158 HOPS. 



another, without any positive greater susceptibiHty being 

 so far observable on the part of either. In this respect 

 an observation restricted to one or two seasons is far from 

 sufficient. On the other hand, it is quite true that autumn 

 cutting does not invariably yield equally good results in 

 all situations and districts, but that in many places spring 

 cutting, performed at the proper time, is alone suitable. 

 It is also true that the favourable results of autumn 

 cutting depend mainly on the weather, and that, even in 

 the districts where it is most applicable and most generally 

 employed, its consequences are not always superior to those 

 obtainable by spring cutting. Similarlj', the various kinds 

 of hops behave towards autumn cutting in different ways, 

 so far as the date of ripening is concerned. In some years 

 it is the early hops, in others the late varieties, that give 

 the largest crops after autumn cutting ; and even in the 

 same year the quantity and quality of the crop of both 

 kinds may vary considerably in different situations under 

 the same system of cutting. Nevertheless, in the majority 

 of instances autumn cutting has behaved better in the 

 case of late hops, especially in districts where the period 

 of vegetation is short, an increase both in yield a.nd quality 

 being observable ; whereas, in the case of early hops, the 

 improvement is generally in point of quality at the expense 

 of quantity. It may therefore be assumed that, in small 

 gardens with early hops and on compact soils, no advantage 

 is derivable from autumn cutting when the period of vegeta- 

 tion is long. Even where the system appears advantageous 

 no remarkable difference in results is found, in comparison 

 with spring cutting, when the seasons are normal. How- 

 ever, in abnormal years when spring cut hops yield extremely 

 poor crops, the favourable results of autumn cutting are 

 perfectly surprising ; and it is herein that the real value 

 of this system consists, since it forms the sole means of 



