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The Hop was well known to the Romans, 

 and is mentioned by Pliny under the name 

 of Lupus salictarius. It gradually spread 

 through Europe during the middle ages, 

 but was not cultivated in England till the 

 year 1524, when it was introduced from 

 Flanders, though not without violent op- 

 position, petitions against it being pre- 

 sented to Parliament, in which it was 

 stigmatised as ' a wicked weed that would 

 spoil the drink, and endanger the people.' 

 At the present day, the principal hop-pro- 

 ducing countries are England, Belgium, 

 Bavaria, and the United States. In Eng- 

 land about 50,000 acres are devoted to it, 

 chiefly in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Wor- 

 cestershire, and Herefordshire, and more 

 sparingly in Essex, Suffolk, Surrey, York- 

 shire, &c. Several varieties are known, 

 the finest of which are the White Bines, 

 the Goldings, and the Grapes. The plants 

 are supported during growth upon stout 

 poles varying in height from ten to twenty 

 feet. When the hop-picking season arrives, 

 usually early in September, the stems are 

 cut through at about a yard from the 

 ground, and the poles pulled up, so that the 

 hops may readily be picked off by hand. As 

 soon as possible after picking, they are 

 conveyed to the oast houses, where they 

 are spread upon hair cloths and thoroughly 

 dried by means of hot air, and afterwards 

 pressed into large hempen bags called 

 pockets, in which they are brought to 

 market. 



The hop crop is a very fluctuating one. 

 In 1859 it amounted to 68,496,727 lbs., but 

 in 1860 it was only 11,162,777 lbs.; whilst the 

 imports of foreign hops in the same years 

 were respectively 248,640 lbs., and 7,718,816 

 lbs. The Excise duty of l£d. per lb., 

 and the Customs duty of 21. 5s. per cwt. 

 (now reduced to 17,), yielded in 1860 a total 

 revenue of 79,4397. 



Hops serve three important purposes in 

 brewing; 1st, they impart an agreeable 

 flavour to the beer ; 2nd, they check ace- 

 tous fermentation and thus render the 

 beer capable of being kept ; 3rd, their tan- 

 nin helps to clarify the beer by preci- 

 pitating the albumen of the barley. Their 

 active qualities reside principally in the 

 golden yellow grains of lupuline with 

 which they are covered. Besides their use 

 in brewing they are sometimes prescribed 

 as a tonic; and, on account of their nar- 

 cotic odour, pillows stuffed with them are 

 employed to induce sleep. [A. S.] 



HUNGERWEED. Ranunculus arvensis. [ a 



HUNNEMANNIA. An erect-growing pe- 

 rennial belonging to the Papaveracece, and 

 allied to Eschscholtzia, from which it is dis- ! 

 tinguished by its single peltate four-fur- : 

 rowed stigma, by its ten-ribbed pod-like 

 seed-vessel, and by the absence of a disk- ! 

 like receptacle. H. fumaricefolia, the only \ 

 species, is a native of Mexico ; it grows to 

 the height of two or three feet, with glau- 

 cous leaves resembling those of thefumito- 

 ries, and bears largesolitary terminal flow- ' 

 ers like those of Eschscholtzia. [C. A. JJ 1 



HUNTERIA. A genus of dogbanes, hav- 

 ing a funnel-shaped corolla with a border 

 of five oblique divisions; five stamens at- 

 tached to the upper part of the tube of the 

 corolla ; and a fruit consisting of twin ber- 

 ries with two seeds. The species are na- 

 tives of Asia, and attain considerable size ; 

 the leaves are in pairs or threes, entire 

 and smooth; and the flowers are small 

 in terminal or axillary clusters. [G. D.] 



HUNTLEYA. A small genus of epiphytal 

 orchids of tropical America, related to 

 Zygopetalum, from which, according to Dr. 

 Lindley, there is nothing to distinguish 

 tbem except the excessively enlarged 

 column, and the union of the sepals at the 

 base as in Maxillaria. H. violacea, from 

 Demerara, has large flowers, of an intense 

 violet colour, which is not at all usual 

 amongst orchids. The plant consists of a 

 short stem with a few wiry roots, a tuft 

 of strap-shaped leaves, and one-flowered 

 drooping stalks from the axils of the lower 

 leaves. The sepals and petals are oblong i 

 and crisped, the lip kidney-shaped, with a 

 naked brown grooved crest, and the column ; 

 boat-shaped as large as the lip. Bollea 

 violacea is another name for it. H.Meleaciris 

 is of somewhat similar habit, but with an 

 erect flower-stalk, pointed sepals and petals 

 of a pale yellow at the base and claret- 

 coloured towards the apex, and a nearly 

 white lip. This plant is called Batemannia \ 

 Meleagris by Reichenbach. [A. A. B.] j 



HUNTSMAN'S CAP. Sarracenia pur- \ 

 purea. | 



HURA. A genus of the spurgewort fa- ■ 

 mily, differing from all others in the many- ; 

 celled ovary, and the peculiar structure | 

 of the sterile flowers. H. crepitans, the | 

 Sand-box tree, indigenous in tropical Ame- ! 

 rica, known as Javilla in Panama, Acupa ; 

 and Habillo in New Granada, and com- j 

 monly cultivated in most tropical coun- j 

 tries, is the only species. Itisabranching j 

 tree of thirty to forty feet high, often i 

 planted for the sake of its shade, for which j 

 it is well adapted, having a great abun- j 

 dance of glossy poplar-like leaves. The i 

 reddish inconspicuous flowers are sterile, | 

 and fertile on different plants; the former i 

 in stalked catkin-like heads, each flower I 

 with a cup-sbaped calyx, and a central j 

 column around which are one or many rows i 

 of scale-like bodies, each supporting on its 

 concave face a stamen ; the latter, solitary . 

 and stalked in the axils of the leaves, with 



like calyx and a rounded ovary terminated 

 by a singularly long trumpet-shaped style, 

 the terminal cup-like portion of which has 

 a reflexed many-toothed border. The cu- 

 rious, rounded, hard-shelled fruits are about 

 the size of an orange, and have as many 

 deep furrows as there are cells, each 

 cell containing a single flattened seed. 

 When the fruit is ripe and exposed to the 

 action of a dry atmosphere, it bursts with 

 great force, accompanied by a loud sharp 

 crack like the report of a pistol, for which 

 reason it is often called the Monkey's 

 Dinner-bell. The seeds are emetic, in a 



