FORMATION OF HOP GROUNDS. 385 



and more efficient application, as it is not only richer in 

 nitrogen, but its composition is more definite and its action 

 more certain and speedy the rags, &c., requiring a long 

 period for their decomposition in the soil. Where farm- 

 yard dung is used it should be in a well-rotted condition, 

 and applied early in the spring, advantage having been 

 taken of the dry and frosty weather in the winter to 

 carry it out on the ground. From 1 5 to 20 tons per acre 

 should be given, and should be forked in and covered 

 before the hills are opened for cutting. Where Peruvian 

 guano is used it should be reduced to a finely divided con- 

 dition, and mixed with at least its own bulk of some 

 neutral inert substance, as coal ashes, sand, soil, &c. 



From the foregoing statements it is seen that the for- 

 mation of a hop ground is attended with not only a very 

 large outlay at the commencement, but its cultivation 

 incurs a considerable expenditure every year to keep it in 

 a proper and productive state. The following extracts 

 from the prize essay give the aggregate cost per acre per 

 annum of a plantation at its commencement and during 

 its cultivation. When old meadow or pasture land has 

 been broken up, no manures are needed, and the expenses 

 of preparation for the first year, exclusive of the rent, &c., 

 which is supposed to be covered by the root or other crop 

 grown in the spaces between the hills, amount to 10, 

 2s. 6d. The second year's expenses, including rent, &c., are 

 set down at 16, 4s., to which must be added the cost of 

 new poles, &c., for the succeeding year's growth, amount- 

 ing to 41, 8s., making, with the expenses already incurred, 

 a total of 67, 14s. 6d. From this sum we have to deduct 

 the net return of the small crop obtained from the second 

 year's growth, and of the old poles, which require to be 

 changed for longer ones, amounting together to 12, 14s. 

 This reduces the balance of outlay for the first two years 

 of the plantation to 55 per acre. 



