VEGETABLES 441 



IVY BERRIES 



Ivy berries afford a noble and providential supply for 

 birds in winter and spring ; for the first severe frost 

 freezes and spoils all the haws, sometimes by the middle of 

 November ; ivy berries do not seem to freeze. 



HOPS 



The culture of Virgil's vines corresponded very exactly 

 with the modern management of hops. I might instance 

 in the perpetual diggings and hoeings, in the tying to the 

 stakes and poles, in pruning the superfluous shoots, etc. 

 but lately I have observed a new circumstance, which was 

 a neighbouring farmer's harrowing between the rows of 

 hops with a small triangular harrow, drawn by one horse, 

 and guided by two handles. This occurrence brought to 

 my mind the following passage — 



'ipsa 



Flectere luctantes inter vineta juvencos." — Georgic II. 



Hops are diecious plants : hence perhaps it might be 

 proper, though not practised, to leave purposely some 

 male plants in every garden, that their farina might im- 

 pregnate the blossoms. The female plants without their 

 male attendants are not in their natural state : hence we 

 may suppose the frequent failure of crop so incident to 

 hop-grounds; no other growth, cultivated by man, has 

 such frequent and general failures as hops. 



Two hop gardens much injured by a hail-storm, June 5, 

 show now (September 2) a prodigious crop, and larger and 

 fairer hops than any in the parish. The owners seem now 

 to be convinced that the hail, by beating off the tops 

 of the binds, has increased the side-shoots, and improved 

 the crop. Query. Therefore should not the tops of hops 

 be pinched off when the binds are very gross, and strong ? 



