HOP GROWING.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3753, 26 July 1883, Page 4

HOP GROWING.

The soil best adapted for the cultivation of tho hop is a deep loam. In preparing tho soil for this plant care should be taken to thoroughly destroy the Avecds, and reduce the soil'to as pulverized a state as possible. AVcll-rotted dung must be applied with a liberal hand.

The plants or cuttings are prepared from old stools, and each should have tAvo joints or eyes : from tbe one springs the root and from the other tbe bine. They should bo made from tbe healthiest aud strongest bines, each bciu g cut to tlio length of 5 or 0 inches.

Tho best mode of planting is—Strike furrows Avith the plough at equal distances of 8 feet; Avhen finished repeat the process in tho opposite direction. Tbe bills are then to be made Avhero tho furrows cross each other, by digging out a spadeful of earth, and after mixing it Avith tAvo spitsful of rotten dung, replacing the Avhole so as to form a .small hillock ;in this throe or four plants arc set at the distance of 5 or 6 inches from each other.

About the middle of August, should tho Aveather permit, is the best time for plantin,"*, as thero is sufficient time for the soil to close avcll round the roots before the earth gets dry in the spring. In dressing the hop plant, the operations of the the first year arc confined to twisting and removing the haulm. The former operation should be done about the end of June, by twisting the young vines into a knot so as to stop any further growth. Tbe latter is performed Avith a sickle annually in the month of September; they should be cut even Avith the surface of tho ground. " The plants are generally ready for polling toAvards the end of March in the second year. The poles should be from 10 to 20 feet long ; three poles arc generally set in each hillock. They should be planted at least 20 inches in the around, and well secured ; and they should on no account lean toAvards each other.

About the end of May tho season for tying the bine commences. The most foi*AA*ard shoots should be extirpated, and the others tied to the pole. This is all that requires to be done until the season for taking the crop. Hops are knoAvn to be ready for pulling Avhen they acquire a, strong scent, and the catkins become firm and of a brown colour. The lanes are then cut oven Avith the ground, and the poles loAvered carefully. The hops are then picked off, after which they are dried in a kiln. This should be done as speedily as possible after they are picked, as, if left for five or six hours they aro apt to ferment and become unsaleable. It is usual to plant one male to one hundred female sets ; but one to one thousand Avould probably suffice. It requires good deep soil, as the plant roots deeply, and lasts a number of years. At the distance apart recommended, 1200 mounds Avill go to an acre : and, as an average yield of each mound is about one bushel, or 1 Alb., an aero Avill produce in a favourable season 10 to IS CAvt. of bops.

The A'arieties recommended differ for A-arious soils ; for a dry friable soil, Avith a gravelly sub-soil, the Goldhig is the best; Avliilb the Mathon, AVhite, and Grapes hop require a stronger soil. Cooper's AVhite is good, but delicate, and is best suited to good strong loam. For a plantation of 20 acres the folloAving varieties are recommended: —5 acres of Cooper's AVhite (or 3 Cooper's and 2 Jones'), 6 acres Mathou's, 0 or 7 acres Golding's, and 2 or 3 acres of Grapes ; but this distribution must be governed by the quality of the land, aud that variety should bo most largely planted Avhich is best suited to the soil, "it is most important to have an early sort to commence Avith, such as Cooper's AVhite or Jones' ; then folloAV Mathou's, then the Geldings, and lastly the Grapes, a hardy sort, which Avill hang avcll for the last picking.—Journal of Applied Science.