234 
Hop Cultivation. 
rush, not with a knot but with a “ half hitch,” round the bines to 
each pole, two or three bines as the case may be, about 1^ feet 
to 2 feet from the ground. In a week or two another rush 
is put two feet higher up to keep the bines in their places. 
After this, unless the bines are “ sticky” from white frosts, or 
their “ heads ” have been blown away from the poles by persis- 
tent winds, but little further attention is necessary. When the 
bines are out of reach and each pole is well furnished, those that 
remain on the stock are cleared out. 1 Later on, when a new 
growth appears, it is checked by earthing or putting a few 
shovels of earth over each stock in the beginning of July. Well- 
harvested supple rushes are best for tying. Bast used by 
gardeners, and matting shreds, will serve. String of any kind 
will not answer, as it expands and contracts too much with 
weather changes. 
Much depends upon the manner in which tying is performed. 
Inexperienced tyers must be prevented from putting up rank 
“ pipy ” unfruitful bines, and supervision exercised to ensure 
each pole getting its proper complement of bines. In seasons 
when there is a deal of bine, careless tyers recklessly pull out 
handfuls without considering what they will require for furnish- 
ing each pole, and are left at last with short, uneven, poor bines. 
Many planters set a man specially to superintend tyers. This 
is an excellent and economical practice. 
Ladder Tying. 
After the bines have reached the tops of the poles and the 
cocoa-nut fibre strings, women are employed to tie those there 
which show signs of falling away or slipping down, and to 
fasten them to the strings which are now almost generally 
stretched from pole to pole. They have light folding ladders 
and short step-ladders for this operation, which is of the greatest 
importance, and pays over and over again for being carried out 
thoroughly. 
Manures. 
Professor Way calculated that by an average crop of hops, 
equal to a little over 7 cwt. per acre, 11 lb. of silica, 10 lb. of 
phosphoric acid, 1 6 lb. of potash, 5 lb. of lime, and smaller 
quantities of other mineral substances, are taken from an acre 
of land. 2 Mr. Nesbit had previously made analytical experi- 
1 This is the ordinary practice, though there are a few planters who think 
it better not to pull away all surplus bines, and twist them in a knot and 
earth them in, or let them run on the ground. 
- Report on the Analysis of Plants. By Professor Way. Journal of the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England, vol. ix., 1st series, 
