40 



AGRICULTURAL AND MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



Effect of Stripping Hop Plants. 



For a number of years experiments in the cultivation of 

 hops have been carried out in the g'arden of the South 

 Eastern Agricultural College at Wye, under the direction of 

 the Principal, Mr. A. D. Hall, M.A., and one branch of this 

 experimental work has been directed to the question of the 

 effect on the crop of stripping the plants. 



During the past year about 400 hills were stripped of their 

 lower leaves and laterals to a height of 4 ft. 6 in. on July 3rd, 

 and the hops from these plots were weighed and compared, 

 with the hops from adjoining areas where the hills were not 

 stripped, but just kept free from brush. The results showed 

 that the weight of green hops yielded by the stripped area 

 was about 23 per cent less than that from an equal area of 

 unstripped plants. In similar experiments carried out in 



1899, when an abundant crop was obtained, the produce 

 from the two areas was about equal ; but in 1898 the stripped 

 plants produced a crop 7 per cent, short of that furnished by 

 the unstripped area. 



Thus in 1900 the stripping resulted in a great diminution 

 of the crop; in 1899 it apparently caused no loss; but in 

 1898 it entailed a considerable loss of crop, though not so 

 great as in the past yean This discrepancy in the results of 

 the several experiments is "attributed to the character of the 

 seasons. For though the practice of stripping must give the 

 plant a check at the time, yet in a year of free and abundant 

 growth, like 1899, thff plant recovers, and shows no effect of 

 the check in the crop; whereas in seasons like 1898 and 



1900, when the growth of the hop was indifferent, the plant 



