HOP-GARDENS AND FARMING 73 



shillings a day. But it is not the profit alone that 

 makes the hopping so pleasant. The annual outing is 

 looked forward to as a holiday, and townsfolk and 

 tradesmen of comparatively good position are wending 

 their way to the gardens with the rest. Nothing can 

 be gayer than the scene when the sun is shining brightly. 

 Each bit of colour in the motley groups throws its 

 light on the landscape with telling effect. A mile away 

 you may hear the merry voices, for the tongues go even 

 faster than the fingers ; and the very babes, who are 

 laid out in shawls under the hedge, are clapping their 

 hands and crowing in chorus. 



But though all the world turns out to the hopping, 

 and although our parish is more populous than most, 

 the supply of labour comes short of the demand for it. 

 Hence it is that in many a sheltered nook, where there 

 is wood and water, shade and sun, you stumble in 

 upon some gipsy-like encampment. Generally speaking, 

 though our visitors come from eastern London, they are 

 very decent people on the whole. Year after year they 

 return to the same employers to take up their quarters 

 on the familiar ground. Some amount of exposure they 

 must submit to, but there is little overcrowding, and few 

 temptations to immorality, as is too often the case else- 

 where. You may meet their messengers late of a 

 Saturday evening carrying home the provisions from 

 some village shop ; but it is probably a long walk to the 

 nearest public-house, so the people prefer to rest after 

 the toils of the day. Many of them take a pride, 

 besides, in encroaching on their wages as little as 



