HOP 



llOK 



which have the liabit of enlarging, as 

 the scales of the fir-cones do, more 

 particularly after the fertilization of 

 the ovule, or future seed, by a quan- 

 tity of the pollen falling upon it. 



" Though the pollen, from its ex- 

 treme lightness, can be wafted to a 

 considerable distance, and some seeds 

 in each cone may be so fertilized, yet 

 it would be well to rear a number of 

 the male plants among the others, or 

 along the hedges of the hop gardens, 

 to ensure the fertilization of all the 

 seeds. But as the farmers observe 

 that the flowers of the male (termed, 

 in Kent, seedling, blind, or wild hop ; 

 in Sussex, buck or cock hop) wither 

 away, they generally extirpate them 

 at the digging season, as unfruitful 

 cumberers of the ground. That this 

 is an error may be proved in various 

 ways, but an appeal to the result of 

 an opposite practice is the most con- 

 vincing. A bushel of hops, collected 

 from plants of the fourth year, raised 

 from seed, weighed 36 pounds, there 

 being male plants near ; a second in- 

 stance, where the plants were raised 

 from cuttings, weighed thirty-five 

 pounds, while a bushel, grown in a 

 garden where the male plants were 

 always eradicated, weighed only 22 

 pounds. Besides the greater quan- 

 tity of hops thus obtained, the aroma 

 is much greater (the lupulin, on which 

 the aroma depends, is considered by 

 Planche to be the unappropriated pol- 

 l«n dust which has alighted on the 

 scale of the females), and the strength 

 of the bitter much greater. The value 

 of a specimen of hops depends upon 

 the amount of lupuhn dust it con- 

 tains, and its aroma ; when of the best 

 quality, they command from sixteen 

 to twenty cents the pound. After the 

 period when the males have elabora- 

 ted the pollen, and the strobuli of the 

 females begun to enlarge, the males 

 may be cut down, and the stalks em- 

 ployed to make cordage for hop-bags 

 agamst the following harvest. In 

 1760 the Society of Arts awarded pre- 

 miums for cloth made from the hop 

 runner. 



" The poles of oak, ash, larch, and 

 chestnut are the most durable. They 



should be put into a shed during win- 

 ter : where this cannot be done, they 

 are placed on end in the form of a 

 cone, leaning against each other." 

 The hop is very liable to diseases : 

 it suffers from the aphis ; a species of 

 haltica attacks the young plant ; sev- 

 eral moths deposit their eggs upon 

 it : honey-dew is often destructive ; it 

 is also liable to attacks of mildew and 

 fire-blight towards maturity. 



HORDEIN. The impure starch 

 of barley. 



HORDEUM. The genus of barley 

 grasses. 



HORE HOUND. Marrubium vul- 

 garc. A perennial, labiate plant, of 

 a bitter, aromatic taste, used as a 

 popular remedy in colds, and to fla- 

 vour candies. It is readily propaga- 

 ted by dividing the roots. 



HORIZONTAL. Level. A plane 

 parallel to the horizon. 



HORN. Indurated skin, consist- 

 ing, for the most part, of modified al- 

 bumen. It resembles hair in its chem- 

 ical and agricultural properties, and 

 when shaved into thin strips, answers 

 the same purpose as a manure. Horn, 

 whalebone, tortoise-shell, which are 

 all similar, are readily softened by 

 heat or hot water, and are then va- 

 riously cut or moulded into a num- 

 ber of articles, as combs, handles for 

 knives, rings, &c. Digested with wa- 

 ter in an iron cylinder, under press- 

 ure, they are dissolved, and yield glue. 



The horns of oxen and many oth- 

 er animals are only a covering over 

 a bony process rising from the front 

 bone of the head. This bone, called 

 the horn pith, is remarkably porous, 

 and full of blood-vessels, so that, when 

 it is cut or injured, violent haemor- 

 rhage follows, which can scarcely be 

 stopped, except by applying a white- 

 hot iron, or bv pressure. 



HORNBE.Y-M. A tree of the same 

 family as the oak, the Carpinus bet- 

 ulus, of small size, and formerly used 

 as tail hedging. The wood is very 

 hard and durable, and used by turn- 

 ers for cog-wheels, presses, levers, 

 and stout handles. The only Amer- 

 ican species is the C. Americana, wa- 

 ter beech, or hornbeam. It grows oa 



383 



