394 THE HOP CROP. 



it will be remarked how very rarely two bad years, the 

 results of injury from insects or blight, follow in succession. 

 When they make their appearance late in the season- 

 in August and September, for example the growth of 

 that year is not necessarily lessened in quantity, but fre- 

 quently greatly deteriorated in quality, owing to the lice 

 themselves occupying the cones, and depositing excremen- 

 titious matter within the scales, thus spoiling both the 

 appearance and the handling of the hops. The aphides 

 that appear at this period of the season are smaller in size 

 than those which attack the bines in the spring, and it has 

 been generally remarked that when they are found in any 

 numbers in the autumn, the bines are sure to be greatly 

 injured by them the following year. In 1848 the quantity 

 was large, but the quality inferior, from this cause, and 

 in 1849 the duty fell from 212,416 to 79,785, owing to 

 the deficiency in the crop. 



The " frog-fly" Eupteryx picta which has already 

 been described (p. 63), inflicts great injuries upon the 

 bines, which they puncture with their strong mandibles, 

 the sap exuding through the wounds, instead of circu- 

 lating through the tissues of the plants. These are more 

 prevalent in old than in new hop grounds, and require to 

 be sought for and destroyed, otherwise their numbers and 

 their power of injuring the bines increase every year. For 

 this it is recommended to procure a light, shallow, sheet- 

 iron pan, made of a convenient size and shape, to be carried 

 by two women, the bottom of which should be covered 

 with gas tar, so that when it is placed on the ground, at 

 the bottom of a pole, a smart blow on the pole with a 

 stout stick will induce the frog-flies to jump off" the bine, 

 and thus be caught by the tar on the bottom of the pan. 

 It should be placed on the leeward side of the bine, and 

 the operation repeated at intervals of a day or two, until 

 they are all destroyed. 



