3 912. 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
HOP GROWING IN NEW YORK. 
Part I. 
The hop-growing industry in the State of 
New York, though far less extensive than 
it was SO or 40 years ago, is still of a 
good deal of importance. Strange as it 
may seem, its decline was caused by fbo 
great prosperity. Under a strong and in¬ 
creasing demand good prices were obtained. 
There was a large acreage, and growers 
were doing well. But speculators, believing 
the crop to be a necessity, cornered the 
market and greatly increased the price. 
Bor a while the growers obtained large re¬ 
turns, but the brewers, who were the prin¬ 
cipal consumers, succeeded in obtaining a 
chemical substitute which to a great ex¬ 
tent answered the purpose of hops, and 
which cost them very much less. The 
price of hops then went down below the 
cost of production, and a great many grow¬ 
ers went out of the business. Some, how¬ 
ever, kept their yards. Chemicals could 
not well be used to the entire exclusion pf 
hops, and so there was a moderate demand 
lor this crop. Prices slowly advanced, and 
in a few years the hop yards became fairly 
profitable. The pure food laws have re¬ 
duced the use of substitutes for hops by 
the brewers, and growers are now getting 
higher prices and larger profits than they 
did for a long period after the industry 
began to revive. 
Selection and Preparation of the 
Fields. —Some of the hop yards are on 
level ground, but others are on hillsides 
and hilltops. With the exception of being 
less liable to injury by high winds when in 
sheltered places the crop seems to do about 
equally well in all of these locations. In 
some seasons a slight elevation appears to 
be an advantage, but in others it shows 
no superiority. In most of the yards the 
soil is a moderately dry loam. Where wet 
land has been chosen it has been well 
drained. Almost any soil that is rich and 
moist, without being excessively wet, will 
give good crops. Too much water in the 
ground causes a light yield and an inferior 
quality of hops. When a yard is to be 
made the land is heavily 'manured and 
plowed in the Fall, and is plowed again in 
the following Spring. As the hop plant 
has long roots the prospective yard is given 
a deeper plowing than it would have for 
most farm crops. The surface is finely 
pulverized by rolling and harrowing and, 
with the exception that the rows are 
farther apart, the land is marked as for 
corn. There is a little variation, but in 
most of the yards the hills are made seven 
feet apart each way. This is at the rate 
of about 750 per acre. 
are set in a. hill two vines are left for 
each pole. If a larger number of vines 
start the weaker ones are cut out. When 
the vines are two or three feet long they 
are wrapped around the poles and tied 
loosely with burlap ravelings. In order to 
keep the vines from breaking, this work is 
done when the weather is warm and the 
sun is shining. Unlike the bean and most 
other cultivated climbing plants, the vines 
of the hop turn from left to right, like 
the hands of a clock, and this peculiarity 
must be observed when they are tied. The 
twining and tying may need repeating sev¬ 
eral times. The nearer perpendicular the 
poles are set, and the warmer the weather, 
the less trouble there will be in getting the 
vines started right. After they are Vvqll 
started they will go on, of themselves. 
Manure and Cultivation. —In the Fall 
a large forkful of stable manure is thrown 
on each hill. This is done for the double 
purpose of supplying food to the plants 
and preventing injury to their roots by 
alternate freezing and thawing. Clean cul¬ 
tivation is of great importance. As early 
in the Spring as the ground is in condi¬ 
tion for working a light plowing, with one 
horse is given. After this a cultivator is 
used at frequent intervals until the plants 
become too large for further working. Hoe¬ 
ing is required twice during the growing 
season. At each time the earth is drawn 
to the plants to make small hills for Win¬ 
ter protection, and to lessen damage by at¬ 
tacks of the grub. Boot pruning, or grub¬ 
bing, needs to be done each Spring. 'This 
consists in cutting off the stump and about 
an inch of the crown of the old plants to¬ 
gether with their shallow runners. These 
runners can be used for sets in new yards 
or replanting hills that have failed in old 
ones. 
Harvesting. —About the middle of July 
flowers begin to appear, and toward the 
last of August the earlier hops are ready 
to harvest. The best time for picking is 
when a good share of the seeds have turned 
brown and hardened, the color of the hops 
lias become a yellowish green, the end of 
the cone closes, and the hop feels clastic 
when it is pressed in the hand. As the 
ripening progresses the odor of the hops 
becomes more pronounced, and the upper 
oaves of the vines turn darker, while the 
ower leaves change to a yellow hue and 
begin to fall. Sometimes, if blue mold 
threatens, harvesting is commenced before 
the hops are mature. In favorable years 
the harvest is closed not later than the 
middle of September. The hops should be 
picked as soon as they are ripe, as their 
quality will be impaired if they are left too 
long on the vines. Men, women and chil¬ 
dren, sometimes to the number of 50 or 
00 in a field, are employed as pickers. Some 
come from the village, some are tramps, 
and a few Indians come from the Onondaga 
Reservation, but most of them are sent by 
the employment agencies from the foreign 
quarters of large cities. Light cloth cov¬ 
ered shelters, under each of which four 
hands can work, are set at different parts 
of the yard. One man cuts the vines about 
18 inches from the ground, with a large 
knife, and with the aid of a heavy clamp 
strapped over his shoulder pulls the poles 
from the ground and, with their heavy 
festoons of hops, carries them to a shelter. 
The Dickers pull off the hops and throw 
them into boxes each of which holds seven 
bushels. The vines are rough and harsh 
anfl many of the pickers protect their 
hands by wearing cotton gloves which cost 
about 12 cents a pair. From two to five 
boxes a day for each person is about the 
average as far as quantity Is concerned, 
and 35 cents a box and board, or 45 cents 
a box if the pickers board themselves, is a 
fair price. The man who pulls the poles 
waits on four pickers. He not only carries 
the poles to the shelter, but he takes tfiem 
away when the hops have been picked, puts 
the hops into sacks and punches the tags 
to show how many boxes each picker has to 
his or her credit. As the hops are sacked 
they are loaded into wagons and taken to 
the hop house. j. e. it. 
fctei 
Trouble With Lettuce. 
E. W. AT., Dorchester , Mass .— I wonder 
if many of your readers have had the ex¬ 
perience I have had this year in trying to 
raise lettuce in the backyard garden. I 
sowed it early in the season; it started 
well and I had transplanted some, when it 
all slowly disappeared to be seen no more, 
except in a few cases where the roots sur¬ 
vived and later sent up more leaves. I 
consulted Bailey’s book on vegetable gar¬ 
dening as to the probable cause, but could 
get no light. I tried a second sowing 
with better results and transplanted and 
for a time it seemed to be doing well. Then 
I found the plants badly eaten again. I 
have discovered that the crime is another 
one to be laid to the English sparrows. 
Ans.—I am of the opinion that 
worms of various kinds are responsible 
for the disappearance of your lettuce. 
I have had the same experience, and 
upon examination of the soil around 
and near the plants I would always find 
cutworms in various stages of develop¬ 
ment, all with a ravenous appetite for 
the young plants. Snails also damage 
young, lettuce plants extensively in some 
localities. If plentiful they frequently 
destroy the whole bed; the plants will 
just gradually disappear and nothing 
but the roots remain. Lime your soil 
well this Fall; this will sweeten it and 
drive out the worms to a great extent. 
If your plants are attacked next year 
apply hellebore, while the plants are 
small, but it must not be used when 
they are nearing the size for table use. 
K. 
Five Years Without a Puncture 
■Without One Blowout 
Propagation and Setting.— As varieties 
are not reproduced from seeds, and most 
seedlings are of inferior quality, plants are 
usually obtained from cuttings from the 
underground stems of vines in a good yard. 
The plants in an average yard vary greatly 
in vigor and productiveness, and care is 
taken to select cuttings from the strongest 
plants. By this means an increase in quan¬ 
tity and improvement in quality of the pro¬ 
duct is secured and the profitable life of 
the yard is prolonged. The cuttings are 
made in pieces four or five inches in length, 
and with not less than four eyes on each. 
Great care is taken to keep them from 
dying. Three or four sets, as the cuttings 
are usually called, are put in each liili, 
and they are placed from three to six 
inches apart. In some yards they are 
planted like potatoes, but in others the bet¬ 
ter plan of setting each cutting upright in 
a hole made by an iron bar is followed. 
The tops are a little below the surface and 
are covered with two or three inches of 
dirt, which is lightly pressed over them. 
The cuttings are put in as soon as the 
ground is ready for working in the Spring. 
Most growers set from live to 10 male 
plants per acre, distributed through the 
field. Some question the necessity of do¬ 
ing this, but there is a general impression 
that by inducing the formation of a small 
quantity of seed the male plants increase 
the weight of the crop with only slight, 
if any, impairment of its quality. The price 
of sets varies with the supply, ranging 
i roni, 75 cents to .$3 a bushel of 14 pounds. 
Three bushels give enough plants for an 
acre of land. If strong plants are prop¬ 
erly set in good and well-prepared land, and 
are suitably cared for, they will come into 
bearing the second year of their growth. 
In the first year a crop of corn, or, what is 
much better, one of potatoes or beans, is 
grown between the rows of hops. In rare 
instances oats are sown, but as the hops 
should have clean cultivation, this course 
is highly objectionable. When frost comes 
the vines are cut six inches from the 
ground and manure is thrown on the hills. 
Only a very few varieties are grown here, 
and in many yards there has been so little 
care to keep them pure that there is not a 
very sharp distinction between them. The 
English Cluster is the most popular sort. In 
some yards there are quite a good many 
Bavarian vines, but this variety has not 
proved as valuable as it seemed likely to 
be when it was introduced. 
Poles.— Practically all the hops in this 
section are grown on poles. No doubt the 
trellis system, which is largely followed in 
the West, would be better, as it would 
facilitate spraying, lessen damage by high 
winds, hasten ripening, make picking easier 
and, what is of considerable importance, 
would do away with the necessity of cut¬ 
ting the vines before all growth for the 
season had ceased. But not many new 
yards are being set, and the men who now 
have yards also have a supply of poles, and 
are not likely to discard them. The poles 
are of cedar and are from 14 to 20 feet 
long. New ones are not in demand but 
can be obtaini'd for 10 or 12 cents aech. 
Second-hand ones are worth from three to 
five cents each. If properly cared for poles 
will last for at least 15 years. They are 
set, as soon as the frost is out of the 
ground in the Spring, in holes 1G to 18 
inches deep, which are made with a heavy 
iron bar. Sometimes two poles are set in 
each hill, hut as a rule only one is usbd. 
Some growers use one pole and also strings 
which are run diagonally and connect the 
poles in adjacent rows. By means of an 
ingenious device which is fastened to a 
long handle, one end of the string is tied 
around a pole near the top. The other end 
is tied by hand to another pole, about five 
feet from the ground. The strings are used 
in order to give a freer circulation of air 
among the vines. Where both poles and 
strings are used not more than five vines 
are allowed in each hill. Where two poles 
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