SECRETARY'S RErORT. 103 



a short pole ; equally as seldom do we sec refuse hops growing 

 on a long pole. It is said by some that long poles strain the 

 roots. I think it more straining to the roots to have vines go 

 beyond the top of the short pole, bend and split open, the sap 

 of the vine running out, and the hops starving for the want 

 of it. I once knew a man who tried the experiment of white 

 birch poles twenty-five feet long. The result was, that two 

 men built a hop bin in the morning, carried it out into the field, 

 and picked forty-two hills, which produced one hundred and 

 one pounds of first-sort hops, inspected by Col. Jaques, and 

 pronounced by him to be the best that season. Fifty pounds 

 would have been a great day's work of short poles." 



Another practical hop grower, writing from Lunenburg, says : 

 "In answer to your request for information respecting the cul- 

 tivation of hops in this town, I would reply, that there are fif- 

 teen hop growers, and the quantity yielded the present year was 

 about fifteen thousand pounds. With respect to the mode of 

 cultivation, the ground is ploughed as early in the spring as it 

 can conveniently be done. The hills are then opened and the 

 running roots cut off. They are then manured upon the hill 

 with one or two shovelfuls of good compost manure, which is 

 immediately covered with the hoe. They are then ready for 

 the poles. After these are set, and the vines are of suitable 

 length for tying, this is done. They are then ploughed and 

 hoed. This is usually performed three times before haying, 

 and once after, this last being principally for the purpose of 

 keeping down the weeds. At the proper time, usually about 

 the first of September, picking is commenced. Some two or 

 three weeks after picking and drying they are pressed into 

 bales of suitable size, and are then ready for the market." 



From what has been said, it will be seen that the proper 

 time for setting out the roots or cuttings is in the spring. 

 These do not grow luxuriantly, and need not be poled the first 

 year. Some cultivators are accustomed to cover the hills in 

 the winter with a shovelful of manure, to prevent any liability 

 to injury by the frost. What has been said above from prac- 

 tical and experienced cultivators in this State will give an iclea 

 of the mode of treatment during the first season, and to some 

 extent during subsequent seasons, of the hop plantation. 



