allowed to become too cool they are 

 hard and lumpy in the sample, and are termed cold. A 

 master's attention to the state of his hops before bagging is 

 most necessary to good management. Hops are picked in 

 Worcestershire and Herefordshire far more free from leaves 

 than in Kent or Sussex. They should be sent, if possible, to 

 the oast without a leaf, dried slowly, taken off the kiln in a 



