•2S6 
Farming of Kent. 
more freely admits of cultivation, light, and air — essential con- 
dition? of healthy vegetation. From ten to twelve hundred hills 
will stand on an acre. Poles varv in length from 10 to 16 feet, 
according to the soil, age of the plant, and variety of hop. In 
Mid-Kent poles of still greater lengths are sometimes employed. 
Two, three, and sometimes four poles are put to a hill — three 
being the most general, in a triangular form. The price of hop- 
poles varies considerably, according to situation and kinds of wood. 
Chestnut, ash, and larch are the most esteemed sorts, particularly 
the foi-mer. Beech, birch, and alder are the worst. The mean 
price may be somewhat as under : — Poles 10 and 1 1 feet long, 8s. ; 
12 feet, 13s.; 14 feet, 21s.; 16 feet, 30s. to 35s. per hundred. 
I saw last spring a hop-garden in Mid- Kent poled with three 
new 16-feet chestnut poles to the hill, at a cost of 42s. per 
hundred, exclusive of ten miles' land carriage. The first cost for 
poles only would therefore amount to upwards of €0/. an acre ! 
As soon as the young bines attain a su8icie;it length they are tied 
to the poles with rushes, an operation performed by women and 
children. The very strong and forward bines are usually rejected, 
not being considered fruitful. The cultivation of the ground, 
both bv horse and hand labour, is almost incessant during the 
period of growth. Horse-hoes (provincially called iiidgetts or 
shims), with from 7 to 12 long iron tines, are drawn by one or 
two horses up and down the alleys" in each direction. Tlie deep 
and frequent moving of the earth by these means, and by chop- 
ping round the hills with hoes, not only prevents the growth of 
annual weeds, but by opening the soil to the influence of heat, 
air, and moisture, the manure is reduced into a soluble state and 
brought into contact with the expanding fibres of the roots. A 
well managed hop-ground presents nothing short of perfect garden 
culture. Tliis crop is peculiarly subject to blights, arising from 
extreme seasons, or more commonly from insects, particularly 
aphides, which sometimes increase in such prodigious numbers on 
the leaves of the plant as to exhaust all its vegetable juices and 
blast the brightest hopes and prospects of the cultivator. The 
" mould ' is a disease of the nature of a fungus or parasite, dnd 
is more common to the finer varieties cultivated in ^lid-Kent: of 
its causes and nature very little is known with certaintv, and the 
means of prevention is a matter involved in even greater obscurity. 
Its destruction of the crop, however, is frequently complete, pre- 
venting the development of the hops, which are of the size and 
hardness of peas, devoid of all aroma, or "condition," whatever. 
The expense of cultivating hops varies very considerably, but 
in all cases it must amount to a larjie sum. It should be observed 
that the amount of produce does not invariably depend on the 
state of cultivation, since it frequently happens, in blighting years, 
