1847. 
83 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
growth, and much less liable to be injured by blight. 
il They are found to have a seed at the bottom of every 
petal of the flower, of a most pungent aromatic flavor; 
while those plants grown in the usual way without the 
necessary quantity of male plants, have scarcely any 
seed, and they are mostly abortive. In fact seed gives 
weight and flavor to the hop, and constitutes the vitali¬ 
ty of the plant, or the condition or strength of the hop; 
and where there is the most seed, there will be the 
most condition.” 
“ The vines, or bines, grown from seed, will be fit to 
be poled the third year; those from cuttings or layers 
the second year. The business of the first year is to 
keep the ground as clean as possible, and the plants 
well earthed up. Though they are not poled the first 
year, yet a stick is put into the ground, to which they 
are tied and trained. The hop is an enduring plant, 
and some fields in Kent have been in hops beyond the 
memory of persons now living; but it is deemed best 
to renew them once in twelve or fifteen years. 
“ The hills require every spring to be opened and 
carefully trimmed—the last year’s shoots to within an 
inch of the main stem, and the suckers close to it. In 
some cases they are manured only once in two years. 
Farm-yard dung is an excellent manure for them, and 
the clippings or waste of woolen mills, called shoddy , | 
are much valued and used. The land on the borders of the 
chalk formation is much preferred for the growth of hops.” 
Of varieties, those called 11 the grape, th e white bines, 
and the golden ,” are most esteemed. “ The white 
bines are most esteemed in Farnham, Surrey, and there 
are no hops in the market which bring a better price 
than the Farnham.” 
The poles used for hops are from twelve to sixteen 
feet long. Chestnut, ash, and larch, are the kinds of 
timber from which they are made in England. In this 
country cedar would probably be preferred, from its 
lightness and durability. As a protection against injury 
from winds, rows of trees are sometimes planted on the 
sides of the fields most exposed. The experiment has been 
tried of strengthening the poles by means of an iron 
wire extending from one to another on the top. Another 
mode which has been adopted for the same purpose, is 
described as follows: “ The weather sides of the piece 
had been poled four hills deep, with handsome, straight, 
twenty-one feet, large poles, in rows. These were 
lashed to similar poles placed horizontally across them, 
about eight feet high, from end to end of the hills; and 
the rows of hills were similarly bound to each other by 
poles placed from the outside rows to the inside ones. 
By this means a phalanx of poles offers a sufficient re¬ 
sistance to the wind to shelter the whole ground.” It 
is added that this arrangement has been found a com¬ 
plete protection against winds and storms. 
Plantations of hops are sometimes cultivated by a 
horse-hoe or plow, and great pains are always taken to 
keep the ground clean from weeds. From accidents to 
which the crop is liable, such as blight and injury from 
aphides, a good crop is not counted on oftener than 
once in four or five years. “ An acre contains a thou¬ 
sand hills, and the yield may be put down at from five 
hundred to a thousand pounds per acre.” The expense 
of cultivating an acre of hops is put down at thirty 
pounds, exclusive of rent, or one hundred and fifty dollars. 
“ It is desirable that only the same kind of hops 
should be planted in a field, so that the ripening may 
be uniform. It is important that the hops should be of 
a bright golden color, and full of aroma, or what is 
called lupulin, which gives its value to the hop. The 
bines at the season of harvest are cut about three feet 
from the ground; lower than this is injurious to the 
plant from excessive bleeding; and the poles are then 
lifted from the ground and laid upon frames, when the 
picking begins. 
“ The hops are picked in large baskets, which are 
guaged by marks; and an accountant is always in the 
field to oversee the picking. They are sorted as they 
are picked, and the discolored ones put by themselves 
The price for picking varies from two to three and a hal 
pence per bushel, or from four to seven cents From 
five to seven bushels is considered a fair day’s work, 
though I saw one woman who had picked in a day 
eighteen bushels. 
“ The hops being picked, they are at once conveyed 
to the kilns, to be dried without delay. A night’s de¬ 
lay would be extremely injurious. The most approved 
kilns are now made of brick, of a conical or sugar-loaf 
form.” Mr. C. copies from “Buckland’s Report of 
Kent,” a description of these kilns. They are formed 
by u a circular kiln of brick-work, from fifteen to eighteen 
feet diameter, with rafters, twenty-four to twenty-seven 
feet long, leaving a round opening in the apex of the 
roof, surmounted by a movable cowl (or swinging ven¬ 
tilator,) the object of which is to allow the vapor of the 
drying hops freely to escape. The drying-floor should 
be at least ten or twelve feet from the fires; is usually 
made of stout laths of fir, about two inches apart, 
covered with a horse hair cloth, upon which the hops 
are evenly spread. The improved modern practice con¬ 
sists in having one or more large openings or fires to 
one kiln, and to admit plenty of cool air from without, 
the draught being regulated by means of flues and slid¬ 
ing doors. The fuel used in drying hops is, in all cases, 
charcoal or coke, with some anthracite.” 
In drying hops, we are told a large amount of sul¬ 
phur is used; and though great prejudice existed at 
first against it, no objection is now made by the brew¬ 
ers. “ The hops remain a few days after being taken 
from the kiln, in the storehouses, before being packed 
The packing has been repeatedly attempted by machine 
ry, but none found equal to the human machine. A bag 
therefore is suspended through the floor of the room in 
which the hops are deposited, by a hoop, which forms a 
temporary rim to it; two large handfuls are tied up in 
the corners of the bottom of the bag, to render the 
handling of the bag more convenient; and the packer 
then gets into the bag, and draws the hops, which are 
shoved towards him on the floor by a child, with his 
arms, into the bag, and treads them with his feet as 
closely as possible. * * * A bag contains about 2|cwt.* 
We have chosen to give the English mode of cultiva¬ 
ting and curing hops, because from the extent to which 
the business is there carried on, and the particular at¬ 
tention devoted to it, the management is better under¬ 
stood, and a superior article is there produced to that 
which is generally found in this country. Mr. Colman 
observes that great complaint is made of American hops 
in the English market; that they are not well cured and 
assorted. No insuperable obstacle, however, exists to 
producing hops here of a quality equal to the English; 
the same skill and attention which is there exercised is 
only requisite, and we cannot doubt that its practice 
would be attended with greatly increased profits. Mr. 
C. is quite familiar with the modes of managing hops 
in this country, and his account of the English method 
is on this account entitled to the more confidence, as he 
is able to judge correctly of the relative advantages of 
the different modes. 
Subsoil Plowing. —The editor of the Farmers 
Visitor says that by using the subsoil plow, his crops of 
potatoes were increased at least one-third—the same 
kind and quantity of manure being used in both cases. 
This difference on an entire farm, would in twenty years, 
amount to a large estate. 
Hessian Fly in Ohio. —The Ohio Cultivator states 
that much injury has been already done to the young 
wheat crops in nearly all parts of the state, by the fly. 
