HOP GROWING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1444, 31 July 1883, Page 2

HOP GROWING.

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

The plants or cuttings are prepared from old stools, and each should lave two joints or eyes; from the one springs the root, and from. the. other the bine, They should be made from the healthiest and strongest bines, each being cut to the length of 5 or 6 inches.

'Die best mode of planting is—strike furrows with the plough at equal distances of 8 feet; when finished repeat the process in the opposite direction. 'lhe hills are then to be made where the furrows cross each other, by digging out a spadeful of earth, and after mixing it with two spitsful of rotten dung, replacing the whole so as to form a small hillock; in this three or . four plants are set at the distance of 5 or 6 inches from each other.

About the middle of August, should the weather permit, is the best time for planting, as there is sufficient time for the soil to close well round the roots before the earth gets dry in the spring,

In dressing the hop plant, the operations of the first year are 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. The latter is performed with a sickle annually in the month of September; they should be cut even with the surface of the ground.

The plants are generally ready for polling towards the end of March in the second year. The poles should be from 15 to 20 foet long; three poles aro 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 towards each other.

About the end of May the season for tying the bine commences. The most forward 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 known to be ready for pulling when thoy acquire a strong scent, and the catkins become firm and of a brown color. The. bines are then cut,even with the ground, and the poles lowered carefully. The hops are then [licked off, after which they are dried in a kiln, This should .be done as speedily as possible after they are picked, as, if loft for five or six hours they are apt to ferment and become unsaleable.

It is usual to plant one male to one hundred female sets; but one to one thousand would 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 will go to an acre; and as an average yield of each mound is about oh"e bushel, or l|lb., an acre will produce in a favorable season 16 to 18 cwfci of hops.

The varieties recommended differ for various soils; for a dry friable soil, witli a gravelly sub-soil, the Golding is the best; while the Mathon, White, and Grapes hop require a stronger soil. Cooper's White is good, but delicate, and is bast suited to good strong loam. For a plantation of 20 acres the following varieties are recommended : —5 acres of Cooper's White (or 3 Cooper's and 2 Jones') 6 acres Mathon's 6 or 7 acres' Golding's and 2 or 3 acres Golding's, and 2 or 3 acres of Grapes; but this distribution must he governed by the quality of the land, and that variety should be most largely planted which is best suited to the soil. It is most important to have an early sort to commence with, such as Coopers White or' Jones '; then follow Mathon's, then the Goldings, and lastly the Grapes, a hardy sort which will hang well for the last picking.—Journal of Applied Science,

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