THE HOP — continued. 
sepals and the same number of short epiphyllous stamens, with slender filaments 
and basi-fixed anthers opening by two terminal slit-like pores, so that the pollen 
only escapes a little at a time. 
The pistillate flowers are produced in ovoid, cone-like catkins on slightly 
branched axillary shoots, the cone or “ strobilus ” being made up of broad, thin, 
concave, imbricate scales, in the axil of each of which are two naked ovaries each 
with a sheathing bracteole. Each ovary is surmounted by two long spreading, 
purple, downy stigmas which are mature at least two days before the anthers. A 
cup-like perianth grows up around the ovary, and the whole strobilus becomes much 
enlarged, reaching three times its size when in the flower stage and changing from 
green to yellow. Bracts, bracteoles, and ovary become thickly studded with yellow 
glands containing the waxy and resinous bitter principle known as lupulin. Each of 
these glands is a hemisphere with a truncated obconic base. The ovary becomes a 
small indehiscent nut or achene, containing one exalbuminous seed with a spirally- 
coiled embryo. 
A few staminate plants used to be planted in every hop-field ; but it has been 
found that some male flowers are produced on the female plants, and it is believed } 
moreover, that the formation of lupulin, the valuable principle of the Hop, is 
independent of fertilisation. The plants flower in July and August and the strobiles 
are ripe for picking in September or October. 
In brewing, Hops serve three distinct purposes : they give a bitter flavour to 
the sweet malt liquor ; check the acetous fermentation and thus enable the beer to 
be kept ; and clarify the liquid by precipitating the albuminous matter of the malt. 
Their pleasant and safe narcotic properties, which are brought out by heat, make a 
warm pillow stuffed with them useful in insomnia. 
The “ bine ” or stem has been treated for the extraction of its fibre, either by 
prolonged steeping or by boiling in alkali and then rinsing in water and acetic acid ; 
and the leaves have been recommended as a fresh fodder for cows, being said to 
improve their milk-giving capacity. The tops are also eaten like Asparagus, which 
they precede in date. Since, however, Hops are a most exhausting crop, there is 
much to be said for the practice of burning the bine and restoring its ash, and the 
spent hops from the brewery, to the soil. 
Humuleta, or hop-gardens, on the Continent of Europe, are mentioned in the 
eighth century ; and there is some evidence of the casual and private cultivation of 
the plant in England before its introduction on a large scale from Flanders in 1524. 
To hide sheds, or to cover arbours or trellis work, the Hop can be easily grown 
in ordinary loam, preferring a sunny situation. There is also one other species in 
the genus, H. japonicus Siebold and Zuccarini, a vigorous large-leaved annual, which 
can be raised from seed sown in heat in March. Of this there is a variety with 
its leaves variegated with two shades of yellow. 
