188 



THE HOP. 



Besides these principles, a quaniitv of tannin has always been 

 found in the skin of the seed of all lejTuminous plants. 



The Hop, {Hamulus lupuhis.) From its very general use in 

 making beer, the hop has become an object of great importance, 

 both in an agricultural and commercial point of view. 



The hop may be cultivated in any soil that is of sufficient depth 

 and fertility ; it thrives especially in rich and turfy loams, such as 

 those of llaguenau, whore there are many beautiful hop-gardens. 

 The plant is propagated in the spring by setting thfe sprouts or radicu- 

 lar buds in ground trenched to the depth of 18 inches at least, at in- 

 tervals of about a couple of yards from one another. Within a few 

 weeks the young hop-plant is growing lustily; and as it is a climber, 

 it is trained upon a pole of from 12 to 20 feet in height. The ground 

 is usually hoed towards the end of June. The first crop from a new 

 plantation is always trifling in amount ; the ground is then manured. 

 The following spring all the eyes or buds that have become devel- 

 oped near the root arc removed, except si.x or seven, which are left 

 to shoot. The hop harvest generally occurs about the middle of 

 September : the poles are pulled up, the stems are cut, and the 

 strobiles are picked oil' into baskets by hand, and immediately car- 

 ried to the stove or kiln, where they are dried with a very gentle 

 heat, in order not to dissipate their fine aromatic particles. 



A hop-garden produces very variously in different countries and 

 districts, and in different years. The produce of an acre in hopf 

 has been stated to be : 



In Flanders, 13 cwt. 



Germany (mean of 10 years,) . . 10 *' 



France inear Paris,) . . . 10 '* 



" (Roville, mean of 10 years,) 7^ " 



[England, from 9 to 10, and from 12 to 14 cwt.] 



The strobiles of the hop are covered with a yellow pulverulen* 

 substance, which has been held to furnish in principal part the ex 

 tractive matter that is so valuable in brewing. To procure this sub 

 stance it is enough to sift a quantity of hops after they have beer 

 dried by a gentle heat. This yellow powder, which appears to h* 

 the useful principU in the hop, and consequently gives it its vdue 



