Hop (plant)

“ Of these twining stems, one of the most interesting and beautiful is the common Hop. The young shoots or suckers which come from the ground may be seen waving their stems helplessly round in the air. If they cannot find something to cling to, then they form weak limp curves, but if one such shoot touches a pole it very soon obtains a hold, wraps itself round the support, and easily climbs up to a height of many feet. But the Hop is worth examining closely. If one passes the fingers along the stem, it feels rough and prickly. ”

“ Saaz and Auscha, the two most noted hop-growing districts of Bohemia, are rivals in the production of a hop which is not surpassed by any other in the world, and is equalled in aroma and fine bitter flavor only by the finest "Golding" hop of Kent, England. Each region claims priority as to being the one in which the hop plant was first cultivated, back in almost prehistoric times. ”

“ The Hop is what botanists term a diœcious plant, because staminate flowers only are produced by one individual, and pistillate only by another, making cross-fertilization imperative. It is not the insects, however, that effect this crossing in the Hop, but the wind. The flowers are all small; the staminate produced from the axils of the leaves in long drooping panicles. They have no petals, but there are five sepals and five anthers attached to their bases. Each pistillate flower has a membranous sepal, an ovary, and two long tapering purple stigmas. ”

“ Its great value consists in that it is the seed of the hop plant, all seeds contributing by far the greatest value in manures.
In the green-house the object aimed at, is the greatest possible results from limited area. Of the atmosphere the gardener has almost absolute control—no siroccos, biting frost, or destructive winds interfere. He can beat nature all to pieces in growing plants faultless in shape and in quantity of flowers, but his soil is of limited extent for the roots to wander in. ”

“ HE hops used in beer-brewing are the female flowers of the hop plant known to botanists as the Humulus lupulus of Linnæus. At first sight it may seem strange that hops and wolves should have anything in common, but it has been explained that the word lupulus comes from the name by which the Romans called the hop plant—Lupus Salictarius—the idea being that the hop was as destructive among the willows (where it grew) as a wolf among sheep. ”

“ So long as the hop plant maintains its health the aphis is comparatively harmless, for the plant is then able to elaborate to the full the bitter principle which is its natural protection. On a really hot day in July it is sometimes possible to detect the distinctive scent of the hop quite plainly in walking through the plantation, long before any hops appear, and when this is noticeable very little of the aphis blight can be found. ”

“ The variety known as Fuggle’s, a heavy-cropping though slightly coarse hop, has been much planted in the Weald of Kent, and in parts of Mid Kent where the soil is suitable. In very old hop gardens, where there has been no change of plant for fifty or even one hundred years in some instances, except from the gradual process of filling up the places of plants that have died, there has been replanting with better varieties and varieties ripening in more convenient succession ”

“ It is remarkable that when a destructive blight is proceeding—generally in a wet and cold time—and a sudden change occurs to really hot dry weather, the hop plant often recovers its tone automatically, shakes off the disease, and the blight dies away, a fact which strengthens the assumption that in normal weather the plant can protect itself. Again, the blight is always most persistent under the shade of trees or tall hedges, or where the bine is over luxuriant, when owing to the exclusion of light and air the plant is unable to elaborate its natural safeguard. ”

“ In the months of June and July, the hops are liable to be blown by a species of aphis, or fly. This insect, however, does not endanger the growth of the plant, unless it be in a weak state, in consequence of the depredations committed on its root by the larvae of the ottermoth, phalaena humuli.
The hop is a most valuable plant: in its wild state it is relished by cows, horses, goats, sheep, and swine. When cultivated, its young tops are eaten, early in the spring, as substitutes for asparagus, being wholesome and aperient. ”

“ The variegated Japanese Hop is another summer vine that should be extensively grown. Its large, handsome foliage, freely splashed with white, is very showy and effective, and it thrives in almost any situation and soil, though paying well for extra care or attention in the way of cultivation, watering, and food. The vines are not hardy, but, as they self-sow, once established they are practically permanent. Several plants should be set near each other, as only the female plant bears seed. The leaves of this are smaller and the vine more slender. The great-leaved, robust vine bears no seed. ”

“ We have some uncommonly fine hops in the woods, and in some of the prairies; {217} we found them very convenient for making yeast. They are of the white-bine sort, like the grape-hop of England. I intend to plant a few hills in the spring, as I can get plenty from the woods; and I have saved a few seeds, to see if it will improve them or not. They usually grow on the sides of creeks, and on low rich bottoms that are not liable to be flooded, that is always on the best soil.
The wild flowers of the prairies are numerous, and many of them are beautiful ”

“ Another well-known adage reminds us that:—
"The higher the hill the lower the grass."
And equally familiar is the following:—
"While the grass groweth the seely horse starveth."
In connection with hops, the proverb runs that "hops make or break;" and no hop-grower, writes,
Mr. Hazlitt, [3] "will have much difficulty in appreciating this proverbial dictum. An estate has been lost or won in the course of a single season; but the hop is an expensive plant to rear, and a bad year may spoil the entire crop." ”

“ At the end of the first year it becomes necessary to put poles into the hills, round which the bines reared from plants are wound; at the expiration of the second year, full-sized poles, from 15 to 20 feet, are set, (though the hop-bines will run to the height of 50 feet,) in the proportion of two poles to each hill, and a similar number of hop-plants are fastened loosely round each pole, by means of withered rushes. Hops begin to flower about the latter end of June or the beginning of July. ”

“ The hemp plant, like the hop, which is of the same natural order, Cannabinaceae, is dioecious, i.e. the male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. The female plant grows to a greater height than the male, and its foliage is darker and more luxuriant, but the plant takes from five to six weeks longer to ripen. When the male plants are ripe they are pulled, put up into bundles, and steeped in a similar manner to flax, but the female plants are allowed to remain until the seed is perfectly ripe. ”

“ Much of the hop land is ploughed between the rows, as labour is scarce, and the spaces between are dug afterwards. It is far better to dig hop land if possible, the tool used being the Kent spud. The cost of digging an acre ranges from 18s. to 21s. Hop land is ploughed or dug between November and March. After this the plants are “dressed,” which means that all the old bine ends are cut off with a sharp curved hop-knife, and the plant centres kept level with the ground. ”

“ Sometimes they are burnt upon the land, for the ashes to serve as manure, trodden in the farm-yard, or allowed to be taken away by the labourers for their own use.
As the hop-plants are liable to be injured in various ways during their growth, they are considered a very precarious crop. They suffer from the attacks of insects, from honey-dew, from blight, from hot sunny weather after rain, and by winds and storms. ”

“ Spread evenly over the surface sixteen cords of manure to the acre, if your soil be of ordinary richness; cross-plow as deep as the first plowing; furrow out as for potatoes, four feet apart each way. Plant hops in every other hill of every other row, making them eight feet apart each way. Plant all the remaining hills with potatoes. Four cuttings of running roots of hops should be planted in each hill. Many hop-yards are unproductive on account of being too thick;—less than eight feet each way deprives the [Pg 243] vines of suitable air and sun, and prevents plowing them with ease. ”

“ The Comma, so called from the C-mark on the under side of the hind wings, is fairly plentiful in Worcestershire and Herefordshire in the hop-districts, for the hop is its food plant; but it is curious that, with the abundance of hops in Kent, Sussex, and Hants, it is quite a rare insect in the south of England. The ragged edge of its hind wings is probably an arrangement to baffle birds in pursuit, offering more difficulty to securing a sure hold than is afforded by the even margin of the hind wings of most butterflies. ”

“ In the old or pole system a pine pole 20 feet high is set in the ground beside each plant, and two vines are trained upon it, being held in position by straw wisps or bits of twine, which are renewed during the season as they rot or are torn away. The newer method, or wire system, while costing more to inaugurate, is less expensive to maintain, gives more room for cultivation between the rows, and allows a freer circulation of air through the garden. Hop diseases are reputed to be less prevalent in such gardens. ”

“ Very many other plant remains may be found in paper, for instance hop fibres are used sometimes and their presence is usually shown by remnants of the climbing hooks which, during life, studded the climbing stem of the hop. ”

“ For this reason the bark is shaved off the hop-poles, as it ought to be off all our timber trees, as soon as cut, especially the ash.—Little boys and girls shave hop-poles and assist in other coppice work very nicely. And it is pleasant work when the weather is dry overhead. The woods, bedded with leaves as they are, are clean and dry underfoot. They are warm too, even in the coldest weather. When the ground is frozen several inches deep in the open fields, it is scarcely frozen at all in a coppice where the underwood is a good plant, and where it is nearly high enough to cut. ”

“ As a further proof that the bitter principle of the hop is distasteful to the aphis, it is noticeable that when the fly first arrives it always attacks the topmost shoots of the bine where the leaves have not developed, and where the active principle is likely to be weakest. The same position is selected by the aphis of the rose, the bean, and every plant or tree subject to aphis attack—it is the undeveloped and therefore unprotected part which is chosen. ”

“ As the cuttings grow the holes are gradually filled up with earth until level with the ground. Although old hop plants admittedly produce a superior quality of hop, they bear scantily, and it has been found that seven years is the limit of profitable cultivation, both from the standpoint of the plants and in order to allow a suitable rotation with lucern (alfalfa) , the favorite green manure. Great stress is laid upon the pruning in the spring, care being taken that the last year's stems are cut back to the old stock, and only two or three new shoots allowed to grow. ”

“ The increasing attention now beginning to be paid by the planter to the growth of the male or wild hop, and also having them more numerously distributed in the hop-ground, will rapidly increase the productiveness of the female or common hop which the brewers use, and also improve the quality of the plant. ”

“ The southern counties of England, particularly Surrey and Kent, now yield their valuable produce of hops in this month. The common hop, humulus lupulus, is propagated either by nursery plants or by cuttings. These are set in hills, formed by digging holes in the spring, which are filled with fine mould, and the number of which varies from 800 to 1,000, or 1,200 per acre. One, two, or three plants are put in each hill; but, if hops are designed to be raised from cuttings, four or five of these, from three to four inches in length, are planted and covered one inch deep with fine mould. ”

“ When the fly is very bad, the common practice is, after the picking is over, to clear the land of bine and weeds and to place quicklime round the hills or plant centres.
When the hop is fully formed, shortly before picking, if the weather be hot and close, almost the whole crop may be destroyed in a few days. The aphides penetrate the hop and suck from the tender bracts the juice, some of which exudes ”

“ In Auscha there are old laws which enforce their immediate removal. Such male plants are called wild hops and are most abundant in waste places about the gardens. A single male plant in a garden will fertilize enough females to materially injure the whole harvest by the formation of a high percentage of seed in the otherwise seedless flowers. When the number of hops with seeds reaches more than two-tenths of one per cent they are rated in Bohemia as of second grade quality. I was told in Saaz that English and American hops contain quantities of seed even as high as 6 and 7 per cent. ”

“ The observant hop grower notices constant changes in the appearance of his plants from day to day under varying weather influences and other conditions: a retarded and unhappy expression in a cold, wet and rough time; an eager and hopeful expansiveness under genial conditions; a dark, plethoric and rampant growth where too much nitrogen is available, and a brilliant and healthily-restrained normality when properly balanced nourishment is provided.
There should be sympathy between the grower and his plants, such as is described by Blackmore in his Christowell ”