FACTS FOR FARMERS. HOP CULTIVATION.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 202, 26 August 1873, Page 2

FACTS FOR FARMERS. HOP CULTIVATION.

The following paper was read by Mr W. Wilson at the meeting of th.c iioitumltural Society of Chrisc>church, on August 7 ■ — The hop plant is a native of Europe, and is extensively cultivated on the Continent and some of the counties of England for its flowere, which are used in communicating to beev ita bitter properties. The bitter principle of tlu» hop is called lupulin, and is attained by rubbing and sifting the heads. It was found to contain in 120 grains — 10 of extractive matter, 11 of bitter principle, 12 of wax, 36 of resin, 46 of lignus, and 5 of tannin. Hops are tonic and moderately narcotic, and have been highly recommended in diseases of general and local debility. The complaints in which they have been found most useful are dispepsia and the nervous tremors, wakofulness, and delirium of drunkards. The young shoots of the hops are eaten as asparagus ; the roots have been used as a substitute for snrsaparilla, and as a sudorific, and they contain starch. The bop was well known to the Koraans, and is mentioned by Pliny under the name of lupus salietamis. It gradually spread through Europe during the middle ages, hut was not cultivated in England till the year 1525, when it was introduced from Flanders, though not without violent opposition, petitions against it being presented to Parliament, in which it was stigmatised as " a wicked weed that wpujd spoil their drink, and endanger the lives of the people." At the present day the principal hop-producing countries are England, Belgium, Bavaria, and the United States. In England about 50,000 acres are demoted to i f , chiefly in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Worcestershire, nnd Hrrctordsjiire, and inoro sparingly in Essoi., •Sullolk, Surrey, Yorkshire, &c

VARIETIES. Several varieties are known, the finest of wjiich are the tlie geldings, and the grapes. Hops serve three important purposes in brewing — First, they impart an agreeable flavor to the beer ; second, they check acetous fermentation, and thus render the beer capable of being kept ; third, their tiiiinin helps to clarify the beer, by precipitating the albumen of the barley. Their active qualities reside principally in the golden yellow grains of lupuline with which they are covered, and on account of their, narcotio odour, pillows stuffed with them are employed to induce sleep.

CULTIVATION. The hop prows only in rich soils, and prefer:) a deep loam w;th a dry bottom, a sheltered situation, but at the same time not so confined as to prevent free circulation of air. The soil requires to bo well pulverised, and manured previous to planting. The mode of planting is generally in row *, six feet apart, and tlio same dutanco m the row. The plants qr cuttings are procured from t lie most healthy of tho oJd shoots; eacli should havo two joints or buds. Some plant the cuttings at once where tljc.} are to remain, and others rear them for u year in a nursery bed, and then transplant them, interval crop of potatoes, cabbages, &c, is generally taken tho first year.

VOLIJs'G THE HOM. The poles are placed to the plants the second year, at first only five or six feet in length ; in the third year are substituted poles of sixteen feet in length— tram, four to six poles to each circle of plants, a3 they now acquire their perfect dimensions and come into full healing. The Spanish chestnut affords the most durable wood for poles, and accordingly it is much grown in Kent and other hop growing counties. The after culture of the hop consists in stirring the soil, and keeping it free from weeds ; in guiding the shoots to the poles, and sometimes tying them ; in eradicating any superfluous shoots which may arise fiom the root to prevent any more shoots from rising.

PICKING, Hops are known to be ready for gathering when, the chaffy capsules acquire a brown color and a firm consistence; each chaffy capsule contains one seed. Before these are picked, the poles with the attached stalks, are pulled and placed horizoptally on frames of wood, two or three poles at a time. The hops are then picked off by women and children. After being carefully separated from the leaves and stalks, they are dropped into a large cloth ; when the cloth is full the hops ar.e emptied into a large sack, which is oarried hoiqe.

DRYING. The hops are now laid on the. kiln to be dried ; this is ajways done aa soon as possible after they are picked, as they are apt to sustain considerable damage both in color and flavor if allowed to remain long in the sacks in the green state in which they are pulled. In very warm weather, and when they are pulled in a very moist state, they often heat in five or six hours. For this reason the kilns are kept constantly at wotk, both night and day, from the commencement of the hop harvest till its termination. The operation, of drj ing hops is not materially different fj om that of drying malt, and the kilns are of the same construction. The hops are spread on a hair cloth, from eight to twelre inches deep, according as the season is wet or dry, and the hops ripe or unmature. When the ends of the hop stalk become quite shrivelled and dry they are taken off the kiln and laid, on a boarded floor till they become quite cool, when they are put into bags.

BAGGING. The bagging of hops is performed in the following manner. In the floor of the room where the hops are laid out to cool there is n round hole or trap equal to the mouth of a hop bag. After tying a handful of hops in each of the lower corners of a large bag, which servo afterwards for handles the mouth of the bag is fixed securely to, a strong hoop, which is made to rest on the edges of the hole, and the bag is itself being dropped through the trap the packer gopa into it, when a person who attends for tho purpose puts in the hops in small quantities in order to give the packer an opportunity of packing aud trampling them as hard as possible. When the bog is filled and tho hops packed yi so hard, ni that it will hold no more, it is drawn up unloosed from the hoop and the end wwed up — other two handles having been previously formed in the corners in the manner already mentioned.

CRor. The hop crop is liable lo great variation. In a good season, an acre will product) 20cwt ; from 10 to 12cwt ii reckoned an average crop. The stalk and leaves dye wool yellow, and the fibrous part of the stalk has been manufactured into a strong cloth.

COLONIAL CCLTIVATIOX. So far, my remarks have had reference to the English cultivation of tho hop. Now, however, I turn to its cultivation in New Zealand, and especially in Nelson, where I hf»e during tho short period of tho p«st two seasons, had an opportunity of personally watching its several stages of growth and the high degree of success which attends the cultivation of the hop plant in that Province, possessing as it doe*, no advantage whatever over this Province, either in the absence of occasional high windi, in the possession of a climate more favorable to luxuriant growth, or to tho existence of 11 soil in any one respect equal to our own. My visits to Nelson, therefore, my experience while there, draw n from close observation, justify me in assuming that the culture of tho hop plant in this Province is likely to become, lit no very distant date, a tery important and highly lucrative branch of rural industry , 3 iclding a larger return from an acre of land than perhaps any other ciop in cultivation. The hop plant can ho quite as buecessfmly grown in Canterbury as 111 tlio .idjiMiuug Piovmce of Ncls-on, where hops are cultiNuted extcn&iwly, oltcn Melding a clear profit of £200 per acre, one lar(,e brewing fiim bin ing nine acres in full bearing. Tho land on which they aro growing being generally a friable yellow loam resting on a heavy olay subsoil, ii in no respect cquul to very much of the laud wo posbess. The plants aro iibuully grown on hills of three plants each, at distances of six feet l,rom one hill to another. The land is lirst double dug, after which the plants are sot at the distance mimed, ami ore annually dug or forked between, with alibi nil allowance of rich animal manure. The plants are gon_> ou«r e\ery bpring with a hand hoe, and singled out to one strong wow 11 ; t ho plants removed being thoso which are generally used to form new plantations. Tlieeo plant* on jjood hind, and under high cultivation, often »i\i:ii small cm op 111 tin* nutiinm of the first year, and inlariably 11 '•{•lendul crop n[ the end of the second season.