ULMACE^— ELM TRIBE 135 



which is often compared to asparagus, though not much resembling it in 

 flavour. The stalk and leaves dye wool of a yellow colour ; and the fibres 

 of the stalk, which in Sweden are made into a strong cloth and a coarse 

 sacking, have been recommended as likely to afford a good material to the 

 paper manufacturer. The roots are doubtless tonic, and are considered by 

 some good botanists to be equal to sarsaparilla in their medicinal powers. 

 The old herbalists regarded the juice of the Hop as of great value as a 

 purifier of the blood, and they made of the plant distilled waters and juleps, 

 which they regarded as highly beneficial. The leaves are often clammy to 

 the touch, and the author has been informed by Mr. F. A. Paley that the 

 viscid and bitter juice in the Hop clusters will cause serious inflammation if 

 the skin is abraded. This gentleman saw a person whose arm was completely 

 disabled by having been thus poisoned in hop-picking. 



Hop-gardens, by the name of Hwmolarice, are alluded to in a document 

 of the Carlovingian dynasty in the early part of the ninth century, and fre- 

 quently in documents of the thirteenth. 



The word humulus is said to be derived from humidus, wet, or humus, 

 fresh or damp earth, because the plant flourishes in moist lands ; for, as 

 Gerarde observes, " the Hop joyeth in a fruitful soil." Thus Tusser, who 

 published his volume, the "Five Good Pointes of Husbandrie," in 1551, says : — 



" Choose soil for the Hop of the rottenest mould, 

 Well doonged and wroght, as a garden-plot should ; 

 Not far from the water (but not overfloune), 

 This lesson well-noted, is mete to be knowne. 



" The sun in the south or else southlie and west, 

 Is joy to the Hop, as welcomed ghest, 

 But wind in the north, or else northerly east, 

 To Hop is as ill as a fray in a feast. 



' ' The Hop for his profit I thus do exalt, 

 It strengtheneth drink and flavoureth malt ; 

 And being well-brewed, long kept it will last, 

 And drawing abide if ye draw not too fast." 



Pliny tells that the word Lvpulus was a corruption of the old name of the 

 plant. Lupus salidarius, the Willow Wolf ; and that it is so called because it 

 destroyed the willows by twining among them. Some writers have thought 

 that it was taken from the word lupinus, as it is well known that the 

 Egyptians used the lupin seeds to give a bitter flavour to their beer. Beck- 

 mann says, that neither the word humulus nor lupiims is of great antiquity. 



The Hop grows in the hedges of most European countries, often climbing 

 about trunks of trees to the height of twenty or thirty feet ; and the French 

 call it Houhlon ; the Italians, Lupolo ; the Spaniards, Homhrccillo ; and the 

 Eussians, Chmel. Some of the Hops used in this country are introduced 

 from abroad. 



Order LXXVIII. ULMACE^— ELM TRIBE. 



Stamens and pistils in the same or diflferent flowers ; perianth bell- 

 shaped, often irregular ; stamens equalling in number and opposite to the 

 lobes of the perianth ; ovaiy not attached to the perianth, 2-celled ; styles 



