48 HOPS. 



Of itself, honey dew has no particular import ; neverthe- 

 less, being sweet, it acts as a lure for certain insects, and its 

 sugar content makes it a good nutrient medium for lower 

 fungoid organisms. 



6. Damage from Wind, Bain and Hail. 



The degree of injury suffered by the hop plant from tbe 

 action of wind, rain, or hail depends on the violence of the 

 attack, and the time of year at which it occurs. Moderate 

 winds have very little effect, but when the force of the wind 

 increases the plants generally suffer injury from breakage 

 of the tops of the bine and laterals and the tearing of the 

 leaves, neither of which occurrences is likely to favour the 

 well-being of the plant. If strong winds prevail at the time 

 the hop cones are already formed, then the fruit will get 

 stained by the repeated beatings against the poles or training 

 wires, and its appearance will be more or less spoiled 

 (weather-beaten). Strong winds are a frequent cause of 

 broken (buckled) laterals, the cones on which will shrivel 

 up before they are properly ripe, and consequently the crop 

 is diminished. 



Hail is a great foe to the hop plant. When gardens are 

 damaged by hail in the spring the best remedy is to cut 

 away the injured young bine. This will be replaced by new 

 shoots, which, when nursed by feeding with liquid manure 

 or nitrate of soda, grow quickly and soon overtake the others. 

 When," however, it hails after the hops have attained a height 

 of 13 to 16 feet, the results are very unpleasant. Generally, 

 the tops of the bine suffer most and are broken, in which 

 event the only thing to be done is to train a new leader by 

 removing one of the topmost pair of buds, and bring up the 

 lateral, developed from the other, as the new main stem. 

 A hailstorm at or just before picking time may totally 

 annihilate the grower's hopes of a crop. 



