368 



THE HOP CROP. 



increase in quantity in the above experiment, the quality 

 was much superior, the "lupuline" being supposed by 

 Planchat and other vegetable physiologists to be merely 

 the unappropriated pollen which has alighted on the scales 

 of the female. After the pollen is all shed the males are 

 of no further use that season, and may be removed. 

 Where any quantity is obtained the bines may be made 

 use of to form the coarse bags, in which the inferior 

 varieties of hops are sometimes packed, 



Planting is the next part of the cultivation which has 

 to be considered. The mode of doing this is the same in 

 every district. The sets or cuttings are planted on small 

 raised hills at certain distances apart, the only variations 

 being in the number of the plants, and the shape in which 

 they are arranged, and the distances between each hill. 

 The only forms are squares and triangles, and the 

 distances apart vary between 6 and 7 feet. The triangular 

 form is generally adopted, as it possesses one advantage 

 over the square, in that when three poles to a hill are em- 

 ployed, it allows the "nidget," as the implement used for 

 this purpose is locally termed, to move the ground on the 

 outside of the poles more completely than when set up in the 

 square form, and thus renders the tillage cultivation more 

 effective. Although some little space too is gained, it is 

 not advisable, on that account, to increase the number of 

 hills to the acre, but rather to let them have the full 

 benefit of the additional space. The following table gives 

 the number of hills, by each method, to the acre, at the 

 distances specified: 



