Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/827

 HOP 809 are covered at their base with an aromatic res- inous substance of yellowish color, known as lupuline. This constitutes about one sixth of the weight of the dried catkins, and contains the greater portion of their valuable qualities. The hop is a vine, with a perennial root from Hop (Humulus lupulus). which spring up numerous annual shoots, form- ing slender flexible stems, angular and rough to the touch. These climb spirally upon trees or around poles to the height of 20 or 30 ft. The leaves are opposite on long petioles, heart- shaped, and three- or five-lobed. The hop is found wild in America, Europe, and Asia. It has long been cultivated in Germany, where its use is traced back as far as the 9th century. In other countries it has become an important agricultural product, and in the United States is now largely cultivated ; portions of New York and Wisconsin are the largest hop-grow- ing sections, but considerable quantities are produced in other states ; hops are an article of both export and import. The English, who have carried its culture to great perfection, first engaged in it in the reign of Henry VIII., about the year 1524, having learned from people of Artois its qualities of preserving beer from fermentation and imparting an agreeable bitter flavor to the liquor. Previous to the intro- duction of hops, various bitter herbs were used in beer, especially the alehoof or ground ivy, glechoma hederacea, and the use of hops was strongly protested against. The S. E. part of England is particularly favorable for the crop ; and in the county of Kent alone from 25,000 to 30,000 acres have long been appropriated to it. Hop plantations are also found in other counties ; but the production of Kent probably represents one half of the whole amount raised in England. In ordinary seasons this county supplies nearly enough hops for all the malt liquors brewed in England ; but the crop is very fluctuating, and in seasons of scarcity hops are imported from Belgium and the United States. The Belgian hops have a good reputation ; but those of Bavaria are the best of all, the aroma being more perfectly preserved by the method of preparation in practice there. The American hops are not so highly esteemed in England as those raised there, and bring a lower price. Several varieties are known to cultivators such as the English cluster, grape, Pompey! and others, the first named being considered the best. The situations selected for hop yards are the sunny slopes of hills, or wherever there is a free circulation of air. Such soil as will pro- duce a good crop of Indian corn is suited to hops, but it is essential that it be naturally or artificially drained, as success is impossible on a wet soil. The planting is done with "sets," which are the underground stems of old vines cut into pieces of two or three joints. The plant being dioecious, 8 or 12 male hills are equally distributed in each acre. The hills are marked out from 7 to 10 ft. apart, and from three to five sets are planted in a hill. The plants are well cultivated the first year, the vines being allowed to spread upon the ground. The second spring, two poles 16 to 20 ft. long are set to each hill, and the vines as they grow are assisted, if need be, to twine upon the poles, the crop being kept clear of weeds. Hops are subject to blight of various kinds from mould or rust, and the devastation of an aphis or louse. This insect probably de- stroys more than half the crops, and much of the remainder is lost by unfavorable seasons and other causes. When the hops are mature, the poles are pulled up with the vines hanging to them, and women and children gather the strobiles, which are immediately carried to the kilns, called hop oasts, in which they are dried upon a floor of wire or hair cloth at a heat not exceeding 180 F. Fumes of burning sulphur are admitted to the hops while drying, by which they are partially bleached. They are then packed tightly in bags or pockets with the aid of a press, and the parcels are made so compact that they may be cut into blocks with a knife. The bales may be kept for years in a dry airy situation. The Belgians follow the same practice ; but the Bavarians, when the hops are ripe, cut off the plants close to the ground, and leave them upon the poles to dry in the sun. This is thought to preserve better the aroma, and the hops, though packed loose- ly in bags, have more strength and flavor than the English or Belgian. Several years ago a plan for training hops on strings or wires was patented under the name of the horizontal hop yard. One pole about 7 ft. high is placed at each hill, and the tops of the poles are con- nected by twine stretched across the yard in two directions; it is made fast to the end poles in each row and wound once around the tops of the others. When the hops are ripe for picking, the strings are loosened, and as many removed as may be convenient for the pick- ers. The quality of hops is judged of by the weight of the bags, the heavier samples having more of the lupuline or hop dust, 1 Ib. of