HOPS. ORDER PIPER ACE^, OR PEPPER TRIBE. 499 



this order, that now remains to be noticed, is Hops ; this consists 

 of the little scales, which form a sort of cone like that of the Fir, 

 having a small pistilline flower at the base of each ; these scales 

 are to be regarded as bracts. This plant, although apparently 

 truly wild in many parts of the country, is considered by some 

 to be not a native of Britain, having been introduced from Flan- 

 ders about three centuries ago ; but it is now very extensively 

 cultivated, as much as 56,000 acres being employed for hop- 

 gardens, of which nearly all are situated in the counties of Kent, 

 Sussex, Worcester, and Hereford. The duty upon their growth 

 is heavy ; and the crop is an extremely uncertain one ; so that 

 the price is frequently high, and is liable to great fluctuations. 

 In 1837, the excise duty on the Hops grown in England amounted 

 to nearly 311,000, of which the county of Kent contributed 

 one half. Besides their use in brewing, hops may be made ser- 

 viceable, through their narcotic properties, in procuring sleep ; 

 the use of a pillow stuffed with them has been much recom- 

 mended in cases of habitual wakefulness. 



675. The small order PIPERACE^E, the Pepper tribe, claims 

 notice on account of its utility to Man. Several hundred species 

 are now known ; but they all so closely resemble each other, as 

 to form no more than two genera. They are all tropical plants, 

 abounding in the hottest regions ; and they all possess, in a 

 greater or less degree, the pungent aromatic principle familiar 

 to us. The Exogenous character of the group is by no means 

 distinct ; and of it, with the addition of Menispermaeeae and a 

 few other orders, Dr. Lindley has made a separate class, which he 

 has termed Homogens. On the other hand, it has been placed 

 by some Botanists among Endogens, more especially as in 

 most species there is but a single cotyledon. The structure 

 of the flowers is extremely simple. No vestige of the perianth 

 remains, except a little scale, which is probably to be regarded 

 as a bract; this protects the organs of fructification, which 

 consist of a one-celled ovarium, surmounted by a stigma cleft 

 into two or three divisions, and surrounded by two or three 

 stamens partly adherent to it. These simple flowers are clus- 



