250 
Hop Cultivation. 
situated at the base of the bract. The time for picking 
these strobiles is indicated by their change from a light gold 
colour to a somewhat deeper hue, also by their closing up at the 
tips and making a rustling sound when touched. Their seeds 
are firm and dark-coloured when the strobiles are fit to pick. 
At the same time, it must be said that hops “go off ,: so fast 
in these degenerate days, and get brown so soon, that in many 
cases they have to be picked before they show these indications of 
ripeness. Light-coloured hops are in much demand also for 
pale ales ; consequently many planters begin to pick as soon as 
the hops will take the fire, and before they are actually ripe, 
though this entails a sacrifice of weight and brewing power. 
Picking now generally begins from about the commence- 
ment to the end of the last week in August. In hot seasons 
early hops are ready even before these dates, such as Meopliams, 
Prolifics, and White’s Early Goldings. Brandings follow on 
quickly in order of ripening. Then come Grapes and Goldings 
of various kinds. In Herefordshire and Worcestershire, after 
Meophams, etc., Brandings and Cooper’s Whites follow on, 
then Mathons and Fuggle’s. 
Planters, as far as possible, arrange their plantations so as 
to have a regular succession at picking time. As a rule, the 
picking season lasts about three weeks. Formerly it lasted 
five or six weeks, when brown samples were in considerable 
demand, but now these are difficult to sell, and there is a 
general rush to get the hops picked as quickly as possible. 
The hop-picking season is a great harvest for the labouring 
classes in the hop districts, and all with one accord turn out to 
this work, which is light and pleasant. Besides the inhabitants 
proper, crowds of immigrants swarm to many of the hop- 
producing villages in Kent and Sussex from London, and in 
Herefordshire and Worcestershire from Birmingham, Wolver- 
hampton, and other large towns. In Hants and Surrey pickers 
come to the hop gardens from the neighbouring villages and 
small towns. At least 60,000 strangers come into Kent and 
Surrey from the courts and alleys of London and elsewhere by 
special “ hoppers’ ” trains, at cheap rates, and by road. These 
are provided with lodgings, straw for bedding, faggots for fuel, 
and water for cooking and washing, by the planters. The 
lodgings are, ordinarily, rows of single rooms or compartments, 
seven feet by nine feet, each having a door, built of brick, or stone, 
or lath and plaster, with slate, tile, or corrugated iron roofs. 1 Some 
1 The Sanitary Authorities in the hop districts have codes of bye-laws 
regulating the accommodation for hop-pickers 
