Analyses of the Mineral Ingredients of the Hop. 
211 
It is a dioecious plant, some plants bearing male flowers, and 
others female flowers. The female flowers of the plant consti- 
tute the hops. The male hop is known in Kent as the wild hop 
or the blind hop, and is very generally eradicated from the hop- 
gardens, because its small flowers so soon wither away : they 
wither only however, after having prepared the pollen necessary 
to impregnate the female flowers. It has been found by expe- 
rience very beneficial to encourage the growth of the wild hop in 
the vicinity of the hop-plantations, as when the female flowers 
are impregnated with the pollen from the males, they become 
much larger and furnish a greater weight of hops, of a more 
powerful bitter and more agreeable flavour. 
The cultivation of the hop is one of the most important items 
in farming, in Kent, Sussex, and parts of Surrey, Hampshire, 
Herefordshire, and Worcestershire ; and requires at the same time 
a greater capital per acre than any other crop. It seems, there- 
fore, a matter of some surprise that no one has hitherto engaged 
in the analysis of the ashes of this plant, in order to discover the 
quality and weight of the mineral ingredients removed from the 
soil by the hop. 
It is well known to all hop-farmers, that hops require more 
manure for their proper development than any other plant which 
they cultivate. 
Being anxious, if possible, to render the cultivation of this plant 
less expensive, I undertook the analysis in our laboratory, of the 
mineral ingredients of the hop, of two varieties, and grown upon 
widely different geological formations. The first samples ana- 
lysed were the produce of four hills of the Golding Hop, kindly 
furnished me by John M. Paine, Esq., of Farnham. Farnham. 
itself is peculiarly situated just at the junction of the tertiary, 
chalk, and upper and lower green sand formations. 
The land upon which these hops were grown has been long 
under cultivation. There is an artificial vegetable mould of about 
two feet in depth, resting upon a stratum of loam mixed with 
marl rubble, below which is the upper greensand, or firestone of 
geologists. This is an excellent stone for building ; and between 
the interstices of the stones to a great depth, the finely commi- 
nuted portions of the upper soil appear to have been washed from 
time to time, and in their crevices the roots of the hop are always 
found to grow with much luxuriance. 
Nearly the whole of the best description of hop-land at Farn- 
ham is of the above description. 
The Golding Hop, 
These hops were picked in September, 1845, and, together 
with the leaves and bine, were sent to me in the latter end of that 
p 2 
