36 4) THE HOP CROP. 



was the opinion of competent judges " that the same work 

 could not have been done in the same manner by horse 

 labour at all; and that by manual labour, with the usual 

 trenching tools, it could not have been done for less than 

 IQd. per rod, or 6, 13s. 4d per acre, and then only in 

 a very inferior manner." 



Where old meadow or pasture land is broken up for 

 hops, if done by hand, the top spit is always buried, 

 and if done by the plough, the sward is generally taken 

 off about 3 or 4 inches, and a second furrow run to a 

 depth of 9 or 10 more, and turned over on the top of the 

 other, so as to bury the sward deep enough to insure its 

 decay and prevent its vegetating again on the surface. 

 The subsoil plough then follows, and completes the work 

 of preparation by stirring the soil to the desired depth. 

 This operation also costs about 3 per acre, and could be 

 equally well performed by the steam-plough, at less than 

 half the price already stated. This mode of preparing the 

 land is always carried out in the autumn, so that the soil 

 may have the full advantage of the winter's frosts and 

 rains. If the surface be buried, and the subsoil brought 

 to the top, the ordinary weeds will give no further trouble. 

 If, however, the surface be merely inverted, and the land 

 stirred with the subsoil plough, it 'is important that full 

 advantage should be taken of the opportunity, and the 

 land be thoroughly cleaned. When these operations have 

 been efficiently carried out, and the general condition of 

 the soil been secured, either by feeding off green crops on 

 it, or the liberal application of farmyard or other manures, 

 nothing more is to be done until the time for planting, which 

 is generally in the spring, when it is always a good plan to 

 run a narrow- tined grubber pretty deep across the ground, 

 in order to break up the surface crust formed by the winter's 

 rains, and to give access for the air to the subsoil. 



For planting, the practice universally followed is to 



