THE HOP PLANT, 



BY PROF. JOHN PERCIVAL, M.A., F.L.S. 



'HP HE hop belongs to a small family or order of plants the 

 Cannabaceae which includes hemp. It possesses certain 

 affinities with the stinging-nettles and the elms, and is sometimes 

 classed with these. 



Two distinct species or kinds of hops are known, viz., the 

 Japanese Hop (Humulus japonicus Zieb. et Zucc.), and the Common 

 Hop (Humulus lupulus L.). The former plant is indigenous in China, 

 Japan and the neighbouring islands. It is a perennial like the 

 Common Hop, more delicate in its bine and foliage, and used in 

 this country as a climbing annual for covering arbours and trellis 

 work. For brewing purposes it is of no value as the " cones " or 

 hops are devoid of lupulin. 



The Common Hop is a native wild plant met with throughout 

 Europe and Western Asia, and is no doubt indigenous in the 

 southern parts of the British Islands. 



The date of its first use in beer is unknown, but records are 

 met with of cultivated hop-gardens as far back as the gib. century 

 in France and Germany. Imported hops were used in England by 

 Dutch brewers of beer as early as the time of Richard III., and 

 hop-gardens were in existence in Norfolk in 1533 or earlier. 



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