CULTIVATION. 133 



greater or smaller extent — ' rotting of the rootstock, irre- 

 gular shoots, and uneven quality of the cones '." The in- 

 convenience referred to under Objection 4 may also be re- 

 cognised as real, but on the other hand the remaining 

 objections put forward against the practice of cutting can- 

 not be regarded as thoroughly well founded. 



Eeferring to Objection 1, the plant is undoubtedly wounded 

 by cutting, and it must be admitted that if putrefaction of the 

 root ensues, such a result may be accelerated by that opera- 

 tion, though the latter is not inevitably the cause. Actual 

 overflow of sap at the cut surface of the stock is rarely 

 noticeable, and there can therefore be no question at all 

 of the waste of "a large quantity of valuable material". 



In addition to the wounds on the body of the stock, 

 those formed by cutting off the lateral runners, etc., also 

 come under consideration. These, however, also occur in 

 the plan, recommended by Hermann, of hoeing round the 

 stock, only with this difference, that when the stock is cut 

 the runners are taken off smooth close at the main root, 

 whereas with the hoe stumps are easily left, the eyes of 

 which put forth unnecessary shoots. 



With regard to Objection 2, the indisputable fact that 

 many hop gardens more than twenty-five years old still yield 

 good crops, although the stocks have been cut every year, is 

 sufficient proof that catting is not injurious in the manner 

 asserted by Hermann, whilst on the other hand convincing 

 proof that non-cutting prolongs the hfe of the plants is 

 lacking, since it is not much more than ten years that this 

 practice has been followed regularly. Moreover, even if 

 the Hfe of the plant could be lengthened from twenty years 

 to twenty-five years by the abolition of cutting, little would 

 be gained thereby, because in very many instances there 

 is no intention of growing hops so many years in succession 

 on the same ground, special reasons, such as diminished 



