910 



11 U M 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



II U M 



beyond the reach of your hands, if they still forsake the poles, 

 you must employ a stand-ladder in tying them up. Towards 

 the latter end of May, when you have made an end of tying 

 them, the ground must have the summer dressing, which 

 consists in casting up some fine earth with the spade into 

 very hill; and a month after this is done, you must hoe 

 the alleys with a Dutch hoe, and make the hills up to a con- 

 venient size. Gathering. About the middle of July, Hops 

 begin to blow, and will be ready to gather about Bartholomew- 

 tide. A judgment may be formed of their ripeness, by their 

 strong scent, their hardness, and the brownish colour of 

 their seeds. When by these tokens they appear to be ripe, 

 they must be picked with all the expedition possible ; for if 

 at this time a storm of wind should come, it would do them 

 great damage, by breaking the branches and bruising and 

 discolouring the Hops; and it is very well known, that Hops 

 picked green and bright, will sell for a third more than those 

 which are discoloured and brown. The most convenient way 

 of picking them is into a long square frame of wood, called a 

 Lin, with a cloth hanging on tenter-hooks within it, to receive 

 the Hops as they are picked. The frame is composed of four 

 pieces of wood joined together, supported by four legs, with 

 a prop at each end to bear up another long piece of wood, 

 placed at a convenient height over the middle of the bin; 

 this serves to lay the poles upon which are to be picked. 

 This bin is commonly eight feet long, and three feet broad ; 

 two poles may be laid on it at a time, and six or eight persons 

 may work at it, three or four on each side. It will be best 

 to begin to pick the Hops on the east or north side of your 

 ground, if you can do it conveniently, which will prevent 

 the south-west wind from breaking into your garden. Having 

 made choice of a plot of ground containing eleven hills square, 

 place the bin upon the hill which is in the centre, having 

 five hills on each side; and when these hills are picked, 

 lemove the bin into another piece of ground of the same 

 rxtent, and so proceed till the whole Hop-ground is finished. 

 M'hen the poles are drawn up to be picked, you must take 

 care not to cut the binds too near the hills, especially when 

 the Hops are green, because that will make the sap flow 

 excessively. The Hops must be picked very clean, that is, 

 free from leaves and stalks; and, as there shall be occasion, 

 two or three times in the day the bin must be emptied into a 

 Hop-bag made of coarse linen cloth, and carried immediately 

 to the kiln, or oast, in order to be dried; for if they should 

 lie long in the bin or bag, they will be apt to heat and be 

 discoloured. In hot weather no more poles should be drawn 

 than can be picked in an hour; and they should, if possible, 

 be gathered in fair weather, when the Hops are dry, which 

 will save some expense in firing, and preserve their colour 

 better when they are dried. The crop of Hops being thus 

 bestowed, you are to reserve the poles against another year. 



should be laid up in a shed, with the haulm first stripped 

 off from them; but if you have no shed, set up three poles 

 in the form of a triangle, or six poles, if you please, wide at 

 bottom : and having fixed them in the ground, and bound them 

 together at the top, set the rest of your poles about them; 

 Slid being thus disposed, those on the outside only will be 

 rxposed to the injuries of the weather, for all the inner poles 

 will be kept dry except at the top, whereas if they were on 

 the ground, they would receive more damage in a fortnight 

 than by their standing all the rest of the yvw. Drying. 

 The best method of drying Hops is with charcoal on an 



or kiln, covered with haircloth, of the same form and 

 fashion that is used for drying malt. There is no need to 

 give any particular directions for making these, since every 

 carpenter or bricklayer, in those countries where Hops grow 



or malt is made, knows how to build them. The kiln ought 

 to be square, and may be of ten, twelve, fourteen, or sixteen 

 feet over at the top, where the Hops are laid, as your planta- 

 tion requires, and your room will allow. There ought to be 

 a due proportion between the height and breadth of the kiln 

 and the beguels of the steddle where the fire is kept; thus, 

 if the kiln be twelve feet square on the top, it ought to be 

 nine feet high from the fire, and the steddlo ought to be six 

 feet and a half square, and so proportionally in other dimen- 

 sions. The Hops must be spread even upon the oast, a foot 

 thick or more, if the depth of the curb will allow it: but care 

 should be taken not to overload the oast, if the Hops be 

 green or wet. The oast ought to be first warmed with a fire 

 before the Hops are laid on, and then an even steady fire 

 must be kept under them; it must not be too fierce at first, 

 lest it scorch the Hops, nor must it be suffered to sink or 

 slacken, but rather be increased till the Hops be nearly dried, 

 lest the moisture or sweat which the fire has raised fall back 

 or discolour them. When they have lain about nine hours, 

 they must be turned, and in two or three hours more they 

 may be taken ofT the oast. It may be known when they are 

 well dried, by the brittleness of the stalks and the easy falling 

 of the Hop-leaves. It is found by experience, that the turning 

 of Hops, though it be after the most easy and best manner, 

 is not only an injury and waste to the Hops, but also an 

 expense of fuel and time, because they require as much fuel 

 and as long a time to dry a small quantity by turning them, 

 as a large one. Now this may be prevented by having a 

 cover, to be lowered down or raised at pleasure, to the upper 

 bed whereon the Hops lie. This cover may also be tinned, 

 by nailing single tin plates over the face of it; so that when 

 the Hops begin to dry, and are ready to turn, that is, when 

 the greatest part of their moisture is evaporated, then the 

 cover may be let down within a foot or less of the Hop^ 

 a reverberatory, which will reflect the heat upon them, so 

 that the top will soon be as dry as the lowermost, and every 

 Hop be equally dried. Bagging. As soon as the Hops are 

 taken off the kiln, lay them in a room for three weeks or a 

 month to co'ol, give, and toughen ; for if they are bagged 

 immediately they will powder, but if they lie awhile, (and ilu> 

 longer they lie the better, provided they be covered close 

 with blankets to secure them from the air,) they may be bag- 

 ged with more safety, as not being liable to be broken to 

 powder in treading; and this will make them bear treading 

 the better, and the harder they are trodden the better they 

 will keep. The common method of bagging is as follows : 

 they have a hole made in an upper floor, either round or 

 square, large enough to receive a Hop-bag, which consists of 

 four ells and a half of ell-wide cloth, and also contains ordi- 

 narily two hundred and a half of Hops; they tie a handful of 

 Hops in each low corner of the bag, to serve as handles to it ; 

 and they fasten the mouth of the bag so placed that the hoop 

 may rest upon the edges of the hole. Then he that is to 

 tread the Hops clown into the bag, treads the Hops on every 

 side, another person continually putting them in as he treads 

 them, till the bag is full; which being well filled and trodden, 

 they unrip the fastening of the bag to the hoops, and let it 

 down, and close up the mouth of the ba^,, tying up a handful 

 of Hops in each corner of the mouth, as was done in the lower 

 part. When Hops are thus packed, after being well dried, 

 and laid up in a dry place, they will keep good several years ; 

 but caro must be taken that they be neither destroyed nor 



spoiled by the mice making their nests in them. In order 



to have Hops of a good quality, 1st, They ought to be, ripd 

 before they are gathered, and in becoming so they pass from 

 a green to a rich yellow colour. 2dly, They ought to grow on 



