Proceedings of the Fariiers' Club. 471 



Hops and Hop Poles. 



A discussion on hops and hop poles was next introduced by a letter 

 from Warren Ferris, of East Worcester, ]^. Y., who writes as follows 

 in relation to what was said, at a previous meeting, touching the cul- 

 tivation of hops : 

 To the Farmers^ Club : 



You have allowed discussion upon important branches of agricul- 

 ture, and you do allow comments upon communications made to the 

 club. Now, the comments on " hops and hop poles," made by James 

 A. Whitney, is what I desire' to answer. In the first place I would 

 say, there is already too many hops raised. Those who have their 

 yards in hollows and sheltered localities cannot expect a prime hop 

 with any mode of training, and it surely does not pay to raise a poor 

 hop. I would ask Mr. Whitney if air and sunshine are beneficial to 

 the hop, and all other vegetation, or not ? I think you will concede 

 that they both are indispensable. Hops that grow in the shade are 

 light and soft, and the lupulin or flour is imperfectly developed. 



Again 1 would ask, does the twine plan of Collins shade the hop 1 

 We say it does, to the great injury of the hops. Collins' plan is 

 this : Stakes eight or ten feet high are set and vines trained to the 

 stakes, and, separated at the top of stakes, run horizontal in four 

 directions on twine. I^ow, at the point of separating the vines at the 

 top of the stakes, the laterals that 1)ear hops appear. If you allow 

 those arms or laterals to remain on the vine, a crow's-nest will be 

 formed for the lice at the head of each stake, and if you cut ofi' those 

 arms you diminish the crop and bleed the vine at a critical period. 

 The hops grown on this plan are all underneath the twine, and the 

 leaves are directly over the hops, so that the hops are shaded nearly 

 all the time. 



Mr. Whitney affirms that there are very few hop-grov;ers who 

 would be willing to use only one pole to the liilL I have cultivated 

 hops, more or less, for the past twenty years, and I have tried all 

 methods of training the vines. But now I am using only one pole 

 to each hill, with two vines to each pole. Last season my hop-yard 

 yielded a clear profit of $200 per acre. The price obtained was sixty 

 cents per pound, when, at the same time, right alongside, on my own 

 farm and by my own tillage, hops with two poles to the hill were 

 utterly spoiled. This year I have not sold my hop crop, but could have 

 received twenty-five cents per pound, which sum would liave netted 

 me about $100 per acre. Hops that grow on one pole vrill weigh,, 



