HUMULUS LUPULUS.-THE HOP. 
Class XXII. DICECIA.— Order V. PENTAGYNIA. 
Natural Order URTICEH3. — THE NETTLE TRIBE. 
Fig. (a) is a male flower magnified. Fig. (ft) a single scale of the catkin. Fig. (c) the germen with the two styles. 
The hop is a perennial plant indigenous to this country. It grows wild in hedges, and flowers in July. It 
is very abundantly cultivated in Kent, Essex, Surrey, and Suffolk ; and the strobiles are picked about the 
end of August, or beginning of September. The root sends up numerous long striated, angular, rough, 
flexible stems which support themselves by turning spirally round upright bodies in a direction from left to 
right. The leaves are opposite, in pairs, petiolate, cordate, serrated, entire, or lobed, and dark green on the 
upper surface. Both the leaves and petioles are scabrous, with minute prickles, and at the base of each 
petiole are two interfoliaceous, entire, reflected, smooth stipules. The flowers are axillary and furnished 
with Bracteee : the male flowers are yellowish white, in panicles, and drooping ; the female, which are on 
distinct plants, are in solitary strobiles, ovate, pendulous, and composed of membranous scales of a pale 
greenish colour, tubular from being rolled in at the base, and two-flowered, each containing one round flat- 
tish seed of a brown colour, surrounded with a sharp rim, and compressed at the top. 
The culture of the hop was introduced into England from Flanders in 1524, and the strobiles were first 
used for preserving English beer in the latter part of the reign of Henry the Eighth ; but there was at first 
a strong prejudice against them, and a hundred years after, a petition to pohibit their use was presented to 
Parliament from the City of London. At present, brewers who use any other bitter for preserving their 
beer are subject to a severe penalty and the number of acres devoted to the cultivation of the hop in Great 
Britain was found, in 1830, to be 46,727- 
At the proper season, that is when the strobiles are yet scarcely ripe, the plants are cut about three 
feet from the ground, the poles round which they are twined are pulled up, and the strobiles picked off one 
by one. Those that are over-ripe or defective, are separated from those that are ripe enough, and both 
kinds are carried to the kiln as soon as possible after they are picked. The heat of the kiln requires to be 
regulated with great nicety ; and in order to prevent the hops from drying too fast, many kilns have two 
floors, on the uppermost of which the greener strobiles are laid, and gradually dried before being exposed 
to the heat of the lower floor. The fuel usually employed is charcoal. The strobiles when sufficiently dried 
become crisp, but after they are laid up in heaps they lose this property, and are somewhat tough and diffi- 
cult to pulverise. Hops have a strong peculiar, fragrant, and slightly narcotic odour, and a very bitter, 
aromatic, astringent taste. It was noticed by Sir. J. E. Smith, and M. Planche, that the scales of the hop 
secreted a yellow powder, and Dr. A. W. Ives, of New York, ascertained that the active properties of the 
hop reside in this substance, to which he accordingly gave the name of Lupulin. It has the peculiar 
flavour of the hop, and when examined with the microscope it is seen to consist of globules filled with a 
yellow fluid, like the pollen of plants. 
Uses of the Hop. The most important and familiar use of the hop is in the preparation of malt 
liquors, but it is also used medicinally in several forms. A pillow stuffed with hops has been recommended 
as a means of inducing sleep in cases of delirium and mania. This means was used with success in the case 
of King George the Third. Administered internally hop possesses narcotic, tonic, and other medicinal pro- 
perties. Dr. Maton found, that besides allaying pain and inducing sleep, it diminishes the frequency and 
increases the firmness of the pulse. It is sometimes serviceable in cases of dyspepsia attended with general 
irritability and sleeplessness, and has been advantageously used externally as an anodyne and discutient. 
On the whole its medicinal virtues appear to have been over-rated, and practitioners in general have little 
confidence in it. 
The hop requires a very rich mellow soil and careful cultivation. It is very tender, and the produce 
is precarious, sometimes giving a great profit to the grower, and at other times failing altogether. The 
greatest quantity of hops is raised in Kent, but the finest quality in the neighbourhood of Farnham in 
Surrey. The soil of a hop-garden must be rich to a considerable depth, or made so artificially. The subsoil 
must be dry and sound ; a porous rocky subsoil, covered with two or three feet of good vegetable mould, is 
the best for hops. The exposure should be towards the south, on the slope of a hill, or in a well-sheltered 
valley. Old rich pastures make the best hop-gardens. They should be dug two or more spits deep, and 
