CULTIVATION. 171 



nitrogen; or would at least favour the growth of weeds, 

 which, owing to the large space allotted to the hop plant 

 for well-known reasons, find very ample room for their 

 development. In fact, the manuring of the entire area of 

 a hop garden is only justifiable when other subsidiary plants 

 are cultivated thereon, and in all other circumstances is a 

 wasteful proceeding. 



The best time to manure hops is in the spring, and 

 the work may be advantageously carried on in conjunction 

 with the task of cutting, the manure being applied and 

 worked in at the same time as the cut stocks are covered 

 up again. Sometimes, though less frequently, hops are 

 manured in the autumn, good results being obtained by this 

 plan in many places, especially on heavy soils. In such 

 cases also, if autumn cutting is practised, the two opera- 

 tions could very well be combined; otherwise the manure 

 is spread before the ground is worked in the autumn, and 

 ploughed in. 



Stock-manuring is effected by hoeing out a small trench 

 all round the stock at a distance of 12 to 20 inches from 

 the latter, placing the manure therein, and covering it over 

 with soil. The quantity of manure required to fully cover 

 the requirements of each stock can be easily calculated, 

 provided the weight and constitution of the plant to be 

 produced, and the composition of the manure are known.^ 

 If well-rotted stall manure is employed, about 9 to 15 lb. 

 per stock, according to the condition of the soil, will gener- 

 ally be sufficient,^ though a little more will do no harm. 

 The excessive use of stall manure, however, cannot be too 

 emphatically deprecated, since this manure, and especially 



1 Emil Wolff, Praktische DUngerlehre, Appendix (Berlin, 1892). 



2 Given fairly well rotted stall manure containing 0-5 per cent, of nitrogen, 

 0-26 per cent, of phosphoric acid, 0-63 per cent, of potash and 0-7 per cent, of 



