Fifty Years of Hop Farming. 
329 
are utilised for hop manures, such as glue refuse, and sugar 
refuse. Mussels, sprats, and other fish are still employed, but 
not very extensively, as they are considered not to have much 
" stay" in them. 
Artificial manures, as nitrate of soda and sulphate of am- 
monia, are chopped in round the hills at the rate of 2 to 3 cwt. 
per acre in dry seasons, and when the plants obviously require 
stimulating. About fifteen years back, some planters were in 
the habit of regularly forcing the bine in this way, with the 
effect of injuring the quality and "condition" of the hops. 
Cultivation. 
Though there have not been material changes in the modes 
of hop cultivation, it has been more systematically and 
thoroughly attended to by the present generation of planters. 
Digging the land with the four-pronged spud, figured below, is 
still usually adopted during the late autumn and winter months. 
Farmyard manure, rags, sprats, shoddy, and 
other fertilisers applied in winter are dug Fig. I. — The Spud. 
in by this operation. Ploughing with two 
horses sometimes takes the place of digging. 
This has been done more extensively in the 
last few years of depression, but as a rule it 
is an unsatisfactory process, and really not 
cheaper than digging. 
After the poles have been put up, the 
nidgets, or large horse-hoes, are set to work, 
to tear up, mix, and pulverise the ground 
between the rows of poles. Two horses draw 
these at first until the tilth is fine. After- 
wards one horse can work them easily. 
Nidgetting is done not only to kill the weeds 
springing up quickly and luxuriantly after £ 
every shower, but also to maintain a deep 
bed of triturated soil, well aerated and sun- 
heated. 
It is in these respects that the cultivation of hop-land has 
been vastly improved. In many hop grounds during the summer 
one can put the foot with the leg more than half-way up to the 
knee in the well-moved soil, and stir it about easily. 
Suitable implements have been forthcoming to expedite 
modern requirements. A good collection of these appeared at 
the Royal Agricultural Society's Show at Wolverhampton in 
