METHOD OF PICKING. 375 



nut. As the process of harvesting is by handpicking, 

 additional labour is always required in hop districts at 

 this period, and this should be previously secured by those 

 who wish to do full justice to their special cultivation. 



The usual method of picking adopted in the Kent 

 hop-growing districts is thus given in the prize essay be- 

 fore quoted: " Hops are either picked in large baskets or 

 in bins, the latter being the most general, the bin-frames 

 being sufficiently large to take a cloth for two persons, or 

 a family of a woman with two or three children, to pick 

 into ; a man to pull poles to every four or five of these 

 bins, to what is called a bin's company, consisting of eight 

 or ten adult pickers, or of such a number of children 

 as may be equal thereto. The pole-puller or bin-man, 

 as he is called, in addition to his labour of pulling poles, 

 has to hold up the bag or poke for the man who measures 

 to put the green hops in, to carry them to the waggon or 

 cart that takes them away to the " oast/' and to strip the 

 bines off the poles after the hops are all picked ; for the 

 sooner the bines are taken off the poles the better, since 

 when lying in heaps in wet weather they are very liable 

 to be injured, as the bines hold the wet. The bin-man 

 with his pickers is placed to a certain number of hills, 

 which is called a "set," and remains with them there 

 until it is all picked, and then they move altogether 

 to another set: 100 hills are generally put to a set, 

 which afterwards form a stack of poles. These arrange- 

 ments, though perhaps of small importance, tend to pre- 

 vent confusion and promote regularity among the pickers, 

 particularly when there are a great number employed. 

 Hops are picked by the bushel, and are measured in a 

 basket containing about 10 gallons imperial measure; 

 the basket should be lightly filled level with the rim. 

 The price paid per bushel varies with the crop, from 3 to 4 

 bushels for Is., up to 9 or 10 bushels in good crops; they 



