We shall state such facts as are within our reach, and leave each one
to make his own calculations.
THE HOP PLANT.—The hop belongs to the natural order, Urticeæ, or the
nettle and hemp family. Its root is perennial; its stem annual,
twining to the height of from fifteen to twenty feet. They bear male
and female flowers on different plants, and the female is the only one
used for planting.
SOIL.—Rich, friable clay, and hearty loams, and vegetable molds are
the best soils. A wet subsoil is fatal to their health. Any rich,
light, dry (but not droughty) soil suits them. A large crop may be
obtained from our rich alluvions, or bottom lands; but although
uplands yield a less crop, the quality is regarded as decidedly
superior. A wet clay subsoil is not good.
PLANTING.—Plants are set out in rows six to eight feet apart and six
to eight feet from hill to hill in the row. Rooted plants, but more
frequently cuttings from old plants are employed; five or six being
planted to the hill. Poles from fifteen to twenty feet in length are
placed to each hill. In England from three to six and even eight are
placed to each hill. But three is about the average number.
HARVEST.—No crop is more variable than this; the yield per acre
ranging according to the season from 300 to 2,000 lbs. On rich bottom
lands 2,000 lbs. may be not unfrequently raised; but on an average,
from 700 to 1,000 lbs. may be reckoned.
The plants bloom in July and are ready for harvest by the first of
September. It is necessary to gather them promptly, as they soon
deteriorate if allowed to remain after they are ripe. As soon as
gathered they are kiln-dried, then placed from ten days to two weeks
to cool, and, finally, they are baled for market.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.—A plantation will last in full vigor for ten
years, and then will decline, but gradually, for ten more, when it is
to be broken up. Fifteen years, perhaps, is the average duration of
the hop plantations. They exhaust the soil, withdrawing much and
returning little to it. Hops vary exceedingly in price in different
years, not only on account of the varying supply arising from the
uncertainty of yield, but from the quality of the article in different
years. The average price in the United States is not far from sixteen
cents per pound. Sometimes they rise to thirty, forty, and even fifty
cents per pound.
From the moment of sprouting, in the spring, until the hop is ready
for the kiln, they are liable to disaster from insects or disease.
Nowhere has more experience been had in their cultivation than in
England. Brown says, “they are exposed to more diseases than any other
plant with which we are acquainted, and the trade offers greater room
for speculation than any other exercised within the British
dominions.” Parkinson, with a quaint play upon the word hop, says,
“the _hop_ is said to be a plant very properly named, as there is
never any certainty in cultivating it.”
If the crop is to be planted largely, it would seem plain, from the
foregoing, that one should have capital enough to be able to bear some
losses, at least, at first. For ordinary cultivators, if the
experiment is to be made, it would be better to begin with a small
plantation at first, embarking more largely as knowledge and skill
increase, and as experience determines its profitableness.
* * * * *
GRAPE VINES should be trimmed before the sap begins to rise, else they
will bleed, to their great injury. If it be neglected till the sap is
in motion, let the cultivator wait till the leaves are about the size
of a dollar; then cutting may be performed without injury.