Page:Circular, United States Department of Agriculture, Division of Botany.djvu/175

 The stream overflows its banks every ten years or oftener, doing considerable damage, but leaving a deposit of rich sediment on the overflowed fields. Two-thirds of the Saaz hops are grown along this stream. This soil along the Goldbach is a fine, deep, rich clay, with great water-holding capacity, poor in magnesium salts, lime, and chlorides, and containing considerable quantities of iron oxide. Geologically, it is formed by the disintegration of the so-called "Rothliegenden," or lower Permian formation, and is made up of broken-down red sandstone, which is composed of quartz, mica, and feldspar fragments. This soil is universally admitted to be the most important factor in the production of the characteristic Saaz hop.

The distinguishing features of the Saaz hop are very compact closed scales, a silky texture, abundance of fats and resins; a large amount of "lupulin," a high polish, and, when properly dried, a bright greenish-yellow color. Hops grown on this red soil do not break to pieces so readily as those grown elsewhere, and therefore the lupulin does not fall out so easily during packing and shipping.

The value of hop soils about Saaz varies considerably, the best being valued at more than a thousand dollars per hectare (2.47 acres). The range is from $240 to $560 an acre. The most valuable locations are valleys and hillsides sheltered from the prevailing winds, which latter whip the plants and injure them seriously.

Two distinct systems of culture are in practice in Bohemia. The plants are trained to poles, or upon wires. In both cases the plants are grown in rows, 40 inches apart each way. In the old or pole system a pine pole 20 feet high is set in the ground beside each plant, and two vines are trained upon it, being held in position by straw wisps or bits of twine, which are renewed during the season as they rot or are torn away. The newer method, or wire system, while costing more to inaugurate, is less expensive to maintain, gives more room for cultivation between the rows, and allows a freer circulation of air through the garden. Hop diseases are reputed to be less prevalent in such gardens. An overhead system of wires, running lengthwise of the rows, is supported by firmly planted posts about the size of telegraph poles. These latter are properly guyed by strong wires, and those at the border of the field are tilted outward, at an angle of 20 degrees from the perpendicular, to resist the strain brought upon them by the long, tightly strung wire. Numerous cross wires, tightened by twists, keep this overhead network taut, at a distance of 20 feet from the ground. Strong hemp twine supports are suspended from these overhead wires by means of simple hooks of bent wire, or are tied to the wires by an ingenious