CULTIVATION. 127 



With regard to the first point, the wild hop stock forms, 

 according to the fertiHty of the soil, a smaller or larger 

 agglomeration of roots, from which numerous shoots are 

 thrown up every year. The majority of these shoots lan- 

 guish, either through lack of supports on which to climb 

 or through being kept under by others. The upper eyes of 

 the stock sprout the first, and on issuing from the ground 

 avail themselves earliest of the supports at hand, whilst the 

 later shoots from the deeper eyes usually remain in an in- 

 ferior condition, and are doomed to perish. Consequently 

 the underground parts of the stem are very short, and the 

 rootstock of the wild or permanently uncut plant is bedded 

 very shallow, the result of which is that, unless precautions 

 be taken, the stock is exposed to the influence of fluctuations 

 of temperature and humidity, so that its existence is pre- 

 carious and brief. This is the reason why wild hops are 

 never found in open and exposed situations, but always in 

 hedges and bushes where Nature herself makes provision for 

 the protection of the rootstock. As, however, the cultivated 

 hop must be grown as much in the sunlight as possible, 

 it is therefore necessary — and this necessity has been admitted 

 for centuries — to afford the rootstock sufficient protection 

 by means of a superimposed layer of soil. The same 

 necessity also led to the existing methods of cultivation, 

 wherein the piling up of soil over the stocks often proved 

 itself advantageous. It was soon recognised that the object 

 in view could not be permanently attained by the latter 

 means alone, owing to the tendency of the stocks to grow 

 in an upward direction more and more every year. Con- 

 sequently, recourse was had to the knife, and the ascent 

 was checked, the stock being kept down below the ground 

 level by cutting off the last year's bine close to the stock 

 every spring. This treatment proved efficacious, and was 

 also found beneficial in other respects, the rootstock as- 



