CULTIVATION, 77 



plant cannot be expected to thrive. In addition, the per- 

 meability of the subsoil to moisture is also an important 

 consideration, since the hop plant, though very thirsty, 

 cannot stand stagnant water. Consequently a careful ex- 

 amination of the subsoil must be made in selecting the site 

 of a hop garden, a moist but pervious subsoil being essential. 

 In the absence of this latter quality the plant will never 

 grow satisfactorily, since, apart from the fact that the 

 natural coldness of wet subsoils retards growth in the spring, 

 the presence of superfluous water is a frequent cause of sick- 

 ness in the plant, whereby its vitality and productiveness 

 are impaired. It is true that subsoil water can be got rid 

 of by drainage, but there is always great risk in hop gardens 

 of the roots growing into the drain pipes and stopping them 

 up in a very short time. On this account Blomeyer recom- 

 mends for hop gardens the substitution of the fontanel 

 system in place of ordinary pipe drains, though the former 

 is admittedly more expensive. 



With regard to chemical requirements it must be remem- 

 bered that, though the hop makes heavy demands on the soil, 

 it is only the fruit (cones) and not the plant as a whole that 

 is removed from the land, the stems and leaves, which con- 

 tain the greater proportion of mineral matter and nitrogen, 

 remaining on the farm, and being sooner or later again 

 incorporated with the soil. 



A plentiful supply of nutritive material being an indis- 

 pensable antecedent to the production of a heavy crop, the 

 soil chosen for hop cultivation must be rich in available 

 plant food, such, for example, as deep, fertile, open, calcareous 

 loams, rich in humus, and the sandy loams ; and, although 

 the hop can be grown on other soils as well, preference should 

 be accorded to those most nearly complying. in their physical 

 and chemical characteristics with the natural requirements 

 of the plant. 



