CULTIVATION. 149 



SO in proportion as the initial power of developing shoots 

 was less drawn upon. For this reason the number of eyes 

 left on the stem should be proportionate to the vigour of the 

 stock ; and also, at a later stage, the number of shoots left 

 for fructification purposes must — unless the root activity is to 

 be intentionally destroyed — be such as the stock can feed 

 abundantly, with the assistance of the plant food in the soil. 

 The old rule of leaving only two or three shoots is erroneous. 

 That it is not advisable to train more than three shoots on 

 one pole or wire is right enough, but this by no means 

 implies that — given a sufficiently strong stock and well 

 trenched fertile soil — it is bad practice to train four, five, or 

 even six and seven shoots on two or three poles or wires. 

 Even admitting that these last two numbers are the excep- 

 tion, it is often possible to use for fruit-forming purposes 

 four or five shoots from one stock, and that with double 

 advantage. A duly proportioned demand laid on the root 

 activity of the plant not only leads to an increase in the 

 quantity of the crop, but also to a recognisable improvement 

 in the quality of the cones, and is justified on both economi- 

 cal and physiological grounds. In cultivating fruit and 

 vegetables it is customary to aim at the formation of larger, 

 better developed, and therefore more valuable specimens of 

 produce by reducing the number of bearing shoots or even 

 thinning out the fruit itself. In hop-growing, however, the 

 conditions are different, the cones being wanted cohipact and 

 rich in lupulin, instead of large and thick-leaved, like, for 

 instance, the cones at the ends of a lateral branch are liable 

 to become through an accumulation of nourishment. The 

 closer the cones are together the smaller quantity of lupulin 

 will they contain, and therefore the more deceptive they are. 

 Consequently, the distribution of the cones over several vines 

 and several poles or wires will result in a richer produce. 

 True, they will be smaller and not thickly clustered ; but, 



