THE HOP PLANT. 55 



taking them up bodily out of the ground and cutting them 

 in pieces, which treatment will lead to the detection of the 

 larvse when the beetles are present. Particular attention 

 should be devoted to old-established gardens, and those on 

 warm light soil, because the weevil prefers this class of land 

 to more cohesive ground. 



According to Wachtel, the habit of the weevil of boring 

 holes for the deposition of its eggs in the bine a few inches 

 above the ground enables one to combat the pest, and in 

 some years to entirely annihilate it, by deep earthing and 

 autumn cutting. The former operation constrains the weevil 

 to deposit its eggs higher up the stem than usual, and con- 

 sequently the larvEe, having to eat their way through a longer 

 length of bine in order to reach the root, are still in the stem 

 when the hops are picked. Hence, if the bine is immediately 

 afterwards cut off close to the ground, the larvae remain in 

 and perish with the cut bine. 



Such a result, however, is obtained only when the cutting 

 is effected in the autumn as soon as the hop harvest is over ; 

 since if left to early spring the operation is useless, the larvse 

 having meantime reached the rootstock, injury to which will 

 lead to the death of the whole plant. 



As it may be assumed that the original habitat of this 

 weevil was the wild hop, from which it has made its way 

 into the gardens where the cultivated varieties are grown, 

 it is advisable to exercise particular diligence in destroying 

 wild hops in the vicinity of the gardens. Care should be 

 taken not to confound the hop weevil with Otiorhynchus 

 Ligustici, which attacks the hop stem but does only slight 

 damage. , 



9. Earthworms, if present in large numbers, may also 

 damage the young shoots of the hop. 



10. Hop nematode worms. Earth has shown that "nettle 

 sickness " in hops is caused by nematodes, identified by him 



