HOP-GROWING IN ENGLAND 185 



of wandering gipsies arriving at fair-time to tell the 

 country folk their fortunes. 1 



It is sometimes stated that the hop was brought 

 to England from the Netherlands, but there seems 

 no reason to doubt that the plant is indigenous. 

 The first English writer on hop-culture was one 

 Scot, who in the year 1574 published " A Perfite 

 Platforme of a Hoppe Garden." Our supplies until 

 then had been mainly drawn from the Netherlands, 

 and he patriotically points out that there was no 

 necessity for bringing from abroad the hops that 

 we could quite easily grow ourselves. "The 

 Flemings," he declares, "envie our practice herein, 

 who altogether seek their owne profite, to cramme 

 us with the wares and fruites of their countrie, 

 dazeling us with the discommendation of our soyle, 

 obscuring and falsifying, and sending us into 

 Flanders for that whiche we may finde at home 

 in our own banksides." On reference to Harrison's 

 " Description of England," a book published in 

 1587, we find that Scot's appeal had borne good 

 fruit, since we find him declaring that, " Of late 



1 " Divers and many outlandish people calling themselves 

 Egyptians, using no craft or feat of merchandize, have come 

 into this realme, and gone from shire to shire, and place 

 to place, in great company, and used great subtil and crafty 

 means to deceive the people, bearing them in hand that they 

 by palmistry could tell men's and women's fortunes, and so 

 many times by subtilty have deceived the people of their 

 money " (Portion of Act of Parliament fulminated against 

 these wanderers in reign of Henry VIII.). 



