HOP

The Humultts lupulus of Linnaeus, the female flowers of which are used for imparting a bitter flavour to malt liquors for the purpose of preserving them from fermentation. The hop plant is a perennial indigenous to Britain and different parts of Europe; but to produce abundance of hops it requires to be very carefully cultivated in good soil, and even then is one of the most precarious of crops. The fields in which hops are grown are commonly called hop gardens: a loamy soil on a dry subsoil is chosen, and the plants are placed in hills, stools, or groups of three or four in a group, the hills being in rows five or six feet apart, and at about the same distance in the row. A full crop is not produced till the fourth or fifth year after planting. Every year the ground is dug in winter, and kept clear of weeds during summer; and the hills have poles, generally three or four to a hill, for the plants to twine on: the purchase of these poles, the fixing them in the soil every spring, the taking them down and stacking them every autumn, and their removal every five, six, eight, or ten years, according to the kind of wood used, constitute a considerable part of the expense of hop culture. The hops when mature are picked by hand, and as they are picked they are carried to a drying kiln, dried, and packed into bags or pockets; and this is also an expensive proce . The hop plant is particularly liable to be injured by insects, by cold and continued rains, and by thunder storms; in consequence of which it is estimated that a full crop is not obtained oftener than above once in five years. Hence it is easy to conceive that the price of hops must vary greatly in different years, and that the grower who has a command of capital may profit largely by keeping them back from market when the prices are low, and only exposing them when they are high. In order to keep hops for two or three years, they require to be powerfully compre ed, and put into much closer canva bags than when they are to be sent immediately to market; %\\ey also require to be kept in dry airy lofts, neither too warm nor too cold. The culture of hops was introduced into England from Flanders in the reign of Henry VIII. The most extensive plantations are in Kent, Su ex, and Here ford shire; but they are cultivated to a considerable extent in many other counties. The hop growers are placed under the surveillance of the excise, a duty of 1 8s. 8(/. per c wt. being charged upon all hops grown in this country. In 1837, the number of acres of land under cultivation of hops was 56,323; and in the 3ame year the duty amounted to 310,794/. 4s., of which Kent contributed nearly one half. HOPLITES. {Gr. BprKnai, irom ovXct, arms.) The heavy-armed infantry of Grecian antiquity. According to the A then i an regulations (similar probably to those of other states) the higher cla es of citizens only, as estimated by the census, were liable to this expensive form of military that the ' The Hoplites were armed in early times with the "spear, heavy defensive armour, and large shield: the latter were exchanged after the time of I phi crates for the light cuira and target. [s. 574]