HONEYSUCKLE. 



HOP. 



HONEYSUCKLE, FRENCH (Hedytarvm). 



Almost all the species of this genus are very 

 handsome flowering plants, producing racemes 

 of very beautiful pea flowers, particularly 

 adapted for borders or rock-work. Miller men- 

 tions nineteen sorts. The greater number are 

 perennials. The most general species in Eng- 

 lish gardens is the H. coronariurn, which blooms 

 bright-red flowers, and a variety of it, which 

 blooms white flowers, both flowering in June 

 and July. They are propagated by sowing 

 seed in the spring in light garden mould, and 

 transplanting the young plants into their des- 

 tined places in autumn. The herbaceous kinds 

 are increased by dividing the roots. 



HOOF. The horny part which covers the 

 feet of many valuable quadrupeds. It is either 

 cloven, as in cattle, or entire, as in the horse. 

 In the horse it is that portion of the foot which 

 is composed of the crust or wall, the bars, the 

 sole, and the horny frog. There is no frog in 

 the foot of cattle, nor are there the provisions 

 for the expansion and elasticity of the foot 

 which we admire in the horse. There is a la- 

 minated connection between the hoof of the ox, 

 and the sensible parts beneath, as in the horse; 

 but the horny plates of the hoof, and the fleshy 

 ones of the substance which covers the coffin- 

 bone, are not so wide and deep, and therefore 

 the attachment between the hoof and foot is not 

 so strong. The hoofs of cattle are used for 

 making starch and Prussian blue, as they will 

 not make glue or soap like the heels. (Cattle, 

 p. 568; The Horse, p. 281.) 



HOOP-ASH. See HACKRF.RIIY. 



HOOVE. See CATTLE, DISEASES OF. 



HOP (Humulus lupulus). This is a well- 

 known climber, supposed to be indigenous to 

 England, plants of it being found in hedgerows 

 and waste places. The ancients were not un- 

 acquainted with the hop. It is mentioned by 

 the Arabian physician Mesue, who lived about 

 845 ; and it was used for beer in Flanders in 

 1500. The female flowers, indeed, have been 

 long used in many parts of Europe for the pur- 

 pose of imparting a flavour to beer. It was 

 not, however, cultivated in England for this 

 purpose until about the year 1525; and as the 

 Reformation was then in progress, the intro- 

 duction of the hop is perpetuated by the follow- 

 ing doggerel : 



Hops, heresy, pickerel, and beer 



Were brought into England in one year. 



In 1528 the parliament was requested to prohi- 

 bit its use, as an unwholesome weed that would 

 spoil the taste of beer. It is mentioned for the 

 first time in 1552 in the statute-book, in the 

 5 Edward VI. c. 5 (repealed 5 Eliz. c. 2) ; an 

 act directing that land formerly in tillage should 

 again be so cultivated, but excepting, amongst 

 other ground, "land set with saffron or hops ;" 

 and down to the year 1693 hops were imported 

 from Flanders in considerable quantities. In 

 1578 Reynold Scott published a curious little 

 work on the cultivation of the hop, which is 

 now rare: it was entitled, "A Perfite Platforme 

 of a Hoppe Garden," in which the directions 

 for the cultivation of the hop are given with 

 considerable care. 



The chief counties in which the hop is now 

 cultivated in England, are those of Kent, 

 632 



Sussex, Surrey, Worcester, and Essex; but the 

 hop-gardens of these counties are only situated 

 in particular portions. 



The hop plant delights in a rich loam, or 

 calcareous sand ; and when these are situated 

 on a calcareous bed, the plants will continue 

 to flourish for many years; but otherwise ten 

 or twelve years is about the limit of their con- 

 tinuance in perfection. Under favourable cir- 

 cumstances, as on the Kentish ragstone, the 

 roots of the hop plant extend in some instances 

 to a depth of eight or ten feet. The hop plant 

 is usually raised from cuttings in the spring. 

 "In the early part of the spring," says Mr. 

 Lance, " the old root begins to bud or shoot 

 from the old stump of the last year's bine, 

 which will have two or more buds; the crown 

 of the root is then cleared, and these old stumps 

 are cut off, or most part of them, the hole co- 

 vered up, and the crown of the root throws up 

 additional shoots to be tied up the poles. The 

 plant is therefore said to have an annual stem, 

 but a perennial root. The cuttings, or old 

 stumps, are bedded for a season, to make roots 

 the best way they can from the edge of the cut- 

 ting: the plant being exceedingly tenacious of 

 life, every portion of the crown cutting that has 

 a bud will grow and throw out roots from the 

 extremity of the woody cutting; they will make 

 a circle of roots when healthy, and throw up 

 bine from the eyes or buds at the surface of 

 the ground, and other roots will issue from 

 under the eyes. The shoots of the former year 

 that may have become covered with earth will 

 make plants as layers, throwing out many 

 fibrous roots before they are cut off from the 

 stump or crown. This is often the most suc- 

 cessful method of obtaining plants, although it 

 may in some measure weaken the old root; 

 but the layer gets the plants a year more forward, 

 as the roots are already formed when the plant 

 is taken from the old stock ; but if all the su- 

 pernumerary shoots are cut off after the prin- 

 cipal ones are well up the pole, then there can 

 be no suckling plants formed. There are se- 

 veral varieties of the hop," adds Mr. Lance, 

 "named according to the colour of the bine, 

 the hanging of the fruit, or local circumstances. 

 The grape-hop takes its name from the hang- 

 ing of the strobiles; the cluster being close 

 together, like a bunch of grapes. Those named 

 from the bine are the green, the white, the red. 

 Others are named from places, as the Canter- 

 bury grape, the Farnham bell, the Mayfield 

 grape ; and some few are named from the per- 

 sons who have raised them from seed, as Wil- 

 liams's white bine, at Farnham, being first 

 raised by a gentleman of that name at Badshot 

 Place, about the year 1780. This is the variety 

 now principally cultivated at Farnham, and 

 may be said to be one of the causes which 

 make that place so famed for hops, they being 

 purchased with avidity by the brewers of the 

 west of England." 



The qualities of the hop regarded by the 

 dealers are the colour, scent, seed, and glutinous 

 touch. The colour, which should be a light 

 green, is attained either by a very careful and 

 early picking, or by exposing the hops when 

 they are drying to the action of fumes of sul- 

 phur. By exposure to the air, however, the 



