45 S 
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H U M V L U S. 
another row at the ends, where the forked flicks meet 
triangularwife-; then you fliould 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 
horles between the hills, it will be belt to plant them in 
fquares chequerwifp.; but the quincunx form is the mofl 
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 ; which 
way foever you make ufe of, a flake fliould be fluck down 
at all the place's where the hills are to be made. 
Per fans 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 detriment to the owner. 
The two beft forts are- the white and the grey bind ; the 
latter is a large fquare hop, 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 ; this is tenderer, 
and a lefs plentiful bearer; but it has this advantage, it 
comes firll to market. But, if three grounds, or three 
riiftant parts of one ground, be planted with thefe three 
forts, there will be this convenience, that they may be 
picked fucceiTively as they become ripe. The fets ought 
to be procured out of grounds that are entirely of the 
fame forts you would ha Vie ; they fliould 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. 
Some have tried to raife a hop -ground by fowing 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 Ortober and March, both 
which fucceed very well ; but the common fets are not 
to be had in October; 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 pbove 
very wet; but the mofl ufual time of procuring tliem is 
in March, when the hops are cut and dreffed. As to the 
manner of planting the fets, you fliould put two or three 
good fets iq every hole with a fetting-flick, at about four 
inches diftance, placing them Hoping; they mult ftand 
even with the furface of the grbund ; let them be prefled 
clofe with the hand, and covered with fine earth, and a 
flick fliould be-placed on each fide the hill to fecure it. 
The ground being thus planted, all that is to be done 
more that fummer, is to keep the hills clear from weeds, 
and to hoffe-hoe the ground about the month of May, 
gathering up .the ftones, if more are turned up by plough¬ 
ing, and to raife a fmall hill round about the plants; and 
in June you muft twill the young binds or branches to¬ 
gether in a bunch or knot; for, if they are tied up to 
fmall poles the flrft 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 bea"r 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 ltore 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 
quantity 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 relt in 
another, or-a third ; for,there is no occafion to dung the 
ground, after this manner, oftener than once in two or 
three years. Thofe who have but a fmail quantity of 
i 
dung, ufually 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 dr-effing of the hops, 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 ftock to cut it. About the end of February, if the 
hops were pianted the fpring- before, or if the ground be 
weak, they ought to be dreifed 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 March, 
if it be apt to produce over-rank binds, or the beginning 
of April, may be loon enough. Then having with an 
iron picker cleared away all the earth out of the hills, fo 
as to make the ftock bare to the principal roots, with a 
ftiaf-p knife you muft cut oft' all the flioofs which grew up 
with the binds the laft year ; and alfo 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 ftock lower than, 
the other, and alfo to cut that part low, that was left 
higheft the preceding year. Bypurfuing this method, 
you may expert to have ftronger buds, and alio keep the 
hill in good order. In clreffmg 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 lets, and alio to cover the ftocks with line earth 
a finger’s length in thicknefs. 
About the middle of April the hops are to be poled , 
when the Ihoots begin to i'proutup; 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 fliould 
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 fpace between two poles ought 
to be left open to the fouth, to admit the fun-beams. 
The poles ought to be in length iixteen or twenty feet, 
more or lefs, according as the ground is in ftrength ; and 
great care is to be taken hot to overpole a young or weak 
ground, for that will draw the ftock too much, and 
weaken it. If a ground be overpoled, you are not to ex¬ 
pert a good crop from it; for the branches which bear 
the hops will grow very little till the " binds have over¬ 
reached the pojes, which they cannot do when the poles 
are too long. Two fmall poles are fufficient for a ground 
that is young. If you wait till the i'prouts or'young 
binds are grown to the length of a foot, you will be able 
to make a better judgment where to place the largeft 
poles ; but, if you ftay till they are fo long as to fall into 
the alleys, it -will be injurious to them, becaufe they will 
entangle one with another, and will not clafp about the 
pole lo readily. Maple or afpen poles are accounted the 
beft for hops, on which they are thought to profper beft, 
becaufe of their warmth, or elfe becaufe the climbing of 
the hop is furthered -by means of the roughnefs of the 
bark. For laftingnefs, aflien or willow poles are prefera¬ 
ble ; but chefnut poles are the moil durable of all. If, 
after the hops are grown up, you find any of them have 
been under-poled, taller poles may be placed near thofe 
that are too Ihort, to receive the' binds from them. 
As to the tying of hops, the buds that do not clafp of 
themlelves to the nearelt pole when they, are grown to 
three or four feet high, muft be guided to it by the hand, 
turning them to the fun, whole courle they will always 
follow. They muft be bound with withered rulhgs, but 
hot 1b clofe as to hinder them from climbing-hip the pole. 
.This you muft continue to do till all the poles are fur- 
nillied with binds, of which two or three are enough for 
a pole; and all the lproutsand binds that you have no oc- 
caiion for, are to be plucked up; but, if the ground be' 
young. 
