CULTIVATION. 119 



it is asserted that ridging favours the development of root- 

 lets, and consequently the assimilation of plant food from 

 the soil ; but though this may be right under certain cir- 

 cumstances, ridging is never advisable for light soils inclined 

 to dryness, because in these a greater degree of attention 

 must necessarily be devoted to maintaining the soil moist 

 than to any eventual increased root growth of the plants. 



On damp and heavy soils, hovyever, the conditions are 

 different, and here ridging is suitable. As, vyhere this 

 system is practised, the lower portions of the stem are 

 covered more deeply with soil, it is not surprising that the 

 cuttings from ridged gardens are always longer than those 

 from gardens cultivated on the flat, the latter yielding 

 plumper and shorter cuttings. 



A short description of the implements used in hop 

 cultivation may now be given. 



It is not very long since the ground in hop gardens was 

 worked entirely by means of hand tools, and even now this 

 is the case in small farms. No objection can be raised 

 against this practice where the garden is small and the 

 proprietor and his family are able to do the work themselves 

 without having to employ outside labour. On the contrary, 

 under these circumstances, the manual force available is 

 utilised to the best possible advantage, the fact of the owner 

 working for himself being the best guarantee for the quality 

 of the work done, which undoubtedly attains its highest 

 degree of perfection when performed with hand tools. 



When, however, the area under cultivation for hops is 

 so extensive that extra manual labour has to be employed, 

 and is scarce or dear, then the limit of profitable cultivation 

 by hand is soon reached. There is no doubt that, in agricul- 

 ture especially, a good deal of work done by machinery is 

 inferior in quality to the same work effected by hand, be- 

 cause the former is devoid of understanding. Nowadays, 



