Book VI. THE HOP. 927 



6034. Tying the shoots or vines to the poles is the last operation in the after or summer culture of the 

 hop. This requires the labour of a number of persons, generally women, who tie them in several different 

 places with withered rushes, but so loosely as not to prevent the vines from advancing in their progress 

 towards the tops of the poles. When the vines have got out of reach from the ground, proper persons 

 go round, with standing ladtlers, and tie all such as appear inclined to stray. 



6035. The tecuon for this operation varies from the middle of bring ilie long-winged fly. In such a season it would be well 

 tfaj- to (he end of June, and one imporiant part of the oper- woith while to tradicate all the vine which Hrst appears, and 

 ation consists in selecting the shoois. The forwardest vine trust to a later sb.oot, so as to protract the tyirg till ihe last week 



should always be excirpaed, as it is well known that the in May. This hint was taken from the observ ^tions made in 



branches arising from these early shoots will produce little, if such blasting ye.<rs on the poor and thin lands where the vine 



any.fruit. The s cond shoots, where the hills are not overloaded is namra ly backward, ind seldom becomes fit for the !yers till 



with pi ints, and where the j^ound is not of a nature to send towards the latter end of May, when th it on the forward ground 



forth a very luxuriant vine, inay with safety be tied up : but will have advanced nearly to the tops of the poles, and to an in- 



wh re the land is apt to push forwa d a great redundancy of attentive observer seems to promise fai for a crop; whereas, to 



shoots, where the vine is always strong and viijorous, and where those who have been ronversant in th se matters, the lo.-sof the 



the failure in the crop chiefly arisesfrom thiscause,thegreatest crop, tho gh the vine at that time be green and flourishing, 



prudence is necessary, at the season for tying, to make choice may be easily foreseen ; whilst on the poorer soils there is gene- 



of <i proper vine ; especially in years which may be suppos d to rally a saving crop even in years when the blast is most preva- 



be a'tend d with a blist; such as thosi' wherein an easterly lent, 'lliese conside ations have suggested the protracting of 



wind has prevailed throughout the month of March, whence the growth of the vine in the manner above mentioned, which 



one may fairly conclude that the same weather will happen seems conformable to reason and experience, 

 during the course of the month of May, which never fails to 



6036 Taking the crop is a most important operation in the hop economy 



6037. Hops are known to be ready for pitlling when they acquire a strong scent, and the seeds become 

 firm and of a brown colour, which, in ordinary seasons, happens in the first or second week of September. 

 When the pulling season arrives, the utmost assiduity is requisite on the part of the planter, in order that 

 the different operations may be carried on with regularity and despatch ; as the least neglect, in any de- 

 partment of the business, proves in a great degree ruinous to the most abundant crop, especially in pre- 

 carious seasons. Gales of wind at that season, by bre<iking the lateral branches, and bruising the hops, 

 prove nearly as injurious as a long continuance of rainy weather, which never fails to spoil the colour of 

 the crop, and thereby render it less saleable. 



6038. As a preparation fur pulUiijr the hops, frames of wood, in be unsupplied with hops ; and if it is found that the hops rise 

 number proportion' d to the size of the ground, and the pickers faster than could have been expected, and that tbere are more 

 to be employed, are placed in th it part of the field which, by gathered in a day than cm bo conveniently dried ofl, some of 

 having be n most exposed to the influence of the sun, is soonest the worst pickers m ly be discharged ; it being v. ry prejudicial 

 ready. The^e frames, which, are called bins or cribs, are v. ry for the green hops to continue long in the sacks before they are 

 simple in the construction, being only four pieces of boards put on the oas', as they will in a few hours begin to heat, and 

 n;ii ed to four posts, or legs, and, when finished, are about acquire an unsigh'ly colour, which will not be taken off in the 

 seven or eight feet long, thre? feet broad, and abo it the same drying, esiieciiiUy if the season be very moist ; though, in a wet 

 height. A man always attends the pickers, whose business i is hopping, it is no easy matter to prevent ihe kilns from being 

 to cut over the vines near the ground, and to lay the poles on overrun, supposing ih it there were pickers enough to supply 

 the frames to be picked. Common'y two, but stldom more them f the weather h d been dry, b cause in a wet cold time 

 than three, poles are laid on at a time. Six, seven, or eight the hops require to lie a considerable while longer on the kiln, 

 pickers, woinen, girls, and boys, are emp'oyed at the same in order that the superabundant moisture may be dr ed up. It 



frame, three or four being ranged on each side. These, with is thertfore expedient in this ca-e that each m asuring bedi- 



the man who sorts the poles, are called a set. The hops, after vided into a number of green jiockets or pokes. The number 



being carefully separated from the leaves and branch s, or of hushels in a poke ought never to exceed el ven ; but when 



stalks, are dropned by the pickers into a large cloth, hung all the hops are wet, or likely to continue together some time before 



rviund within-side the frame on tenter-hooks. When the cloth they go on the kiln, the better way is to put only eight bushels 



is fu'l, the hops ae emptied into a large sack, which is carried in a sack, pocket, or poke 



home, and the hops laid on a kiln to be dri-d. This is always 6010. i>o//Won asserts that diligent hop-pickers, when the 



done as soon as possible fter they are picked, as they are apt to crop is tolerably abundant, will pick from e ght to ten bushels 



sustain considerable dama e, both in colour and flavour, if ea h in the day, which, when dry, will weigh about on" hun- 



allowed to rem lin long in sacks in the green state in which they died weight; and that it is common to let the pickini; of hop- 



are pulled. In very warm weithi r, and when they are pulled grounds by the bushel. The price is extremely variab!< , 



in a moist sate, they wil often heat in five or six hours : for depending no less on the goodness of the crop than on the 



this reason the kilns are kept constantly at work, both night abundance or scarcity of labourers. The greatest pirt of the 



and day, from the commencement to the conclusion of the hops cultivated in Eng'and is picked by I'eople who make a 



hop-picking setson. prac'lce of coming annually from the remote part of Wales 



60,'59. To set on a sufficient number of hands is a matter of pru- for that purpose, 

 dence, in the picking season, that the oasts or kilns may never 



6041. The operation of drying hops is not materially different from that of drying malt ; 

 and the kilns, or oasts, are of the same construction. 



6042. The hops are spread on a hnir-cloth, and from eight to ten, sometimes twelve, inches deep, accord- 

 ing to the dryness or wetness of the season and the ripeness of the hops. A thorough knowledge of the 

 best method of drying hops can only be acquired by long practice. The general rules are, to begin with a 

 slow fire, and to increase it gradually, till, hy the heat on the kiln, and the warmth of the hops, it is 

 known to have arrived at a proper height An even steady fire is then continued for eight or ten hours, 

 according to the state or circumstances of the hops, by which time the ends of thehoi)-stalks become quite 

 shrivelled and dry, which is the chief sign by which to ascertain that the hops are properly and sufficiently 

 dried. They are then taken off" the kiln, and laid in a large room or loft till they become quite cool. They 

 are now in condition to be put into bags, which is the last operation the planter has to perform previously 

 to sending his crop to market. 



604-3. When hops are dried on a coclde-oast, sea-coal is the usual fuel, and a chaldron is generally 

 esteemed the proper allowance to a load of hops. On the hair kilns, charcoal is commonly used for this 

 purpose. Fifty sacks of charcoal are termed a load, which usually sells for about fifty shillings. The 

 price for burning is three shillings per load, or twelve shillings for each cord of wood. The process of 

 drying having been completed, the hops are to be taken off the kiln, and shovelled into an adjoining 

 chamber called the stowage-room ; and in this place they are continually to be laid as they are taken oft' 

 the kiln, till it may be thought convenient to put them into bags, which is rarely done till they have lain 

 some time in the heap ; for the hops, when first taken off the kiln, being very dry, would (if put into the 

 bags at that time) break to pieces, and not draw so good a sample as when they have lain some time in 

 the heap; whereby they acquire a considerable portion of toughness, and an increase of weight. 



6044. The bagging of hops is thus performed : 



6045. In the floor of the room, where the hops are laid to cool, there is a round hole or trap, equal in 

 size to the mouth of a hop bag. After tying a handful of hops in each of the lower corners of a large bag, 

 which serve afterwards for handles, the mouth of the bag is fixed securely to a strong hoop, which is made 

 to rest on the edges of the hole or trap; and the bag itself being then dropped through the trap, the 

 packer goes into it, when a person who attends for the purpose puts in the hops in small quantities, in 

 order to give the packer an opportunity of packing and trampling them as hard as possible. When the 

 bag is filled, and the hops trampled in so hard as that it will hold no more, it is drawn up, unloosed from 

 the hoop, and the end sewed up, other two handles having been previously formed in the corners in the 

 manner mentioned above. The brightest and finest coloured hops are put into pockets or fine bagging, 

 and the brown into coarse or heavy bagging. The firmer are chiefly used for brewing fine ales, and the 

 latter by the porter brewers But it is to be observed, that where hops are intended to be kept for any 

 length of time, it is most proper to put them into coarse doth. The proper length of a bag is two ells and 

 a quarter, and of a pocket nearly the same, being one ell in width. The former, if the hops are good in 

 quality, well cured, and tight trodden, will weigh about two hundred and a half; and the latter, if of 

 the Canterbury pocketing, about one hundred and a half. If the weight either exceeds or falls much 



