i9io.] 



Hop Cultivation. 



901 



consists of a tank on wheels with pump attached which 

 supplies two nozzles at the end of rods fixed to rubber hose. 

 One man works the pump and two others each hold and 

 direct one nozzle. 



This was the first type of machine used for hop washing, 

 but it has now been largely replaced by horse and steam 

 machines on account of the large amount of manual labour 

 it requires. 



In some cases a hand machine is still very useful for 

 purposes of thoroughly cleaning the outsides of the garden 

 which are liable to be missed by the horse machine, or in the 

 case of an early blight when the hops are but a few feet high 

 and cannot be effectually washed by horse machines; or 

 again, they are useful in a protracted spell of wet weather 

 when the ground may become too soft to allow the horse 

 machines to work. 



(ii.) Horse Washing Machines. — A horse washing machine 

 consists of a tank (capacity about 60 gallons) on wheels, and 

 is drawn by two or three horses. The most modern machines 

 contain three pumps, the pistons of which are so connected 

 with the bent axle of the machine that as the machine is 

 drawn through the hop garden, and as the wheels revolve, the 

 pistons of the three pumps are forced home in sequence, with 

 the result that a steady pressure is kept up on the liquid 

 instead of a jerky one. The liquid is forced by the pumps 

 into a reservoir which in turn is connected by strong rubber 

 hose to a series of nozzles, through which the wash escapes 

 in the form of a coarse spray. 



The nozzles should be so arranged that as far as possible 

 every hop leaf is thoroughly wetted by the spray. 



Each of the nozzles, some of which are fixed to the sides 

 of the machine and some to the rack fixed above the machine, 

 should be adjusted at a distance of about 2 ft. below the 

 leaves they are intended to wash. This will not be possible 

 in the case of the nozzles which are directed upon the topmost 

 leaves, but these should be as high as possible. Further, 

 the nozzles should be nearly or quite vertical so that the 

 wash strikes full upon the lower sides of the leaves where the 

 insects are for the most part situated; if otherwise, and the 

 spray has a horizontal direction, the leaves double up and 

 parts of the lower sides of the leaves are not touched by the 



