FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES. 57 



the hop was introduced from the Low Countries, the produce 

 of which had been early imported into eastern England, and 

 had gradually got into favour elsewhere, though not without 

 resistance. It is said that they were brought here at about the 

 middle of Henry's reign: my reader will find entries in the 

 eastern counties, as might be expected, far earlier. But the 

 cultivation of hops was known in 1552, for in this year 

 the cultivation was permitted, under the prohibitory statute 

 5 6c 6 Ed. VI. cap. 5, which attempted to arrest the growing 

 practice of making enclosures for pasture. 



The cultivation of the hop, as practised in England during 

 the sixteenth century, is described by Reynold Scot in a work 

 published in 1576, under the title of the Platform of the Hop 

 Garden. The book is illustrated by plates and plans. Hops 

 at this time were planted on mounds, seven to nine hundred 

 of which were cast up on each acre, and were raised at in- 

 tervals of three yards. The writer reckons the produce of each 

 set at about three Ibs., and states that the average price of a 

 cwt. was 26s. $d. You can buy, he says, spare roots from other 

 hop-growers at about sixpence a hundred, or even get them 

 for nothing. Four poles, which should be driven into the 

 mound for a foot and a half, are needed for each setting, alder- 

 poles being the best and cheapest for the purpose. These 

 poles should be fifteen to sixteen feet in .length, not longer, 

 as the hop will not flower till it reaches the top of the pole 

 and runs over it. - These poles are of very various prices, but 

 a wain's load of them contains about 150. The hops must be 

 gathered at Lammas (Aug. i), as rapidly as possible, and in 

 good weather, and carefully dried in an oast, plans of which 

 are given. Some persons, says the writer, use hops green ; 

 but they are not nearly so serviceable in this state. It ap- 

 pears that at the date of Scot's work the cultivation of the 

 plant had become familiar, and the preparation fairly complete. 



Fitzherbert's work, as my reader may infer from his notice 

 of a farmer at twenty years' lease, and on a tenancy of forty 

 shillings per annum, i.e. at about 60 to 80 acres, was intended 



