1922.] 



Cultivation of the Hop Crop. 



1103 



A system of stringing widely adopted on the Pacific Coast of 

 America otters some advantages in the case of Worcester work; 

 in this plan the string wires are attached to the cables at the 

 end and to the cross-wires along the length of the alley by means 

 of hooks, so that they can be let down to the ground for string- 

 ing and again for picking. The economy in cost of stringing 

 is not great, but the method would save much shattering of 

 hops during picking. It is worth investigating from the 

 experimental point of view at Wye or Mailing. 



Management of the Growth of Hop-Bine. — In hop-growing 

 nothing is more important than the attainment of a perfect 

 growth of bine so that each string is adequately furnished and 

 produces its quota of ripe hops. Many factors contribute to 

 this end and the hop grower needs to perfect good plans and 

 see them carried out. Perhaps the first point of importance is 

 the maintenance of strong hills. Sir A. D. Hal) showed, when 

 he was Principal of Wye College,* the importance of leaving 

 the stem attached to the root till the foliage had died and the 

 reserve food formed by the leaves after picking had been stored 

 in the root-stock, as compared with the alternative practice of 

 cutting off the stems at or soon after picking. 



Whilst it is important to maintain the hop hills in a state 

 of vigorous growth, it is equally important that they be not 

 allowed to become overgrown and straggly; for this reason the 

 hills require to be cut during each winter period as described 

 in the first article of this series.! 



Pulling. — Pulling is a practice carried out as a means of 

 equalising and regulating the growth of the hop-bines, so that 

 these may produce fine, short-jointed and yet vigorous growth. 

 In most seasons and especially when cutting has been executed 

 early in the season, the hills shoot irregularly, produce a rela- 

 tively small number of coarse bines and require to be pulled 

 once or twice and sometimes three times during April and early 

 May before they are put to the string. Pulling is also regulated 

 to the strength and vigour of the garden, young hops requiring 

 little or no pulling, while vigorous hops in their third or fourth 

 season benefit by hard pulling. Other factors requiring con- 

 sideration when deciding to what extent pulling shall be carried 

 out are the characteristics of the variety, the character and 

 richness of the soil, and the length of run which the bines are 

 required to make in order to furnish the strings. Unfortunately 



* A. D. Hall, Journal of the South Eastern Agricultural College. 1902. 

 fTliis Journal, January, 1922, p. 891. 



