METHOD OF CULTIVATING THE HOP. 
143 
“ The quantity of Hops taken to Albany and the neigh 
pouring towns on the Hudson, this year (1834), has been 
estimated at 2,300 bales, or 50,000 lbs., which, had not many 
of them been prematurely gathered, or badly cared, would 
have yielded to the growers ninety or a hundred thousand 
dollars. But of the 2,300 bales theie was not more than 
200 bales, we are informed, that ought to have received the 
denomination of first sorts. Many of them were picked too 
early, before the matter that imparts to them their value was 
sufficiently developed ; and others were scorched or smoked 
in curing. This carelessness has seriously affected the char- 
acter of our Hops abroad, and they are no longer purchased 
by the Philadelphia brewers. They would soon form an im- 
portant article of export, if their character was raised by 
care in their culture and drying, and a rigid inspection.” 
The young shoots of both wild and cultivated Hops are 
considered by some as very wholesome, and are frequently 
gathered in the spring, boiled, and eaten as Asparagus. The 
stalks and leaves will dye wool yellow. From the stalk a 
strong cloth is made in Sweden, the mode of preparing which 
is described by Linnaeus in his Flora Suecica. A decoction 
of the roots is said to be as good a sudorific as Sarsaparilla ; 
and the smell of the flowers is soporific. A pillow filled with 
Hop flowers will induce sleep, unattended with the bad effects 
of soporifics, which require to be taken internally. 
