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HUM 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL: 



HUM 



the plants, either in number or length of the poles, as it 

 weakens them; and by drawing the vine out to too great a 

 length, renders them less productive. About the close of this 

 month, and at the beginning of June, women are employed 

 to direct the vines to the poles, and tie them with dried rushes : 

 this is continued till they are out of reach. The only care 

 then remaining, is to keep under weeds, and to govern the 

 plantations occasionally, to replace any vines that may stray, 

 and repair any damage arising from the weather. When 

 they have reached their full growth, which is in some mea- 

 sure regulated by the number and length of the poles, the 

 side-shoots put out. The method of topping the vines, to 

 promote lateral shoots, said to be practised in other planta- 

 tions, is never used in this. About the second week of Sep- 

 tember they ripen, when the Hop-pulling begins. In a plen- 

 tiful year it continues six weeks, more or less, according to 

 the crop. The cribs are now placed, beginning on that part 

 which lies most exposed to the sun, as being soonest ripe ; 

 one, two, or more, as the proprietor's plantation is large or 

 small, and he has the convenience of kilns to dry them in. 

 Each crib has eight or ten pickers, women and children, 

 who, where they are industrious, and employed upon a tole- 

 rable crop, will gather from six to eight bushels a day; which 

 about 611s the sack in which they are carried green to the 

 kiln; eight of these sacks, when dried, make about one 

 hundred weight: but in some seasons, there is not half this 

 quantity produced. The pickers come from the neighbour- 

 ing counties, but most of them from Wales. From the cribs, 

 the Hops are conveyed to the kilns, four or five of the sacks 

 before alluded to at a time, on a horse, and are dried as 

 soon as possible ; as they damage considerably if suffered to 

 lie long together before they are put in the kilns. They will 

 heat in six or eight hours, and lose colour; to avoid which 

 the kilns are kept constantly employed day and night. The 

 time the Hops take in drying, is from eight to twelve hours, 

 according as they are ripe and dry. Great attenrion and 

 considerable judgment are necessary in this part of the busi- 

 ness ; the whole of the year's expenses and labour, and, at 

 times, property to some amount being at stake on a single 

 kiln, it is usually entrusted to those who have been long 

 used to the practice. The general principle on which they 

 proceed, is to begin with a very gentle fire, till warmed 

 through; the heat is then gradually increased, and continued 

 till the cove or fruit-stalk is quite sunk and dry. They are 

 then removed, and thrown together in a heap, in a corner of 

 a large room appropriated to this purpose, and frequently 

 turned from one side to the other, in order to cool them com- 

 pletely before they are bagged. Their method of bagging 

 them is as follows : a strong hoop is fastened round the mouth 

 of the sack, which is then let down through a circular open- 

 ing in the floor, made for this purpose ; a few are first put in, 

 when the man who is principal in this part of the business 

 gets in, and by constant treading presses them down as 

 closely as he can. A second person is employed in breaking 

 them, that is, tearing the flowers, &c. from the fruilsl;ilk, and 

 throwing them into the bag as they are wanted : thus they pro- 

 ceed till it is full, when the mouth is loosened from the hoop, 

 and closed, leaving at each corner of the sack a space for the 

 hand, for the better convenience of those who are employed 

 in carrying them. After the seasons are over, the poles are 

 set up, as before described in the Kent management. Dif- 

 ferent opinions are entertained respecting; thy superiority of 

 the tump and plough management; the former certainly has 

 the advantage in many particulars, and is said to be cheaper, 

 anil more productive; but as it is impossible, from the pre- 

 ent extent of the plantation, that any considerable proportion 



can be worked in this manner, from want of hands, the 

 inquiry is not of much consequence. The expenses of these 

 plantations may be calculated from the following statements. 

 As they always occupy the most valuable part of the farm, 

 the rent cannot be set down lower than thirty-one shillings 

 per acre, and in some instances is much higher. The acre 

 is not to be estimated as statute measure, but after the rate 

 of one thousand stocks to an acre, which is in general one- 

 fifth less. The expense of manure is very heavy, as they 

 produce none, except the ashes from the burning of the 

 vines and leaves ; so that, were justice done to the rest of 

 the land, the greater part ought to be procured from home. 

 The price of muck or dung is about six shillings per waggon- 

 load, or three shillings per ton, (when purchased from stables 

 where the horses are plentifully fed with corn, it is higher 

 in proportion,) and is frequently to be fetched eight or ten 

 miles. The Hop-grounds are sometimes worked through the 

 si vural seasons, as they are termed, at a fixed price, which 

 is from fifteen to twenty shillings per acre, according to the 

 differing qualities of soil. The seasons are four, and thus 

 divided: throwing down and cutting; spreading and pitch- 

 ing poles ; kerfing and tumping; and stripping and piling 

 poles. Sometimes the workmen agree for a shilling a day, 

 with drink ; or some parts are taken by the acre, as pitching 

 poles, three shillings ; stripping and piling, two shillings and 

 sixpence, to thjee shillings and sixpence. The women em- 

 ployed to tie the vines, receive sixpence per day, with two 

 quarts of drink ; or they take them by the year, at three 

 shillings or three shillings and sixpence per acre. The Hop- 

 pullers receive from sixpence to eightpence per day ; with a 

 pint of thickened milk, or something similar, every morning 

 for breakfast ; two quarts of drink per day, and two dinners 

 every week. The coal, which is pit-coal charred, employed 

 to dry them, is also an expensive article, and is principally 

 brought from Pinsax in Worcestershire, at a distance of 

 several miles from some of the plantations, where it costs 

 twopence halfpenny or threepence per bushel, twenty-eight 

 of which make a ton ; two of which tons will be consumed 

 in drying a ton of Hops. The dryer is paid from twelve 

 shillings to twenty-one shillings per week, varying accord- 

 ing to the number of kilns he has to attend ; his meat and 

 dnnk is also provided for him. The person who has the 

 management of the bagging is paid fourpence per hundred- 

 weight, exclusive of his assistant. There are different arti- 

 cles used for bagging ; the Lubecks, and a sort of cloth 

 manufactured at Dudley in this county, are roost in use, 

 particularly the latter. The price varies according to the 

 demand. The Lubecks are dearest; they cost in general 

 from twenty-eight to thirty-four shillings per piece, and are 

 thirty-six yards long, and about thirty-one inches wide. The 

 Dudleys cost from twenty-two to thirty-two shillings, and 

 are of the same dimensions, each piece making eight sacks, 

 four yards and three quarters long. The culture of Hops 

 at Hedinghatn castle in Essex, is perhaps as good as in any 

 part of England ; though the quality of those produced at 

 Farnham in Surry is thought by some to be superior. At the 

 former place there are fifty-five or fifty-six contiguous acres, 

 remarkable for yielding an almost certain crop. The soil is 

 a moore marsh, improved into a rich loam on the surface. 

 They are persuaded here that Hops succeed better in very 

 large plantations than in small ones ; and observe, that the 

 outside parts of their contiguous acres do not answer equally 

 well with the more central divisions. If, therefore, a man 

 increase his Hop-ground, it should not be in distinct planta- 

 tions, but united to what he had before. In Essex they are 

 too apt to use long poles, even such as are two rods ID 



