1910] 



Hop Cultivation. 



893 



A stump is driven into the ground by the side of each 

 hill and the strings are tied to nails driven into these stumps. 



Sometimes two and sometimes three strings are tied to 

 each hill ; these are tied to the nearest top wires on either 

 side of the row of hills and slope down almost vertically to 

 the stumps ; thus, in each alley there are two sets of sloping 

 strings— one to each row of hills on either side. 



Since the strings slope in opposite directions it is obvious 

 that the strain of one set of strings balances that of the other 

 set, and there is not the great strain in one direction as in 



Fig. 5. — Umbrella System of Training Hops. 

 A A, top wires • S, strings ; T T, coupling strings ; P, stump. 



the Butcher system, and the cross-wires here are merely to 

 hold up the string wires. In this system the chief strain is 

 due to the weight of the hops on the parallel string-wires, 

 which tend to pull inwards, and it is therefore at the ends of 

 these wires, at the outsides of the garden, that the greatest 

 strain is produced, consequently it is here that the wirework 

 needs to be secure. 



(iii.) Umbrella System. — In this system the strings slope 

 in four directions. 



