388 THE HOP CROP. 



extent towards the end of June or beginning of July, the 

 chances of anything like a crop rapidly diminish, no 

 matter how vigorous the bine may appear to have been. 

 This loss frequently falls heavier on the grower than an 

 equal lessening of produce from the effects of insects would 

 do, as the effects of the latter are general, and are felt all 

 over the country, a higher price compensating in some 

 degree for a diminished produce, while the effects of the 

 mildew are of a more local character, and rarely extend 

 so far as to affect to any great degree the general market 

 price The disease first shows itself on the upper part 

 of the leaf as a minute white patch; this rapidly in- 

 creases in size, and shortly causes a corresponding ap- 

 pearance on the under side of the leaf. The disease 

 rapidly spreads all over the ground ; the leaves and stems 

 being thus injured, the health and functions of the 

 plant speedily become affected ; and if the season, or the 

 individual circumstances of the ground remain unfavour- 

 able, acre after acre falls a victim to a disease which, it 

 appears, may be in many cases entirely prevented, and in 

 most cases greatly alleviated, by a little attention to the 

 causes and conditions influencing it. 



Many of these forms of disease are communicated to our 

 cultivated crops from the weeds and decaying vegetable 

 matter we leave undisturbed in our hedgerows and waste 

 places, and even too often in our fields. This particular 

 form has been long noticed on the wild hops, so often 

 seen growing in the hedgerows of the hop districts, on 

 which it is preserved, ready to pass over to the cultivated 

 grounds at any time that ungenial weather should render 

 the plants susceptible to disease. It is well known that 

 many fields which were periodically subject to mildew, 

 were permanently freed from its visitations after the 

 hedgerows had been removed, and all the wild hops and 

 other weeds extirpated. This disease was very prevalent 



