THK HOP 



CHAPTER I 



ORIGIN AND SPREAD OF HOP CULTURE 



OR more than a thousand 

 years the virtues of hops 

 have been recorded, and this 

 remarkable plant has doubt- 

 less been cultivated since al- 

 most prehistoric times. Cer- 

 tainly more than 500 years 

 have gone since domesticat- 

 ed hops were brewed in mid- 

 dle Europe, but the wild 

 hops were used much earlier, 



and are brewed in Styria to the present day. Long be- 

 fore Columbus sailed the pathless sea, the wild hop was 

 well established in England, but came into prominence 

 only after its culture was introduced into Kent by 

 Flemish immigrants about 1524. 



Though this plant grows luxuriantly throughout 

 the temperate regions, such are its peculiarities that 

 the commercial crop has been confined to nearly the 

 same localities in England and Europe from earliest 

 times. Kentish growers have held first place ever 

 since Parliament legalized this industry in 1554, and 

 while the area under hops in England has fluctuated 

 materially during the past century, the crop has been 

 confined to essentially the same districts. America has 

 witnessed the same tendency of commercial hop grow- 

 ing to concentrate. Though introduced into the New 



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