Investigations upon thu Growth of Hops. a6~9 



■of 7 per cent, in 1898 with a crop of ivg cwt. per acre, and of 

 23 per cent, in 1900, when the crop fell to 10-4 cwt. per acre. 

 The practical deduction is that in seasons when the bine is 

 not growing freely stripping should be deferred, or done by- 

 degrees instead of in one operation. 



Experiments on the Depth and Amount of Cultivation. 

 Considerable diversity of practice exists in the amount of 

 •cultivation given and the depth to which it is carried. In East 

 Kent, where the typical hop soils are deep free working loams, 

 and where the climate is generally of the driest, it is customary 

 to work the soils very thoroughly the whole season. The 

 steam " shim " is often put through to stir the soil down 

 to a depth of 10 inches as soon as the land can be worked, 

 and though the depth may be diminished, the labour is 

 continued up to harvest time at 6 inches or so. In other 

 •districts the cultivation is always shallower, and even 

 reduced after June to merely keeping the surface alive 

 and destroying the weeds. To test some of these points 

 •certain plots were laid out in a small hop garden at Goud- 

 hurst, where the soil was a deep sandy loam. The results 

 have been somewhat astonishing, for the discontinuance of 

 all cultivation beyond the destruction of the weeds, for seven 

 successive years has resulted in no particular falling off in 

 crop, though perhaps a slight inferiority in the quality of the 

 product may be seen. This is the more unexpected, as the 

 seasons have been uniformly hot and dry, when the reserves 

 of moisture in the soil must have been drawn upon to the 

 utmost. So palpable has been the result that the owner of 

 the garden has now ceased to cultivate the whole of it and 

 others ; this example is, to a certain extent, being copied in 

 the district. The other notable result in this cultivation 

 •experiment is that a deep cultivation, just when the hops are 

 beginning to form, induces an earlier ripening of the crop. 

 Probably the destruction of surface roots checks the vegeta- 

 tive development of the plant, and the ripening process 

 begins earlier. 



The results obtained at this centre are of such importance, 

 and have been so consistent for the whole period, and also 

 when extended to a greater area than the original plots, that 

 they must be tested on other soils and situations. 



A. D. Hall. 



