346 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. L^h' X^X. 



to a light brown, to emit a fragrant smell, to feel firm, and to be easily 

 rubbed to pieces, they are signs which indicate its having arrived at 

 maturity, and being ready to be gathered. 



The process of picking is a rude scene of animated bustle and cheerful- 

 ness ; for, beside tlie labourers on the farm, the pickers are composed of 

 motley groujis of men, women, and children, of all ages, who are congre- 

 gated together from all parts of the country by the certainty of employment, 

 and who enter upon their task with a degree of hilarity apparently 

 unchecked by their seldom finding other shelter during the time tlian what 

 may be afl'orded by the covering of a rug, spread by the side of a hedge, 

 upon hoops, to form a gipsy tent. Yet here, when evening closes upon 

 their labour, they enjoy themselves with a profusion of common comforts, 

 cooked with firing not over scrupulously culled from the farmer's hedges ; 

 and the final conclusion of the harvest is ended by a merry-making, at 

 which some handsome nymph of the party is dizened out in all her finery, 

 and elected to preside over the revels as hop-queen. 



As a preparation for the gathering of the bops, strong frames of wood, 

 called " bins," or " cribs," about nine feet long and four feet wide, are 

 placed in difterent parts of the plantation, fixed upon legs three feet high ; 

 thus aftbrding room for three or four pickers on each side, who, together 

 with the man who collects the poles, are called a " set," and deposit the 

 hops, when ])icked, in a coarse cloth, whicli is hooked to the insides of the 

 frame so as to form a large bag in the centre. 



The bine is first cut about two or three feet above the ground, much 

 lower being considered injurious to the root, by the profuse bleeding which 

 it occasions, and the pole is then wrenched from the earth by means of 

 what in Kent is called a " hop-dog." This instrument is constructed of a 

 strong, tapering stick, near three inches in diameter, and about five feet 

 long ; at the distance of nearly a foot from the larger end of which a small 

 bar of iron, of about a foot long, is clenched; and being bent in the middle 

 into an acute angle, the inside is roughened by the smith into something 

 like teeth, which, when fixed upon the lower end of thepole, as it were, bite 

 and hold it fast. 



The poles are then laid horizontally across the frames, and two are usually 

 given to one set ; but smaller frames or baskets are also very commonly 

 used, and it is then customary for one woman to engage a basket for herself 

 and family. The price of payment varies according to the quantity grown, 

 and is often not named until after the picking. Upon an average growth 

 the pay is about lOd. the basket of five bushels ; and a tolerable good 

 picker will earn 2.s\ a-day. The number of bushels picked by each set 

 being kept by means of the double-tally*. 



The weather deemed most favourable for picking is that which is neither 

 very sultry nor moist ; for if the sun be very hot and scorching, it is apt to 

 shrivel and discolour the hops before they can be gathered off the poles ; and 

 if the morning be dewy, those which are picketl in a damp state become 

 musty. To prevent injury from the sun, the pole-pullers therefore take 

 down no mora than the pickers can strip in a siiort time ; and if it be neces- 



* This simple device is formed of two thin pieces of wood, which are neatly planed 

 and accurately titted together by means of a shoulder formed on the principal part, or 

 /«//«, which is three inches longer than the inferior part, or cheek ; the two, when joined 

 to<;ether, makini^ the ilnihle-tally, which is generally twelve inches long hy one and a 

 half square. One of these is appropriated to each set, who receives the check part, the 

 tally remaining with the foreman, who, as the haskets are delivered, c\its one notch at 

 the same time upon both by joining them together. 



