HOP. 



HOP. 



natural brown colour of the hops thus treated 

 returns; and hence the Farnham hops are 

 often preferred by the brewers of pale ale, be- 

 cause the colour is not apt to alter. 



About 60 to 100 bushels of the picked hops 

 are required for a cwt. of dried hops in the bag ; 

 but this varies with circumstances. When 

 there is an abundance of plump, well-formed 

 seed, from 40 to 70 bushels will form a cwt. 

 A bag of hops will weigh about 2 cwts., and 

 a Kent pocket about 1 cwt. The produce of 

 an acre of hops will sometimes amount to 24 

 cwt., but the average is about 10 cwt. The 

 hop plant is subject to many diseases, to the 

 attacks of caterpillars and other insects, to 

 mildew, and to a variety of atmospherical in- 

 fluences, which renders it ever the sport of the 

 weather, and occasions the proverbial uncer- 

 tainty of the crop. 



In the culture of the hop, a deep soil is pre- 

 ferable, and many powerful fertilizers may be 

 had recourse to. There is, perhaps, no plant 

 which delights more in those of an oily nature 

 than the hop. The Kentish growers of the 

 valley of the Medway successfully employ 

 large quantities of sprats, for which they rea- 

 dily give I0d. per bushel. They use from 40 

 to 60, or more, bushels per acre. Other plant- 

 ers employ woollen rags, chopped into small 

 pieces, from 1 to 2 tons per acre. They last 

 for 2 years. These cost about 5/. 5*. per ton. 

 Salt, also, is an excellent addition, in conjunc- 

 tion with these, at the rate of from 10 to 1ft 

 bushels per acre. 



The plants are usually placed on hills, at the 

 distance of 5 or 6 feet, and this is usually done 

 early in the spring, about the end of March. 

 The first year's poles may be about 6 feet in 

 length, but twelve feet poles are aAerwards 

 needed. Two or three of these are commonly 

 placed on a hill : they are generally set in the 

 ground in the end of April. About 500 fresh 

 poles are annually required per acre, to keep 

 up the stock of poles, and supply the place of 

 those broken or otherwise destroyed. 



The ground in hop gardens can hardly be 

 too much stirred over. The drying of the hops 

 is effected soon after they are picked. For the 

 despatch of drying, a thickness of from 1 to 2 

 feet of hops are placed on the kiln floor, and a 

 fire of culm or Welch coal, coke, charcoal, or 

 other material that gives out no smoke, is made 

 in an open fireplace, with only a perforated 

 hood over it; or, if the kiln fireplace is enclosed, 

 and the smoke-flue is made to pass round the 

 building, any firing may be used : but the neat- 

 est and cleanest method is by passing hot water 

 through pipes, close beneath the drying-floor. 

 About 100 to 200 bushels are commonly dried 

 at once in the ordinary-sized hop-kilns. Con- 

 siderable quantities of sulphur are sometimes 

 Added to the fire, sometimes as much as a cwt. 

 to a ton of hops. About 98 to 112 degrees of 

 heat is that commonly employed in the drying, 

 and the cost of the process is about 14s. per cwt. 



In bagging the hops, great care is requisite 

 to tread them as close as possible; for the more 

 completely the air is excluded, the better the 

 hops will keep. 



The dried hop has been analyzed, and found 

 to contain lupuline,a. titter principle, opism, a 

 80 



fatty astringent matter, gum, chlorophylle, and % 

 nin. In the grains of the lupuline a volatile oil 

 is deposited. The salts of iron, gelatin, chloride 

 o-f barium, and oxalate of ammonia, cause pre- 

 cipitates in the decoction of the hop. As a me- 

 dicinal agent, hops display tonic and narcotic 

 properties. A pillow of hops is supposed to be 

 a good soporific, and was obtained for George 

 III. when a lunatic. The extract has been 

 found to allay pain ; but, after all, it is better 

 as an adjunct to beer than as a medicine. 



In England, the expense of 1 cwt. of hops, if 

 purchased on the poles (says Mr. Lance,) may 

 be thus stated : 



147 10 6 

 The produce, 64 cwt., at 61. 10*. 416J. 



The average produce of hops from 1807 to 

 1836, as shown in a table from the work of Mr. 

 Lance on the hop, is 5 cwt. per acre, the 

 highest product in one year having averaged 

 for the crop 12 y 2 ^ cwt. in 1808, and the lowest 

 only yy ff in 1825. 



Number of Jlcres of Hops in cultivation. 



The number of acres devoted to the cultiva- 

 tion of the hop has long oeen steadily on fhu 



633 



