334 



CANNABACE^ 



The Stem. — The stems, which are generally termed 'bines,' are 

 herbaceous, angular and hollow, and of variable colour, being, in 

 some varieties, purplish-red, in others pale green, or green streaked 

 with red. They make their appearance in spring from buds of 

 the underground perennial ' rootstock ' or rhizome, and die 

 down in autumn. The lower part, however, of each 'bine' 

 below ground does not die, but thickens and forms a further ex- 

 tension of the ' rootstock.' The ' sets ' used in propagating the 

 plant are these thickened underground parts of the stems ; they 

 are cut off the parent plant in spring, and readily form adventi- 

 tious roots when planted. The herbaceous stems above ground 

 bear thin opposite lateral branches, which are of considerable 

 length about the middle of the main stem. It is upon the 

 lateral branches that the female inflorescences are produced, 

 hence their formation and preservation is of the utmost import- 

 ance to the hop grower. 



The stems, although too weak to stand erect by themselves, 

 are able to wind round any support such as a pole, a piece 

 of stretched string or wire, or another plant placed near them, 

 and frequently reach in this manner a height of 25 or 30 

 feet. In ascending a support the free tip of the stem slowly 

 moves round in a circle, from left to right, in the same direction 

 as the hands of a watch. The most rapid growth in length takes 

 place when the support is upright, and in stems growing erect 

 the internodes are longer than upon stems which are allowed to 

 grow along a string inclined away from the vertical. The 

 growth continues for a longer period, and is more even in its 

 rate on sloped supports than on erect ones. When the support 

 is inclined at an angle of between 45 and 60 degrees away from 

 the vertical, the stems are unable to climb satisfactorily without 

 external aid, their tips needing to be trained or assisted to 

 wind, otherwise they hang away from the support. In all kinds 

 of hop, but especially in the wild and coarse cultivated varieties, 

 the stems and also the leaf petioles and main 'veins' have 



