Hop Cultivation. 
231 
his Perfite Platforme of a Hoppe Garden , “ Let the Poales of 
euery hill leane a little outwarde one from another.” As the 
plants are set out with mathematical precision it is absolutely 
necessary that the poles should be pitched 1 with the greatest 
regularity, so that the plants may not be gradually drawn from 
their proper position by careless and irregular poling. It ig 
desirable that the workmen should use a garden line which, 
stretched from hill to hill, may indicate the exact places where 
the poles should be pitched. Now that hop washing by horse- 
machinery has become very general, it is imperative that the 
hills should be correctly in line and the poles set as much in 
line as possible, in order that the spray from the delivery tubes 
and jets of the machine may be distributed evenly. 
Poles form an expensive item. The first outlay to furnish 
an acre of hop land with poles may be put at from 20 1. to 30/. 
for the smaller poles, and from 35/. to 45/. for larger poles. The 
price per 100 at this time (1893) ranges between 10s. and 30s. 
Not long since the range was between 17s. and 55s. per 100. 
In 1790 Mr. Marshall says, “The price of poles varies from 14s. 
to 40s. per 100 according to size and quality.” The annual 
cost of replacing poles is from 21. to 4/. per acre. 
Hop poles are now universally dipped in creosote, which 
effectually preserves their ends or “ feet ” in the ground, and 
just above the ground, from the effects of damp. Upon most 
hop farms there is a “ dipping tank,” either fixed in brickwork 
or portable, into which the poles are stood upright in gently 
simmering creosote to a depth of from 1| feet to 2 feet, for at 
least twelve hours. This practice has caused a vast saving of 
expense to hop planters. Ash, fir, and chestnut grown on some 
kinds of land are considered the best for poles. Chestnut on 
some soils is without heart and sappy. Maple, oak, red birch, 
alder, willow, white birch, and hornbeam follow in order. 
Arrangements of Wire and String. 
Many arrangements of wire and string on permanent up- 
rights are in vogue. As a rule, they are only adopted by 
planters who farm their own land, or who have long leases, 
because the first cost is heavy. Their chief advantages are that 
the hops are not so much battered by the winds which invari- 
ably prevail while hops are ripening, as those grown upon poles, 
and the hops are better grown, have more condition, and are 
developed earlier. There is a saving of labour to some extent 
in this permanent system, as the poles have not to be put up 
1 'this is done with a pitcher with a wooden cross-bar as a handle. 
