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be fo fubjeet to fire blafts, which often deftroy the 
middles of large plantations, while the outfides re- 
main unhurt. 
As for the preparation of the ground for planting, it 
Ihould, the Vinter before, be ploughed and harrowed 
even ; and then lay upon it in heaps a good quantity 
of frefh rich earth, or well rotted dung and earth 
mixed together, fufficient to put half a bufhel in every 
hole to plant the Hops in, unlefs the natural ground 
be very frefh and good. 
Then lay a line acrofs it from the hedge, in which 
knots have been tied, at the diftance you defign your 
Hop-hills to be at, about eight or nine feet diftance 
the whole length of the ground, and place a lharp 
pointed ftick at every knot ; then lay afide the line, 
and with two forked flicks of about eight or nine feet 
long, you may from the firft row fet out the whole 
ground, by applying the two forks to two of the flicks 
which were firft fet up, and placing another row at 
the ends, where the forked flicks meet triangular- 
wife ; then you fhould dig a hole at every flick about 
a foot and a half wide, and fill it full of the good 
earth you brought in. 
If you plough the ground with horfes between the 
hills, it will be beft to plant them in fquares chequer- 
wife •, but the quincunx form is the rnofl beautiful, 
and it will alfo be better for the Hop ; but if the 
ground is intended to be cultivated by the breaft- 
plough, it will be beft to plant them in fquares ; but 
which way foever you make ufe of, a flake fhould be 
ftuck down at all the places where the hills are to be 
made. 
Perfons ought to be very curious in the choice of the 
plants and fets, as to the kind of the Hop ; for if the 
Hop-garden be planted with a mixture of two or 
three forts of Hops that ripen at different times, it 
will caufe a great deal of trouble, and be a great de- 
triment to the owner. 
The two beft forts are the white and the gray bind ; 
the latter is a large fquare Plop, more hardy, and is 
the more plentiful bearer, but ripens later than the 
former. 
There is alfo another fort of the white bind, which 
ripens in a week or ten days before the common ; but 
this is tenderer, and a lefs plentiful bearer, but it has 
this advantage, it comes firft to market. 
But if three grounds, or three diftant parts of one 
ground, be planted with thefe three forts, there will be 
this conveniency, that they may be picked fucceffively 
as they become ripe. 
The fets ought to be procured out of grounds that are 
entirely of the fame fort you would have, they fhould 
be five or fix inches long, with three or more joints 
or buds on them, all the old bind and hollow part of 
the fet being cut off. 
If there be a fort of Plop you value, and would in- 
creafe plants and fets from, the fuperfluous binds may 
be laid down when the Hops are tied, cutting off the 
tops, and burying them in the hill ; or when the 
Hops are dreffed, all the cuttings may be faved, and 
laid in rows in a bed of good earth ; for almoft every 
part will grow, and become a good fet the next fpring. 
Some have tried to raife a Hop-ground by lowing 
feeds, but that turns to no account, becaufe that 
way is not only tedious, but the Hops fo produced are 
commonly of different kinds, and many of them wild 
and barren. 
As to the feafons of planting Hops, the Kentifh 
planters beft approve the months of Otftober and 
March, both which fucceed very well ; but the com- 
mon lets are not to be had in Oflober, unlefs from 
fome ground that is to be digged up and deftroyed ; 
and likewife there is fome danger that the fets may 
be rotted, if the winter prove very wet ; but the moft 
ufual time of procuring them is in March, when the 
Hops are cut and dreffed. 
As to the manner of planting the fets, you ihould put 
two or three good fets in every hole with a fetting 
ftick, at about rour inches diftance, placing them 
Hoping 5 they muft Hand even with the furface of the 
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ground ; let them be preffed clofe with the hand, and 
covered with fine earth, and a ftick fhould be placed 
on each fide the hill to fecure it. 
The ground being thus planted, all that is to be 
done more that funimer, is to keep the hills clear from 
weeds, and to horfe-hoe the ground about the 
month of May, gathering up the flones, if more are 
turned up by ploughing, and to raife a fmall hill 
round about the plants ; and in June you muft twift 
the young binds or branches together in a bunch or 
knot, for if they are tied up to fmall poles the firft 
year, in order to have a few Hops from them, it 
will not countervail the weakening the plants. 
A mixture of compoft or dung being prepared for 
your Hop-ground, the beft time for laying it on, if 
the weather prove dry, is about Michaelmas, that the 
wheels of the dung-cart may not injure the Hops, nor 
furrow the ground : if this be not done then, you 
muft be obliged to wait till the froft has hardened the 
ground, fo that it will bear the dung-cart ; and this 
is alfo the time to carry on your new poles, to recruit 
thofe that are decayed, and to be caft out every year. 
If you have good ftore of dung, the beft way will be 
to fpread it in the alleys all over the ground, and to 
dig or plough it in the winter following. The quan- 
tity they will require, will be forty loads to an acre, 
reckoning about thirty bufhels to the load. 
If you have not' dung enough to cover all the ground 
in one year, you may lay it on one part one year, and 
on the reft in another, or a third ; for there is no occa- 
fion to dung the ground after this manner, oftener 
than once in two or three years. 
Thofe who have but a fmall quantity of dung, ufu- 
ally content themfelves with laying on about twenty 
loads upon an acre every year ; this they lay only on 
' the hills, either about November, or in the fpring ; 
which laft fome account the beft time, when the Hops 
are dreffed, to cover them after they are cut •, but if it 
be done at this time, the compoft or dung ought to 
be very well rotted and fine. 
As to the drefilng of the Plops, when the Hop- 
ground is dug or ploughed in January or February, 
the earth about the hills, and very near them, ought 
to be taken away with a fpade, that you may come the 
more conveniently at the flock to cut it. 
About the end of February, if the Hops were planted 
the fpring -before, or if the ground be weak, they 
ought to be dreffed in dry weather ; but elfe, if the 
ground be ftrong and in perfection, the middle of 
March will be a good time ; and the latter end of 
Mhrch, if it be apt to produce over rank binds, or the 
beginning of April, may be foon enough. 
Then having with an iron picker cleared away all the 
earth out of the hills, fo as to make the flock bear to 
the principal roots, with a fharp knife you muft cut 
off all the fhoots which grew up with the binds the 
laft year; and alfo all the young fuckers, that none 
be left to run in the alley and weaken the hill. It will 
be proper to cut one part of the flock lower than the 
other, and alfo to cut that part low, that was left 
higheft the preceding year. By purfuing this me- 
thod, you may expedl to have ftronger buds, and alfo 
keep the hill in good order. 
In dreffing thofe Hops that have been planted the 
year before, you ought to cut off both the dead tops, 
and the young fuckers which have fprung up from the 
fets, and alfo to cover the flocks with fine earth a 
finger’s length in thicknefs. 
About the middle of April the Hops are to be polled, 
when the fhoots begin to fprout up ; the poles muft be 
fet to the hills deep into the ground, with a fquare 
iron pitcher or crow, that they may the better endure 
the wind; three poles are fufficient for one hill. 
Thefe fhould be placed as near the hills as may be, 
with their bending tops turned outwards from the 
hill, to prevent the binds from entangling; and a 
fpaee between two poles ought to be left open to the 
fouth, to admit the fun beams. 
The poles ought to be in length fixteen or twenty 
feet, more or lefs, according as the ground is in 
8 G . ftrength • 
