.896 



Hop Cultivation. 



[FEB., 



when tying begins the shoots on all the hills are approxi- 

 mately equal in length : it is sometimes necessary to repeat 

 this operation two or three times before tying. 



If the hills do not shoot regularly they should be examined 

 to see whether the young shoots on the weak hills are being 

 -attacked by wireworms, and if so the wireworms should be 

 trapped by burying pieces of mangold by the side of the 

 hop hills. The wireworms eat their way into the pieces of 

 mangold and can then be picked out by hand and killed by 

 being dropped into boiling water. 



Tying was the term originally employed to describe the 

 ■operation of tying the hop shoots with rushes or bast to the 

 old-fashioned poles, and the term is still retained to describe 

 the first part of the operation of training the hop bines upon 

 the strings. 



It is usually started about the 7th of May, when the bines 

 are about 2 ft. high ; in some cases on rich land with heavy 

 manuring, or with late varieties, the operation is not com- 

 menced for a week or ten days later, and the hills are conse- 

 quently "pulled" once more. Sometimes three and 

 sometimes two bines are trained up each string, and in 

 either case the bines should be carefully divided out so that 

 the growth of the bine upon each string may be as nearly 

 equal as possible. 



The work of tying is mainly done by women, whose 

 business it is to see that the tips of the shoots are kept to 

 their right strings until they have grown out of reach from 

 the ground. 



When all the strings have been fully furnished the super- 

 fluous shoots are pulled out. These shoots continue to be 

 formed during the summer and are pulled out as soon as 

 they have grown sufficiently long. The "runners" also 

 which spread underground must be kept pulled out as they 

 appear; neglect of this operation is likely to encourage the 

 growth of the hop mould, since the fungus lying dormant 

 in the ground during the winter begins to grow in the early 

 summer on the lowest leaves close to the ground. 



As the summer goes on and the bines grow up the strings, 

 the side shoots and leaves up to a height of 4 or 5 ft. are 

 stripped off. These lower leaves are very difficult to wash 



