APRIL.| FARMER’S CALENDAR. 47

acre, at twenty-four shillings per hundred, deli- vered.‘They are commonly of ash, twenty-four feet long. In addition to this, when a Hop rises much above a pole, they set another to receive the shoot, preventing its falling to entangle with other poles, and obstruct the course. of the air. The expence of forming a new plantation, for- merly£'.75. amounts now to£.100. The flood- ing a Hop-ground, provided the water flow so moderately as not to wash away the earth, is be- neficial; but a stagnant surface-water is as inju- rious to Hops as to any other growth; and in si- tuations where the water lodges, the common me- thods of ridge-draining, must be used to keep the plantation sound and dry.

The cuttings for planting, are taken from the lower parts of the stems of grown plants, close to the crown of the root, and should be about four inches long, each having three or foureyesorbuds. Root-plants are very conveniently kept in beds, for occasional use, either of planting, or filling up vacancies: these last arrive at maturity, sooner by a year, than fresh cuttings. Hop-plants are dib- bled. The hillock being worked hollow with the hands to the depth of five or six inches, the'sets, from three to six in number, are let into as many holes, their whole length; one in the centre, per- pendicularly, the others obliquely, leaning to the one at top, and diverging from it. at bottom. They are covered by hand with mould, an inch or two thick; reeds or sticks being stuck into the sides of the bason, and leaning, over the plants, as marks to prevent their being disturbed.

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