1 9-22. ] 



Cultivation of the Hop Chop. 



1099 



exposed to sunlight and air so that they are enabled to develop 

 healthily into fine large hops; the bines are all suspended in 

 one plane and are therefore capable of easy spraying with the 

 hop-washer, except when the bines get round the top of the 

 poles, by which they are protected from the spray; as compared 

 with the old pole system (and this is true of all wire-work 

 systems) the hops can be easily pulled down so that picking is 

 simplified. On the other hand, from the very fact that all the 

 bines are suspended in one plane close together, they tend to 

 become interlocked with each other and this leads to much 

 shattering when they are pulled down for picking. Again, 

 when planted in wide rows, especially if frequent winds blow 



Fig. 8. — Umbrella System of Training Hops. 

 AA, top wires; S, strings; TT, coupling strings; 1', stump. 



against the slope of the string, the bines fail to encircle the 

 string and much hand training is required to keep the bines 

 growing on the string. % Another minor disadvantage is the fact 

 that the bottom and middle wires prevent the passage of horses 

 and implements for cross tillage, but as counterbalancing this 

 is the fact that w T hen a middle wire is present and cross tillage 

 not practised, bines can be led from a strong " hill " to furnish 

 the strings on adjoining weak or dead " hills." 



