298 
Farm  Prize  Competition,  1909. 
removed  from  the  stock  with  the  exception  of  about  ten 
inches.  The  remaining  soil  is  stocked  away  and  the  plants 
cut  down  to  the  crown  by  hand  during  March,  this  operation 
being  completed  by  March  25  if  possible.  When  sufficiently 
advanced,  the  coarse  hop  bines  are  pulled  out  and  the  most 
promising  selected,  two  being  trained  up  each  string 
by  merely  twisting  them  round  the  string,  and  on  the  pole- 
work  by  tying  with  raffia  grass  to  the  poles.  Once  the  hop 
bines  can  be  started  up  the  poles  or  strings,  deep  scuffling 
of  the  soil  is  commenced  and  continued  as  much  as  possible 
throughout  the  season.  One  or  two  furrows  are  ploughed  up 
to  the  stocks  as  soon  as  the  tying  is  completed  and  the  stocks 
well  cleaned  out,  the  remainder  cultivated  and  finally  ploughed 
up  to  the  stock  after  the  hops  are  picked.  Fold-yard  manure 
is  used  as  far  as  possible.  The  other  tillage  land  of  the 
farm  is  not  allowed  to  suffer,  but  as  much  of  the  best  manure 
from  the  feeding  cattle  as  can  be  spared  is  used  on  the  hop- 
yards,  and  a considerable  quantity  of  manure  is  bought  from 
the  neighbouring  town  of  Tenbury.  No  fixed  scheme  of 
manuring  is  adopted,  shoddy,  raw  and  dissolved  bones,  Peruvian 
and  fish  guanos,  and  kainit  in  the  autumn — or  sulphate  of 
potash  in  the  spring — all  being  purchased,  the  condition  of  the 
markets  and  the  appearance  of  the  plant  being  the  determin- 
ing factors  in  the  matter. 
The  cost  of  the  hop  washing  varies  immensely.  In  some 
seasons  it  is  possible  to  do  without  it  altogether,  in  others  the 
vines  must  be  washed  at  least  twice  a week  to  keep  them  in 
a clean  state.  Having  every  convenience  for  boiling,  the  old 
remedy  of  soft  soap  and  quassia  chips  is  here  adhered  to. 
About  8 or  9 lb.  of  soap  and  6 to  8 lb.  of  quassia  chips  are 
used  to  each  100  gallons  of  water.  When  blight  has  been 
very  severe  it  has  been  necessary  to  increase  the  soap  to  10 
or  11  lb.  per  100  gallons  of  water  and  no  evil  effect  to  the 
foliage  has  been  apparent.  The  wash  is  applied  by  a horse 
machine  (three  horses),  about  220  gallons  per  1,000  stocks 
of  hops  being  used.  Washing  thus  costs  about  6s.  per  statute 
acre  for  materials  and  about  3s.  for  horse  and  manual  labour 
in  application,  or  9s.  per  acre  for  each  time  of  washing. 
Should  a severe  blight  continue  from  the  middle  of  June  into 
August  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  a very  great  expenditure  is 
involved. 
Mould  is  not  very  troublesome  here,  but  if  there  are  any 
indications  of  its  appearance  sulphuring  is  resorted  to  as  early 
as  possible  after  the  blight  is  cleared  away,  about  20  lb.  of 
flowers  of  sulphur  per  1,000  stocks  being  used.  A similar 
dressing  is  repeated  if  necessary.  All  sulphuring  is  flnished 
before  the  formation  of  the  cones  if  possible. 
