520
EXPOSITION AT VIENNA.
This great number of fruit-trees will eventually give the estate the appearance of a garden, and even now the farm- buildings, rising picturesquely from amongst the foliage and the lines of road extending in all directions, present an appearance incomparably superior to the former wild and barren look of the region.
Thus the estate has gained, not only in agricultural value, but in natural beauty, and this to a remarkable extent.
Hop-gardens were laid out in 1867 according to my method, introduced in the year 1830, on the estate of Kornhaus in Srbetsch, Bdin, Prerubnitz and Kownowa, two and a half miles from Saaz. This consists in planting the slips in rows four feet apart and distant two feet from one another in the rows.
The hop-poles are set out four feet apart, as usual, one being given to every two plants, and serve for only two vines each, one from each plant.,
The latter are not at all weakened by training only one of their runners on the pole. The principal advantage of my method is that, by doubling the number of slips set out, there are no gaps in the fields at harvest-time, and the yield is made larger and more certain. If particular slips die, their places are supplied by the vines of the neighboring one until others set out in their stead reach maturity.
The old system has such inherent defects that its results can never be as great nor as regular as my own; its disadvantages are the following :—
1. Three to five slips are set out at one point, and crowd and rob one another of the necessary nourishment, thus preventing their proper development.
2. The plants are separated from one another by intervals of four feet. Thus, if one set dies, a bare spot eight feet long and wide is left.
3. Many such spots must occur, because usually one-twelfth of all slips set out die each year, and those planted in their stead require three years to reach maturity; many of these also die from the shade occasioned by the matured vines. Under the most favorable circumstances three-twelfths or one- fourth of all the plants come to nothing.
In order to dry the hops quickly, thoroughly and cheaply,