PENTANDRIA. DIGYNIA. Beta. 
351 
BETA.* Cal . five-cleft; closed on the ripened seed: Bloss 0 
none : Seed kidney-shaped, horizontal, immersed in the 
fleshy calyx. 
B. marit'ima. (Stems procumbent at the base: flowers mostly in 
pairs: segments of the calyx very entire. E.) 
Differs from B. vulgaris in flowering the first year ; in the leaves growing 
oblique or vertical; in the leaves of the calyx being equal, and not 
poles being entirely covered with verdure, and the flowers depending from them in 
clusters and light festoons. 
“ Lo, on auxiliary poles, the Hops 
' Ascending spiral, ranged in meet array.” 
As soon as the seed is formed, the Hops, (the seed-vessels of the fertile plants), are 
picked off by women and children, (for this process the poles being taken down. The 
Hops are then dried over a charcoal fire, and exposed a few days to the air, after which 
they are packed in sacks and sent to market. By an accurate return in 1826, it appears 
that the number of acres in cultivation for Hops amounted in Worcestershire to 8045; 
in Herefordshire 12,352 ; throughout England 50,471 acres. Years ago, when the rent of 
land and labour was far lower than at the present period, the expenses per acre for Hops 
were estimated at about 15/., and a fair produce worth nearly double that sum ; so that 
the clear profit might then be deemed nearly cent per cent. But latterly, according 
to Mr. Arthur Young, the expenses are at least doubled, while the average crop remains 
nearly the same both in quantity and value. E.) If the hop-yards were covered with 
stones, the plants would be less liable to suffer from the honey dew or from the Otter- 
Moth : for the honey dew is the excrement of a species of Aphis, but these insects seldom 
increase so as to endanger the plant, unless it be in a weak condition ; and the larvae of 
the Otter-Moth at the roots, first occasion the plant to be sickly. When the Hop grows 
wild in stony places and fissures of rocks, where the moth cannot penetrate to deposit its 
eggs, the plant is never known to suffer from the honey dew. (The common green Aphis 
lives through the winter on herbaceous plants, and as spring advances both sexes of these 
insects acquire wings, and are then called the Fly, which may be seen from this period 
sitting on the Hop plants, or floating in the air all around. For various interesting particu¬ 
lars respectingthe habits of Aphides , vid. Curtis in Linn. Tr. v. vi. E.) The young shoots 
are eaten early in the spring as asparagus, and are sold under the name of Hop tops. 
Horses, cows, sheep, goats and swine eat it. The Papilio Io. C. album, the Otter, 
Phalama Humuli and rostralis live upon it. It will dye wool yellow, (but the principal 
use is as a mordant. E.) What is that electrical murmur, like very distant thunder, when 
the hop poles are shaken by the wind ? Linnaeus inquires. (We venture to suggest, probably 
nothing more than the sound occasioned by the agitation and collision of innumerable, and 
often exsiccated branches, leaves, and flowers. E.) Soil and cultivation occasion some vari¬ 
eties, as the Garlic, Long White , and Oval Hop ; but for the common purposes of brewing 
they are distinguished as Kentish or Worcestershire Hops, (the former kind (those from 
Farnham preferred) is more intensely bitter than the latter. The culture of the Hop is likely 
to be extended into the counties of Somerset and Devon. E.) A decoction of the roots, 
or from 20 to 30 grains of the extract, is said to be sudorific, and to answer the purposes 
of Sarsaparilla. (A pillow filled with hops is reported to produce comfortable repose in 
cases where opiates have been unsuccessful. The bind or straw of hops contains an 
excellent hemp for making cloth, (as long ago practised in Sweden), canvass, ropes, and 
the very best materials for making all kinds of paper. Instead of being thrown away or 
burnt after the hops have been picked, it should be steeped for five or six days in water, 
dried in a stove, and beat in the same way as flax and hemp. Hall, in Month. Mag. 26. 
Such a manufacture is in some degree established, and very properly encouraged by the 
Society of Arts and Commerce. A tincture prepared/ rom hops and sold in the shops, 
is sometimes prescribed with good effect as an anodyne. E.) 
* (This generic name is derived from the rorm of the seed-vessel, which, when swollen 
with seed, resembles the second Greek letter B, (beta.) E.) 
