H UM 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



H U M 



711 



a soil that, instead of enlarging the size of the Hop, grows 

 them full of farina, or, as the country people call it, condition. 

 3dly, They ought to be very much, but slowly dried, and then 

 packed for market in the thickest covering that can be found, 

 to preserve their strength. The colour of Hops which hang 

 till they are ripe, can never be so beautiful as if they were 

 gathered green, for they are generally bruised by the equi- 

 noctial winds ; but the quality of their bitter is of a superior 

 flavour, goes further, and will never deceive in brewing; 

 they will also keep good, when full dried, many years. 

 Having detailed the practice of the Kentish Hop-planter, we 

 proceed generally to notice those which are of any import- 

 ance in other countries. Though Mr. Miller mentions only 

 three varieties of the Hop, yet in Surry they have what they 

 (nil the Orchard Hop, which bears a long square strobile, 

 ami is perhaps the same with Mr. Miller's first sort; the 

 Streaked Bind ; two or three varieties of White Bind ; Smooth 

 and llou^h Red Bind. The most esteemed are the Streaked 

 and the White Bind. The Smooth Red is of little value ; and, 

 ;ts to the last, it is generally eradicated whenever it appears. 

 The White Canterbury Bind is mostly in use. The Golden 

 Hop, with a white bind, which is probably the same with Mr. 

 Miller's Oval Hop, ripens later than the other, and therefore 

 on that account may be useful to the planter. There is also 

 the Cluster Hop, produced from a White Bind, but having 

 the Hops growing more in clusters than the others. The 

 Streaked Bind is a desirable Hop, for a part at least of a 

 plantation, being early, of a pleasant flavour, and generally 

 of a good size. As to the term yarlick, it is not appropriate 

 to any one variety; for they will all acquire that sort of 

 smell from distemper. In Surry they have not the practice 

 of planting Cherry or Apple-trees, as in Kent. About Alton 

 they generally plant their Hops six feet square ; but about 

 Farnham they plant much nearer: the superiority of their 

 soil enables them to do this with success ; but in blighted 

 years they suffer more than the Alton planters, the circula- 

 tion of air being much obstructed by the closeness of the 

 hills. In Worcestershire, the Red, Green, and White Hop, 

 are cultivated. A difference in the method of cultivation, is 

 probably ihe real source of ihese distinction*. Two sorts, 

 however, are in particular esteem both with the planter and 

 merchant; the Golden Vine, brought from the neighbour- 

 hood of Canterbury ; and the Mathan White, the name of 

 which denotes it to be a native of this plantation, and of 

 the parish of that name. The most hardy, and that which 

 will flourish with the least attention, and is least liable to 

 suffer from the seasons, is the Red ; which is perhaps the 

 original stock. The next is the Green, which is also the 

 most productive. The tenderest, though at the same time 

 the most valuable, is the White. The plantations of Worces- 

 tershire, are principally to the west of the Severn, increasing 

 as they approach the banks of the Teame, and the confines 

 of Herefordshire. The situations preferred are, a eentle 

 descent, with a south, south-west, or western exposure, 

 screened at a distance, to the north and east, by high ground, 

 or plantations of timber, but not so as to prevent a free 

 ventilation : the soil, a deep loamy land, or strong clay, after 

 it has been thoroughly limed and manured ; but, above all, 

 a boggy soil, when completely drained, and duly meliorated, 

 is said to produce the best Hops. When meadow or pasture 

 land is broke up for this purpose, it is either dug, or, the 

 sward being first pared thinly off by the paring plough, it is 

 buried by the furrow plough working full ten inches deep. 

 Old tillage, when converted into Hop-grounds, requires to 

 be very completely cleared of weeds ; to be thoroughly 

 manured : and to have the ridges or lands entirely levelled. 



The different manners in which they are worked, are the. 

 tump, and the ploughed grounds ; the former by hand, and 

 the latter by plough : the first are laid out in the quincunx 

 form, each tump or hill being at the distance of from five to 

 seven feet from the centre of the other. On these, the dis- 

 tance between the stocks is from three to four feet; that 

 between the rows, from seven to nine ; the greater or lesser 

 space always being ploughed, as the land is either richer or 

 poorer. In the ploughed, if the circumstances of the ground 

 will admit of it, the rows run mostly north and south, with a 

 view to admit the sun more generally when it has most force ; 

 but it should be long and narrow, its greatest length extend- 

 ing east and west, which direction is to be preferred, for 

 receiving the morning sun, by which means the chills of the 

 night are soonest dissipated. The sets are procured from 

 the sets or roots of the stocks, at the annual time of dress- 

 ing, in the latter end of March or beginning of April. They 

 must have two joints each, the roots striking from that in 

 the ground, and the vine shooting from that above: four are 

 planted to a stock, at the distance of about four or six 

 inches from each other, all inclining- or pointing, so as to meet 

 together in the centre. Two methods are here observed 

 in planting young Hop-grounds: The first and most gene- 

 ral is, to plant the sets on the situation in which they are to 

 remain, immediately after they are parted from the old 

 stocks. In the second, the sets are planted in nurseries, in 

 rows about three inches asunder, with about five or six inches 

 between the rows ; here they grow till the month of October, 

 when they are transplanted into the Hop ground. Under this 

 latter management, if the roots be good, one will be sufficient 

 for a stock. In removing them, great care is taken to make 

 the opening to receive them so large as not to confine the 

 roots. When planted from the stocks, a hole made with a peg 

 to place them in, is all that is required. The nursery has cer- 

 tainly great advantage ; besides the saving of a considerable 

 expense, where the sets are to be purchased, the land may 

 be worked through the summer, to prepare it for the planta- 

 tion. During the first year, the grounds are ploughed, hoed, 

 or kerfed, three times : they produce no Hops ; but a good 

 crop of peas, beans, cabbage, or turnips, is obtained be- 

 tween the rows. The second year they are poled, and yield 

 half a crop; and the third year produce in perfection. 

 When they have reached this state, the management is uni- 

 formly as follows : They are gone over mostly four times 

 with the plough or kerf at the beginning of March. The 

 first business is to throw down the tumps and rows of the 

 former year, and to work in the manure, previously brought 

 on in the winter. This manure consists of fresh earth, rotten 

 dung, or a compost of dung, earth, and lime, judiciously 

 proportioned, according to the nature of the soil ; each acre 

 receiving no less than sixty cart-loads, for a good dressing : 

 this is repeated as the nature of the land renders it necessary. 

 The stocks are now pruned, and the remains of the old vines 

 and superfluous shoots are removed with the Hop-knife. 

 The second moulds up the tumps and rows; the succeeding 

 ones complete moulding up the plants, and destroy th< 

 weeds. The tumps are formed round, flat at top, and about 

 twenty inches in diameter, and somewhat broader at the bot- 

 tom. The ploughed lands are thrown up much in the same 

 manner as for Potatoes or Beans, only higher, and with more 

 soil. The shoots begin to appear in April, and the poles arc- 

 pitched at the latter end of the same month, or beginning 

 of May. These are set two or three to a stock, at a foot dis- 

 tance from each other, with great regularity and exactness, 

 and inclining a little outwards over the alleys. Some atten- 

 tion is necessary, in this part of the business, not to overpole 



