in botany. See Humulus.

New land is found to succeed better with hops than old; and on this principle they are very cautious in their plantations in Kent, and look forward for the after-produce. When they make a new hop-ground, they plant it with apple-trees at a large distance under, and with cherry trees between; by this means, when the hops have grown ten years, which they judge as much as they will do well, they place their account in the cherry-trees, which bear large crops; these they gather for about thirty years, and then they cut them up, and depend upon their apple-trees only, which they find very large and strong by that time.

The dry stalks of hops should be burnt on the ground in winter, covering them with a little fresh earth as they burn. This makes together an excellent compost, to make the hills of. The land must be dug or plowed well, and laid very even, and then the places for the hills marked out by a line, and a stick put in every place where one is to be. A thousand hills may be made in an acre of ground, and six or seven plants set on every hill. From six to nine feet should be allowed between every hill, and the grounds in the hills should be better and richer than the common earth. Some plant hops in March and April, but the most experienced people prefer the month of October, because they will then strike firm roots, and be strong and vigorous against spring. The largest plants are to be chosen; and it is best to procure them from some rich ground, where the hills have been laid high; they should be about eight or ten inches long, and have three or four joints or buds a-piece; the holes for planting them are to be dug eight or ten inches deep, and about a foot over; and in each of these holes four plants are to be set, one in each corner: they may be covered an inch deep over the top, if planted in October; but in spring, when they have shot from the joints, then they must not be buried: after this, the ground must be carefully kept clear of weeds.

Dressing of Hops. This is preparing the ground in winter and spring for the making a good summer-crop. In doing this, the hills upon which the plants stand must be all pulled down, and undermined on every side, till the spade comes near the principal root; then shake off or remove with the hand the loose mould from the upper or loose roots, that you may see where the new roots grow out of the old sets. The old sets are to be carefully preserved, but the other roots may be cut away. Whatever time the hills are pulled down, the roots must not be cut till March. When the young hops are dressed for the first time, all the roots are to be cut away that grew the year before, and the sets are to be cut off within one inch of the same; and every year after, they must be cut as close as may be to the old roots; but to a weak hop, some of the shoots are to be left at the dressing. Those roots of the plant which grow downwards, are never to be injured, but only those which run horizontally are to be cut. The old roots and the young ones may be easily distinguished, in that the old ones are always red, and the young white. If there are by accident any wild hops got among the rest, the places where they grow are to be marked with sticks, or otherwise, at the time of their being gathered; and after this, at the time of dressing the ground, that whole hill is to be destroyed, and a new one made with new plants in the room of it. When the roots are cut and dressed, the rich compost is to be put to them; and the hills must not be made too high at first, lest they hinder the young shoots.

Gathering and drying of Hops. Hops blow in the latter end of July, in the beginning of August they bell; and they are sometimes ripe at the beginning of September, sometimes later. When they begin to change colour, are easily pulled to pieces, and their seeds look brown within them, they are ripe; and they are then to be gathered as quick as possible, for the least blast of wind will hurt them at this time.

The manner of gathering hops, is to take down four hills standing together in the midst of the garden, and to cut the roots even with the ground, then lay the ground level; and when it is swept clean, it makes a floor, on which the hops may be laid and picked. The hop-plants are first unwound from the poles, and then the people sit round and pick off the hops into baskets.

Care should be taken to dry the hops as fast as they are picked, for in lying undried they are apt to heat and change colour very quickly. If the quantity picked be too large, that the kiln in which they are to be dried is overstocked, they must be spread thin upon a floor, and they will keep two or three days in that manner without any harm. Indeed, where the quantity is but small, there is no need to have recourse to the kiln at all, for they will dry much better than any other way, by being laid thin upon a floor, and often turned. The drying of hops is the most material part of their manufacture; for if they be ill dried, they lose all their agreeable flavour; and great caution should be used, that they be all equally dried.

Bagging of Hops, a term used by the farmers, who cultivate hops, for the last thing they have to do with them, in order to bring them to market; that is, the putting them up in large bags of coarse cloth, for carriage. When the hops have been picked and dried in the oast, or tin-floor, they are so brittle that they would break to pieces and be spoiled if they were immediately to be put up; they are therefore to lie together three weeks, or thereabouts, that they may become tough: if they are covered from the air by blankets in the heap, they may be bagged much sooner than if left open.

The manner of bagging them is this; a hole is made in an upper-floor, so large that a man may easily go up and down it; then a hoop is fitted to the mouth of the bag, and so firmly sewed on, that it cannot be torn off; the bag is then let down through the hole, and the hoop remaining above, stops it from being pulled quite through, being larger than the hole: a few hops are to be first thrown into the bag, and a person below is to take up a parcel of these in each corner of the bag, tying it with a packthread; this makes a sort of tassel, by which the bags are afterwards the easier managed, and turned about. When this is done, one man must go down into the bag, and, while another casts in the hops, he must tread them down equally every way with his feet; when the bag is in this manner filled, it is to be ripped from the hoop, and sewed up, leaving two tassels at the corners, as at the bottom. A bag of hops thus prepared, may be kept for several years in a dry place.

The tops of this plant, being of a cooling quality, are eaten, when boiled, as an emollient. A decoction of hop-flowers is also accounted an antidote against poison, and cures the itch, as well as the syrup thereof, and is esteemed excellent in choleric and pellitential fevers. The heads and tendrils are good in the scurvy and most cutaneous diseases. Juleps and apozems are also prepared with hops for hypochondriacal and hysterical affections, and to promote the menes: but the chief use of this plant consists in preserving beer and other malt-liquors (in which the flower of this plant is a principal ingredient) from turning sour, and rendering it wholesome and grateful to the taste, &c.