462 H U M U 
in which four or five cuttings are placed, each three or 
four inches in length ; they are covered an inch deep with 
the fine mould, and prelfed down clofe with the-hand. 
Cuttings do not require any (licks; but nurfery-plants 
muft have thicks or.fmall poles, fix or feven feet high, the 
year; in both cafes the land is kept clean during- the 
fiummer by liorfe and hand hoeing ; the next winter it is 
dug, and early in the fpring the old binds are cut off 
fmootb, about an inch below the furface; a little fine, 
mould is then drawn over the crown-of the hills. As 
foon as the young fhoots appear, fo that the hills may be 
feen, they are thick with fmall poles, from feven to ten 
feet long, in proportion to the length it is expefted the 
bind will run ; thefe poles .are called feconds, and are ge¬ 
nerally bought in the woods at from five (hillings to eight 
thillings the hundred, and three of them are placed to each 
hill. As foon as the binds are about two feet in length, 
women are employed to tie them to the poles ; and the 
land is kept clean during the funrmer with horfe and hand 
hoeing as before. ‘ The proper time'for gathering them is 
known by,the hop rubbing freely to pieces, and the feed 
beginning to turn brown. Tljey are picked in baficets 
containing five bufhels each, and are carried to the oaft in 
bags, at noon and evening, for drying. 
The fecond year after planting, full-fixed poles, from 
fifteen to twenty feet in length, according to the ftrength 
of the land, coiling from fixteen ihillings to thirty-fix 
(hillings the hundred, are placed to the hills inftead of 
the feconds, which are removed to younger grounds. 
Here great care is necelfary not to over-pole,for thus young 
grounds are often much weakened ; - and, it is equally ne- 
ceffary not to over-dung them, as that will make them 
mouldy. Fifty cart-loads of well-rotted farm-yard dung 
and mould,' once in three years, are generally elleemed 
fufiicient for an acre of land. 
In order to have hops of a good quality: iil. They 
ought to be ripe before they are gathered ; and, in get¬ 
ting io; they pafs from a green to a rich yellow colour, 
idly. They ought to grow on a foil, that, inftead of en¬ 
larging the fize of the hop, grows them full Of farina, 
(provincially condition.) 3dly. They ought to be very 
much but flowly dried, and then packed for market in the 
thickeft covering that can be found, to prelerve their 
ftrength. The colour of hops that hang till they are ripe 
can never be fo beautiful as if they were gathered green, 
for they are generally bruifed by the equinoctial winds. 
But the quality of their bitter is fuperior in flavour, goes 
farther, and will never deceive in brewing ; they will alfo 
keep good, when full dried, many years. 
The implements necelfary to a hop-ground are, i. An 
oait (to every plantation of four or five acres) about fix¬ 
teen feet fquare, which, built fubilantially with the requi- 
fite ftowage-room, colls from 150I. to 200I. 2. A let of 
picking-baikets, about twelve in number, which colt about 
5s. 6d. each. Alio a good fcale-beam with weights and 
fcales, which together colt about 5I. 3. A Ikim made 
with a frame like a wheel-barrow, which colls about two 
guineas. This implement is very ufeful for tearing up 
weeds on fummer-lallows. 4.. A harrow to be drawn by 
one horfe, with a fmall wheel in front, to go round at the 
ends of the plantation, and-a pair of handles to be holden 
by the man who follows it, in order to keep it from broil¬ 
ing the binds. It colts il. 1 5s. 5. An iron peeler to make 
holes in the land for the poles, colling 6s. or 7s. and a 
hop-dog to wrench them up, cofting 5s. 
Mr. Miller mentions only three varieties of the hop. 
In Surrey they have what they call the orchard-hop, which 
bears a long fquare ftrobile, and is perhaps the fame with 
Mr. Miller’s firft ; the llreaked bind ; two or three varie¬ 
ties of white bind; fmooth and rough red bind. The 
mofc elleemed are the llreaked and the white bind. The 
fmooth red is of little value; and, as to the lad, it is gene¬ 
rally eradicated whenever it appears. The white Canter¬ 
bury bind is moitly in ufe- The golden hop with a white 
bind, which is probably the fame with Mr. Miller’s oval 
L U S. 
hop, ripens later than the other, and therefore on that ac¬ 
count may be ufeful to the planter. There is alfo the 
clulter-hop, produced from a white bind, but having the 
hops growing more in clullers than the others. The 
llreaked bind is a defirable hop for a part at lead of a 
plantation, being early, of a pleafant flavour, and gene¬ 
rally of a good lize. As to the term garlic , it is not ap¬ 
propriate to any one variety ; for they will all acquire 
that fort of fmell from diflemper. 
The hop-grower has many enemies to dread. A fly, 
fimilar to that which is fo injurious to turnips, attacks 
hops on their fird appearance in the fpring, and fome- 
times dedroys the fird (hoot entirely ; it is a very fmall 
animal, and, on going near to touch it, retreats into the 
ground with the nimblenefs of a bed-flea. A handful of 
allies fcattered over every hill, is very ferviceable in driving 
them away. The next enemy is the fly rnentioned by Mr. 
Miller, by which he means the long-winged fly, as it is 
here called. The appearance of thefe animals is dreaded 
by the planter as a pedilence ; they are the forerunners of 
lice, and in the end generally prove fatal to the crop. It 
is an opinion with many, that rain will walh them ofi', 
but in this they midake, for they modly Ihelter them- 
ielves on the under fide of the leaf, where no rain can 
touch them. Lightning feems to be their greatefl ene¬ 
my. Honey-dews are likewife very injurious to hops; 
cauling their leaves to turn black, fhrink, and at length 
fall off. They are fometimesTo affefted with this didem- 
per and the lice united, as to perilh entirely, and require 
to be planted anew for many hills together. Another ca¬ 
lamity to which hops are liable is the red blight. This 
l'eldom attacks them until the time of their coming to 
maturity ; cauling the hops to turn reddilh, or rather 
of deep-yellow, and the leaves frequently to grow pale 
and fickly. When this is the cafe, they acquire a garlic¬ 
like fmell, and ought to be picked with the greateft ex¬ 
pedition. This diforder being incident to particular 
lands, thofe efpecially of a-light and weak nature, it ap¬ 
pears rather to be a natural decay than a blight. 
Experience will bed teach the planter when his hops 
are fit for picking. It is however the more prudent way 
to begin too foon than too late, as the high winds which 
prevail towards the equinox many times produce more 
injury to the planter than he would fudain by beginning- 
a day or two before his hops were thoroughly ripe. A 
bufliel of green hops, in a favourable year, when they are 
\ye 11 conditioned, will yield about a pound and a half in 
weight when dry. 
Hops are occafionally very profitable, but they are very 
uncertain in their produce, and are fure to be very ex- 
penfive. To iefi'en the expence of poling, and the trou¬ 
ble of picking, it has been fuggeded that planting hops 
in form of an efpalier might probably anfwer; for it is 
obferved, that when a pole falls, and another is obliged’ 
to be fixed in a lateral pofition, the hops always bear more 
by being thus trained horizontally; and hops in an efpalier 
might be picked as forward as the planter chofe without 
cutting the vines. If hops alfo were only planted in fuch 
foils and fituations as are well adapted to- them, there 
would be a much greater probability of an efficient crop; 
and. thus, though the expence would net be dirhinilhed, 
the average profit would be ihereafed. 
The quantity of hops produced on different foils in dif¬ 
ferent years, varies from almod nothing, or perhaps two 
hundred-weight, to twenty and even twenty-fourhundred- 
weight on an acre ; but, the average produce on mid¬ 
dling foils may be eftimated at fix, and on-fuch as are 
better at feven or eight, hundred-weight; fome fpeak of 
nine, and a good foil, with a run .of favourable years, may 
yield fuch, a produce, or even more, but it ought not to 
Ire looked upon as general. The expence on an acre of 
hops may be eftimated at about thirty pounds, including 
rent, taxes, &c. Taking then feven hundred-weight to 
be the average produce, the planters mult evidently be- 
lofers when they fell for four guineas; yet, the average 
price 
