208 HOPS. . 



The first attempts to replace poles by some other method 

 of training were made during the second half of the eigh- 

 teenth century, when a beginning was made with crosses 

 and pyramids; these, however, did not find any great 

 favour. 



The French agriculturist De Doinbasle is generally 

 acknowledged as having been the earliest (1837) to erect 

 frames, in the present sense of the term, for hop-training ; 

 and, in course of time, his idea was modified and developed 

 in various ways, whereby the originally primitive form, pre- 

 senting few advantages, gradually evolved into the frames 

 of the present day. 



The Dombasle" system was of moderate height, but 

 remained at first without imitators, being recognised as 

 little adapted to the nature of the hop. Nevertheless, it 

 gave the first stimulus, and a lively interest in frame train- 

 ing began to spread, though the results were not always 

 of the best. The builders of the frames were often short 

 of the requisite knowledge of the habits of the plant, which 

 were frequently overlooked altogether, the main object aimed 

 at being to get a storm-proof frame, whilst in other cases 

 stress was laid on some quite subordinate *f unction of the 

 frame-work. 



Among these earlier systems those of Eamm ^ and 

 Kiferle^ are worthy of mention. Both were high, that of 

 Ramm measuring from 20 to 23 feet, with vertical training 

 wires, and head wires that could be lowered when necessary ; 

 whilst Kiferle's frame was 33 feet high, and differed chiefly 

 from the other in the slanting arrangement of the training 

 wires. The stocks were planted on the triangular system, 

 and the head wires mounted between the rows, the training 

 wires being led, up to the right and left alternately. 



' E. Perin, Hopfenbau (Strassburg, 1874). 



