134 HOPS. 



fertility of the soil, the uninterrupted fall in crop value, 

 decay of frame posts, etc., militating in favour of breaking 

 up the ground sooner. The "partial curtailment of growth " 

 is rather to be ascribed to improper cutting in the case 

 of individual plants than to the practice as a whole, as 

 otherwise it might be expected to occur in all cut stocks. 

 Whether, other conditions being equal, gardens that are 

 not cut require less manure than others is questionable ; 

 Hermann's opinion on this point being apparently based 

 on his experience with low wirework training, as to which 

 reference will be made later. 



Whether very early sprouting (Objection 3), such as occurs 

 with uncut hops, is always conducive to the best results as 

 regards cropping is a question that will be dealt with in 

 connection with the matter of autumn cutting. It is, 

 however, not always found that the cones on the earliest 

 uncut shoots are ready for picking before the others, since 

 the advantage gained by the former is often rendered illusory 

 by the action of frost, disease, or vermin ; and the state of 

 the weather throughout the year has an important influence. 



The present author in agreeing with the cogent and well- 

 founded replies of Strebel would only remark that Hermann 

 in introducing the non-cutting system did not bring forward 

 anything new, but merely revived an old and abandoned 

 custom, modified so as to give satisfactory results under 

 the conditions of growth accidentally prevailing in his 

 district, without, however, being in a position to claim 

 universality of application. Hermann also apparently al- 

 lowed himself to be guided by sundry erroneous assumptions ; 

 hence many of his proofs are inconclusive and some even, 

 at variance with known facts. Thus, for example, the 

 early sprouting of uncut stocks is not generally regarded 

 as an advantage, but in some gardens, and even whole 

 districts, is considered as quite the opposite, owing to the 



