366 THE HOP CROP. 



up the bedded plants, whose development is always more 

 or less checked by being transplanted from the nursery to 

 the field, and will give a better return than bedded sets from 

 cuttings of the same year. " Bedded sets" offer the great 

 advantages of an earlier return, and of a better plant the 

 expense of the nursery and of transplanting being the only 

 extra outlay incurred, as a set-off against the rent, interest 

 on capital, and labour of the twelvemonth saved. 



When " bedded sets" are used, it is recommended to 

 plant them out early in November, or, indeed, as soon 

 as the land is prepared for them; if it be left till the 

 spring, March is the best time for the purpose. "Cut- 

 tings" should be got in immediately they are taken 

 from the old plants. In dry soils and forward seasons this 

 may sometimes be done towards the end of February; 

 March, however, is the usual period : if left later, and dry 

 weather should set in, the young plants do not strike 

 freely, and many blanks appear. Great care is required 

 that the cuttings, whether for bedding or for planting out 

 at once, and whether raised at home or purchased from 

 others, be from a ' good healthy stock, and true to the 

 variety intended to be grown. Care should also be taken 

 that the cuttings from the male plants should be kept 

 distinct from those from the female plants, otherwise they 

 are likely to be irregularly distributed, instead of having 

 them dispersed at given regular distances over the ground. 



Respecting these distances, and indeed the functions and 

 value of the male plants altogether, a difference of opinion 

 appears to exist with practical men. Some growers plant 

 and retain every tenth or up to every fifteenth "hill" with 

 male plants; others distribute them with less regard to 

 regularity throughout the ground. Again, another plan 

 recommended is to keep the male plants on the outside, 

 so that the pollen may be carried over the ground by 

 whichever wind may blow, while there are some growers 



