554 
Management of Hops. 
be tied up. The cost of labour for poling and sharpening down 
is from Is. to \s. 6(7. per 100 hills of three poles, according to 
the size of the poles and nature and state of the ground for 
pitching the holes. If new poles are required to be carried from 
the outside of the ground to some distance in, the poler is paid 
extra for it, according to distance and size of the poles, from Ir/. 
to 2)d. per 100 poles ; but if they have been carried in and put 
up to the stacks or laid in convenient lumps over the ground, 
then nothing is paid to the poler extra. Tying up the bines, or 
as it is called hop-tying, is generally done by women, who take 
them to do at so much per acre, with the understanding that they 
are to keep them tied up as long as they can reach them when- 
ever they require it, to pull all weeds and surplus bines out of 
the hills, and strip the leaves off at the bottom and some of the 
lower branches if required. A woman who has a family with 
two or three girls old enough to assist her will take and do four 
or five acres, single women about two acres ; if a woman takes 
more than she is able to tie in projier time, and the bines are not 
tied to the poles as soon or soon after they reach, but left untied, 
they will twist up together, and a great many more than required 
go up one or two of the poles, so that much injury is done and 
many of the heads broken off ^in separating them to tie up the 
poles ; they are thrown backward in their growth and do not 
grow so well for some time afterwards. I would advise all young 
planters not to let any of their tiers have more than they can 
manage well, or if any get behind to put others to assist them. 
Tying is a process that requires great care first in selecting the 
best bines, which are not always those that are forvvardest. All 
rank pipy bines, where there are, or there is likely to be, suffi- 
cient without them, should be pulled out, as they are not so pro- 
ductive ; they climb the poles fast, having their joints a great 
distance apart, but do not branch down or hop so well. Many 
planters send persons before the tiers to pull up such bines, and 
then the tiers can take the best to tie to the poles, which is done 
with rushes, sedge, or old matting, but most generally with 
rushes, which are the best when they can be got. Three bines 
to a pole are most generally tied up when three poles to a hill ; 
but some have only seven bines to a hill, two each to two poles 
and three to the odd one, but the better plan is to have three to 
every pole ; for they are liable to accidents, and when one out 
of two is broken the one bine left is not sufficient to a pole to 
produce a crop, but when one out of three is broken and two left 
there may be : too much bine is often an evil, but where that is 
expected it is better to have a less number of poles than to put 
less than three bines to a pole. Large crops of hops are gi-own 
sometimes on only two poles to a hill, from 20 to 30 cwt. per 
