PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR FLOWERS, ETC. 1G3 



In spite of the entirely wild appearance of the hop in 

 Europe in districts far from cultivation, it has been some- 

 times asked if it is not of Asiatic orioin.-^ I do not think 

 this can be proved, nor even that it is likely. The fact 

 that the Greeks and Latins have not spoken of the use 

 of the hop in making beer is easily explained, as they 

 were almost entirely unacquainted with this drink. If 

 the Greeks have not mentioned the plant, it is simply 

 perhaps because it is rare in their country. From the 

 Italian name liipulo it seems likely that Pliny speaks of 

 it with other vegetables under the name luims salictarius.^ 

 That the custom of brcAving with hops only became 

 general in the Middle Ages proves nothing, except that 

 other plants were formerly employed, as is still the case 

 in some districts. The Kelts, the Germans, otlier peoples 

 of the north and even of the soutli who had the vine, 

 made beer ^ either of barley or of other fermented grain, 

 addino; in certain cases different ve2;etable substances — the 

 bark of the oak or of the tamarisk, for instance, or the 

 fruits of Mi/rica gale} It is very possible that they 

 did not soon discover the advantages of the hop, and that 

 even after these were recognized, they employed wild 

 hops before beginning to cultivate them. The first men- 

 tion of hop-gardens occurs in an act of donation made by 

 Pepin, father of Charlemagne, iji 7G8.^ In the fourteenth 

 century it was an important object of culture in Germany, 

 but it began in England only under Henry VIII.^ 



The common names of the hop only furnish negative 

 indications as to its origin. There is no Sanskrit name,'^ 



be corrected. Humulus Lxtpuhus is indigenous in the east of the United 

 States, and also in the island of Yeso, according to a letter from 

 Maximowicz. — Author's Note, 1884. 



* Hehn, Nutzpflanzen und Hausthiere in ihren Uehergang aus Asien, 

 edit. 3, p. 415. 



^ Piiny, Hid., bk. 21, c. 15. He mentions asparagus in this con- 

 nection, and the young shoots of the hop are s(nietinies eaten in this 

 manner. 



' Tacitus, Germania, cap. 25; Pliny, bk. 18, c. 7; Hehn, Kultur- 

 pjlanzen, edit. 3, pp. 125-137. 



* Volz, Beitrage zur Cidfurgeschichte, p. 149. ® Ibid. 

 ' Beckmann, Erfindungen, quoted by Vol?;. 



' Piddiugton, hidex ; Pick, Worterl). Indo-Germ. Sprachen, i. ; Ur- 

 spraolie. 



