Cultivation and Management of Hops. 
339 
to the plant than the large roots, were sadly hindered in their 
operations. Land intended for hops is now ploughed in the 
ordinary way, or rather deeper ; the subsoil plough following in 
the furrow, where subsoiling is possible or requisite. The turf of 
old pasture land is, or ought to be, pared and burned, in order 
that the larvae of the numerous destructive insects may be 
destroyed ; of these the larvae of the " ghost " moth (^Hepialus 
Humuli), of the small " swift " moth (Hepialus Lupulinus), and 
of the wireworm (Hemirhipus h'neatus), are most injurious to 
young hops. The latter larva was ignorantly mistaken for the 
centipede (Scolopendra), whose natural habitation is in decaying 
fibres, and it is only comparatively recently that the ravages of 
the wireworm have been duly estimated, and checked by traps 
of pieces of potatoes, turnips, or rape cake, put into each "hill," * 
and regularly watched. 
With regard to the actual planting, the custom of cramming 
as many plants as possible into an acre is exploded. It is 
thought desirable that there should be at least 6 feet 6 inches 
between every hill, which would give about 1030 hills to the 
acre if planted on the square, and about 1200 if planted trian- 
gularly. A thousand hills are quite enough for an acre ; quite 
as large crops are grown with such a plant as from one of 
1200, or even 1400 hills, which it was once thought wise to 
adopt. It is obvious in the adoption of the system of the lesser 
number of hills to the acre, that there is at once a great saving of 
labour and of expense for poles ; and what is of more importance 
still, the sun and the air permeate more freely through the alleys. 
Two good " sets," or cuttings that have been one year in a 
nursery, are usually put to form a hill. Even one very good set 
occasionally suffices, and it has been observed that the fewer the 
sets the better the stock or centre hereafter, and not so liable to 
decay or rot away i}i partibus, especially in " Geldings." The 
careless practice of planting cut sets taken directly from the hill 
is fast going out.f Four, or even five, of these were formerly 
crowded together to form the nucleus,:}: and it frequently happened 
that in very dry seasons they failed to grow, while the bedded 
or nursery sets rarely fail. Very great care and pains ai'e now 
taken with these sets, to keep varieties distinct, to select the 
* "Hill" is the technical term for each plant centre. So called from the 
custom of earthing, or putting earth on such centres for preservation, &c., during 
the winter, which thus forms a little mound or " hill." 
t The Americans still plant 2 or 3 cut sets in this way ; but their land is rich, 
unexhausted, and cheap, so that they do not care about the duration of their 
grounds. 
+ Mr. llutley, in his Prize Essay upon Hops, in the ' Royal Agricultural 
Journal ' for December, 1848, says : — " The cheapest and best way is to plant cut 
sets where they are to remain. Five cut sets is a sufficient number to raise a hill, 
and what is most generally planted." 
