Cultivation and Management of Hops. 
343 
old age of tlie stock cannot be the cause of the decay, which 
must be rather attributed to the unnaturally early picking, and to 
the failure in the supply of requisite ingredients in the soil. This 
will not seem astonishing, when it is realised what an enormous 
amount of these ingredients is taken away in a crop of hops, 
leaves, and bine. The most judicious and lavish supply of those 
manures which chemical science has taught to be suitable, can- 
not adequately replace the potash, the lime, the phosphoric acid, 
the silica, and the other essential elements annually absorbed. 
Mr. Nesbit says, in his elaborate Report upon the analysis of 
the hop,* that it is well known to farmers that hops require 
more manure for their proper development than any other plant 
which they cultivate. In this same Report Mr. Nesbit gives 
detailed statements of the quantities of each mineral ingredient 
taken from the land by a given crop of hops. Though he and 
Professors Way and Johnstone differ slightly, yet, if an average 
of the estimates of these three great authorities is taken, it 
leaves no doubt as to one great cause of the gradual failure 
of hop-grounds. The American hop-growers are quite aware of 
this, and as soon as a ground displays signs of having exhausted 
the soil it is grubbed up. They manure very little, just putting 
a spit or two of dung on the crown of the hill, rather for the 
purpose of protection from frost, while the average of the dura- 
tion of their grounds is not more than nine years even in the 
limestone district. 
Digging and Ploughing. — After a ground has been planted for 
a year, it is dug or ploughed in the winter. The latter practice 
prevailed extensively' at one time, as it holds universally in 
America, on account of the scarcity of labour. In an old treatise 
upon hops, dated 1578, it is said, "Before winter you must till 
with the plough, if your ground is large ; if small, with the 
spade." t Several growers have introduced ploughing lately 
with a small implement like a potato-plough, or a modification 
of the vine plough (charrue). This makes but poor work ; the 
weeds are not buried, the large pole-stack places are not touched, 
and the appearance is slovenly and unfinished. If one of the 
many new systems of poling, whereby the poles are left standing 
permanently at the hills, is approved and generally adopted, 
one great obstacle to ploughing will be overcome. However, 
an entirely new implement is most necessary for this special 
purpose ; and I have suggested that the Council of the 
Royal Agricultural Society should offer a prize for the best 
and most economical substitute for digging hops. Digging is 
* ' Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England,' vol. vii. p. 211. 
t Quoted in Lance's ' Hop Farmer.' 
