THE HOP CROP. 



THE HOP is a far more important member of our " Farm 

 Crops" than the preceding plant 'the hemp which was 

 described first, on account of its cultivation and economic 

 application so greatly resembling that of the flax crop, 

 which it immediately follows in the series. In this country, 

 the hop is grown solely for its economic use in the pre- 

 paration of beer, and in this form enters largely into 

 general consumption, though it cannot claim any considera- 

 tion as an article of direct food, either for ourselves or for our 

 cattle. Although the hop plant has been known for many 

 centuries past, its early history is somewhat obscure. No 

 mention is anywhere made of it in the Scriptures; and not- 

 withstanding much discussion has taken place, and many 

 references been made to the plant by early writers, it does 

 not appear to be very satisfactorily proved that the Greeks 

 or the Romans were acquainted with the plant which we 

 now call the hop. 



Dioscorides 1 speaks of a plant to which he gives the name 

 of Smilax aspera, the same no doubt as that described by 

 Theophrastus 2 under the name of Smilax, without any 

 epithet, and which by many writers has been considered 

 as indicating the hop. That the description given agrees 

 for the most part with our hops cannot be denied ; but 

 it is, at the same time, equally true that it might be ap- 

 plied with no less propriety to many other creeping plants, 

 and certainly with the greatest probability to that which 

 in the Linnean system has retained the name of Smilax 



1 Dioscor., lib. iv. p. 244. s Hist. Plantar. , c. iii. p. 18, 



