1853 . 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
13 
into the soil with the plow. It should also be 
plowed deep, and sub-soiled, to loosen the earth 
below the ordinary depth of surface plowing, 
(which is generally too shallow for any crop) as 
the roots of the hop, like most other plants, will 
spread and flourish best in deep, mellow soils. The 
fact of their roots running deep, will not be dis¬ 
puted by any one who has ever cultivated them, 
or attempted to plow up an old yard, as, in do¬ 
ing the latter, I have frequently found them to 
set a good team, their roots running straight down 
to the depth of three or four feet. 
After the ground is made rich and mellow, and 
harrowed level and smooth, the best, as I think, 
and easiest way to mark the rows, is with a horse 
and light plow. There are two methods in use 
here of setting the hills. I have fields set both 
ways, and hardly know which I prefer. The 
first and old-fashioned way, is to draw our fur¬ 
rows as straight as possible—from east to west, 
seven feet apart-—from north to south eight feet, 
and plant the roots where the furrows cross, so 
that the hill will be about level with the surround¬ 
ing earth. This gives 770 odd hills to the acre. 
When set in this way, two poles are used to the 
hill, and two vines to each pole. 
The other way, and it is preferred by some, is 
to mark the rows five feet apart each way, and 
set one pole to each hill. This will give a trifle 
over 1,700 hills to an acre. It is readily seen that 
the last method gives more than double the num¬ 
ber of hills to the acre, and requires also more 
poles. 
I believe that more hops may be grown on the 
same ground set by the last method than by the 
other; but there are some objections to it which 
must not be overlooked. It is our invariable 
practice in Otsego, to manure our hops well in the 
fall, before the ground freezes, by putting several 
shovels-full of good manure on each hill. This 
enriches at the same time that it helps to prevent 
them from freezing and dying out in winter. Now, 
every hill of hops requires about a certain quanti¬ 
ty of manure to enrich and protect it properly, 
and if we have 1,700 instead of 770 hills to ma¬ 
nure, we shall require more than double the ma¬ 
nure to every acre, and more poles, both of which 
are scarce and dear. 
The roots for planting, are obtained from old 
hills. They are called runners, branching from 
the main or bed root, in all directions, and run¬ 
ning near the surface of the ground, somtimes 
several feet in length. They are easily obtained 
by digging with a hook, similar to a potato hook. 
These runners are full of joints and eyes, and 
should be cut in pieces, each piece to contain two 
sets of eyes. Three pieces, if the roots are good, 
(and if not they should not be used) are sufficient 
to plant a hill. Some prefer setting the roots in 
the ground endwise, but from experience in both 
ways, I prefer planting them horizontally, and 
placing the pieces in the form of a triangle. They 
may be planted either in fall or spring, but if done 
in spring, as is the common practice, it should be 
done as early as the state of the ground will ad¬ 
mit, which will be several days before it is time to 
plant corn. 
We generally plant our hop-yards the first year 
with corn, not expecting any returns that year 
from the hops, as they require one season to get 
vigorously and firmly rooted, and in this way we 
obtain just three-fourths of a crop of corn, letting 
the hops occupy the rest of the ground, and hoe¬ 
ing them as often as we do the corn. 
Nothing pays so poorly for half-way cultivation, 
as hops, and the farmer who would realize profits 
by them, need have no fears of cultivating them 
too highly. 
After the yard is ready to pole, the first thing 
to be done in spring, is to remove the manure from 
the tops of the hills, and as soon after as the frost 
will permit, the poles should be set. Where the 
hills are only five feet apart, the poles should be 
set perpendicular—where they are 7 by 8 feet 
apart, they are set two to a hill about one foot 
apart on the hill, as they run from north to south. 
They should also incline a little from the hill so as 
to divide the space at the tops, and this will pre¬ 
vent the branches from becoming entangled with 
each other. 
Yards do not generally need grubbing the first 
year they are polled; but after that they need 
grubbing annually. The runners before spoken 
of, are then taken off near the hill, as they will 
otherwise take the sap that should go to the vine. 
Immediately after grubbing, a man with his team 
and load of manure should follow, and into the 
trench formed by grubbing, should place a little 
fresh and strong manure. A boy must follow with 
his hoe, and cover up the manure just laid down. 
This is called priming, and is the last manuring they 
get for the season. The act of grubbing, it will 
bo observed, not only clears the hill of unnecessa¬ 
ry roots, but cleanses it, and leaves it all fresh. It 
will remain so till the vines begin to need tying, 
and this should be begun as soon as any are long 
enough to reach the pole, and be continued from 
time to time as they may need, until they reach 
the top of the poles. 
In the mean time, a good deal of trimming is 
necessary, as no pole should have more than two 
good vines to run on it; all extra vines must be 
cut off, and any other little intruder that makes 
its appearance on the hills must be plucked up. 
