CULTIVATION. 95 



planting. The area allowed for each plant is not the same 

 in all hop districts, this being a consideration depending on 

 various circumstances, such as custom, the variety of hop, 

 the soil, method of training, and the conditions as to light. 



Speaking generally, it may be said that, other conditions 

 being equal, free-growing varieties of hops must be granted 

 more space than others, or, in other words, the late ripening 

 sorts must have more room, on account of their more 

 luxuriant foHage, than the early kinds. It must also be 

 borne in mind that plants of a given variety can be set 

 closer in gardens where they are trained on frames than in 

 poled gardens ; also that where low frames are used closer 

 planting is permissible than when the frames are high, the 

 hops growing more freely under the latter conditions than 

 when trained low. 



Naturally ground that is in good heart will be able to 

 support a larger number of plants per unit area of surface 

 than poorer soil, and consequently the plants may be set 

 closer together. The closeness of the setting, however, even 

 in the richest soil, is limited by the natural requirements of 

 the hop for light and warmth, and it may thus happen that 

 the ground could support a larger number of plants than is 

 advisable in view of these conditions. 



With regard to the relation between the number of 

 plants on, and the crop from, a given unit of surface it 

 would be erroneous to assume that the latter would increase 

 concurrently with the former ; because when the plants are 

 set too closely together their development is retarded, normal 

 growth is prevented, and the result is an inferior crop both 

 in quantity and quality. Moreover, an increase in the 

 number of plants per acre is attended with a notable 

 addition to the cost of maintenance and cultivation, where- 

 by the profits are reduced. 



On the other hand excessively scanty planting is also 



