82 



Cultivation of the Hop Chop 



[Apr., 



It should be remembered, however, that the planting of too 

 many male hops in the hop garden will result in the production 

 of too much seed in the hop-cones, and an appearance of seedi- 

 ness in the " side " of the dried hop sample, which is legiti- 

 mately regarded by the brewer as depreciating the market value 

 of dried hops. 



The mere indiscriminate planting of male hops in a hop garden 

 is not, however, sufficient to ensure adequate fertilisation. Other 

 points need attention : — the male hops to be effective, must set 

 free their pollen at the time of the appearance of the " buiT " 

 of the particular variety of hop among which they are planted. 

 The male hops therefore need to be distinguished according to 

 the period at which they produce pollen, viz., earhes, mid-season 

 and late, so that one or other of these may be selected for plant- 

 ing with the female variety of similar character. There are, 

 however, some males which flower either so early or so late 

 that their period of pollen-production does not coincide w^ith 

 the burr periods of commercial varieties of hops; these are, of 

 course, quite useless. Again, some varieties of male hops are 

 very susceptible to mould or to the nettlehead disease and such 

 if planted may become the centres of infection of the whole 

 garden; these also should be eliminated. 



It is, of course, impossible to prepare a classification of male 

 hops; the fact that the hop plant is dioecious, i.e., the male and 

 female flowers are produced on separate plants, makes it impos- 

 sible to identify any male hop as being of the same variety as 

 any given female hop. 



In the list of the (female) varieties of hops given below, only 

 those have been included which possess the characters necessary 

 for a good commercial variety, viz., a sufficiently vigorous con- 

 stitution to withstand from time to time unfavourable climatic 

 conditions ; the yielding power necessary to produce a remunera- 

 tive crop; and a crop reasonably easy to pick, which " hangs " 

 well and is of fair quality. Where any variety is superior, or 

 inferior, to this standard, the fact is mentioned under the par- 

 ticular variety. 



It may be pointed out that the stock of most varieties on the 

 market is far from pure and contains individuals which are 

 obviously not " true " or of weak stamina. This is particularly 

 the case with Fuggle's, Bramlings and Mathons. It is worth the 

 while of any grower to breed up pure stocks from a single robust 

 plant of many of the older vaiieties. A reputation once gained 

 for pure stock would lead to profitable business with hop-sets. 



