132 HOPS. 



so that strong, medium and weak plants are met with side 

 by side, the result being unequal ripening, diminished yield 

 and irregular quality. These calamities are increased by 

 the inevitable absence of uniformity in the depth of cut. 



Very different are the conditions when cutting is dis- 

 pensed with. In this case the rootstock remains intact, 

 and is therefore sound, smaller, free from incurable wounds, 

 and seldom puts forth superfluous shoots ; the underground 

 runners, that are usually stimulated by cutting, are now 

 seldom met with. The buds that are destined by Nature 

 to bear fruit in the late summer develop into laterals, and 

 produce stronger shoots. The cost of preparing and cutting 

 the stocks is avoided, and there is no need to trample the 

 ground early in the year before it has properly dried, since 

 the plants are first hand-hoed for a distance of about two 

 feet all round each stock, after the ground is thoroughly 

 dry and the shoots are already 8 to 12 inches high. Ordinary 

 hoeing is not proceeded with until the bine has reached 

 a height of 40 to 80 inches. 



In answer to these opinions of Hermann's, Strebel 

 remarks as follows in his excellent work on the hop: — 



" Without any wish to depreciate the value of Hermann's 

 labours for the advancement of hop cultivation, it neverthe- 

 less seems advisable, in view of the importance of the ques- 

 tion of cutting versus non-cutting, to approach the subject 

 of these alleged disadvantages in an impartial naanner. 

 It may be at once admitted that the work of cutting is 

 one of the most difficult operations in hop cultivation ; and 

 that unless each stock is cut in the manner most suitable 

 to each individual case — as well as if a blunt knife is used, 

 or the blue part of the stock is cut into in consequence of 

 carelessness in uncovering the root — more harm than good 

 is done, the results asserted by Hermann to follow cutting 

 in general being then sure to make their appearance to a 



