The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-22
WAKEMAy'S WANDERINCS.
Hop Raising and Hop Gathering in
Southern England.

of the Field Labor Done by Women
Universal Trepidation over the Wei
fare of the Growing Vines-Gather
ing and Curing the Plumy Fruitage
The Vast and Vicious Army of Pick
ers That Annually Sweeps Down
Upon the Hop Fields of Kent.
Copyright 1893, by Edgar L. Wakeman)
Maidstone, England Sept. 30.-A TRAY
eler iourneying through the magnificent
garden shire of Kent cannot fail to be i'm
pressed with the amplitude and snugness
of most of its country homesteads. They
are very ancient, stone-built and exceed
ingly large; low, but wide, with out
spreading wings aud "lean-tos.n Centu-
ries-old ash, lime or oak trees cluster
about them. Fine old walls enclose
shaded lanes leading to and from them.
The outbuildings are large and substan-
tial Great orchards are set about them.
The groupings are pictures of rustic opu-
lence, thrift and good husbandry. They
almost cause the wanderer to long to
know them and tarry within them. But
a stranger not understanding one of the
sources of the great wealth of Kent, will
curiously regard certain strange looking
structures standing near every farmhouse
in many districts.
They are round and tall and white.
Some have red-painted cones, and these
are in turn surmounted by white cows,
shaped like an arched fan, their mouths
always opening in the direction opposite
that from which the wind blows. Against
gray and wintry horizons these odd
structures form weird silhouettes. But
wherever you see them you may know,
at any time of the year, that you are in
the long famous hop country of Kent. 1t
is to these quaint, and always picturesque
old kilns, or "OaSt-hOuses" as they are
here called, that the hops are brought
for drying, or curing, after they are
picked by the motley thrOngs in the odor-
Gus gardens and fields.
In all of England perhaps $4,000 acres
are planted in hops. Nearly one-h half of
the entire area is within the shire of
Kent. The system Of hop-raising, pick
ing aud drying is simple and interesting.
The plants, which are perennial, are set
in hills one foot high six feet apart and
in rows, as we plant Indian corn in
America These hills from being rounded
are called crowns" There are about
] 200 to the acre, and each one requires
from two TO four poles from ten to sixteen
feet in length, according to the variety
OF the hops planted. These poles are Of
larch, alder, ash, chestnut, and occasion
ally of oak, and owing to the scarcity Of
woods in England, in themselves repre-
sent a very large outlay.
Early in April the crowns" are opened
and trimmed of the last years shoots
which have been cut close to the ground,
and these sets are used for propagation
in nursery beds The new bine or stem
now springs from the bottom of the per-
manent setting In the open winter
months the hop-gardeD has been dug to a
depth of eight inches with iat-tined forks.
Shortly after the opening of the crowns"
and trimming of the old bines polling" is
begun. This is done by the acre or by the
hundred poles The laborers wife and
children lay out the poles while he makes
the holes with an iron "hOp-ptcher.n
Women are solely employed In the next
process. called hop-tyinP. The puny
shoots must be trimmed away, and two or
three of the hardy ones tied to the poles.
This is done by the acre, and whatever
portion of the hop-garden is thus attended
TO by one woman is called a taking"
For securing the shoots to the poles with
out injury, rushes are exclusively used,
and these are harvested from marshes,
laughs beside streams or wet meadows
and dried in a manner to render them
tough, by children. The women must 90
over their "takings' many times, cutting
out sickly or broken bines and tying in
newer and healthier ones until the work
is beyond their reach.
Then the men resume the work. They
go over the "takingsn as the women have
done, standing upon short rough step
ladders, until they reach the top of the
poles. Then "niggeting' season begins
and only ends when the hOp-gardens are
in full bloom. The nugget is an imple-
ment with iron tines, something like a
huge hoe slit into several narrow diyi-
siOns. With this the ''alleys" between
7he rows are kept as clean of weed as a
ewly plowed field, and the soil is con
-tantly broken and pulverized about qhe
NCrowns' that the roots may derive all
possible Dutrition, air and free moisture.
These comprise all the necessities of cul-
tivatiou but the alarms, veXation-
and anSieties of the hop-grower are
only fairly begun as his heaviest labors
are ending.
No one ever knew of an American
peach crop, good or bad, that was not
half dozen times menaced by this or that.
or ruined by something else altogether
Soft is with the hop-vines and hops in
Kent. For nearly two months before
they are secure from danger every true
BritOn who quatts his -four alen or "bit-
ter, is subjected toqualmS and starts and
pangs through announcements of success
i've impending calamities to the Draw
bautling of Kent; and every hop district
of that shire is in perturbation and tur-
MOL indescribable. The "mildew'' has
rOtted the hop; the wet weather has
drowned it; the drought has scorched it:
the blight has taken the very life out of
it; the smut has smothered it; the flies
from which it can only be res
cued by millions of mysteriouslv
arriving 'lady-birds," are eating
its head of; innumerable insects are
preying upon its tendrils and body; and
even the pestiferous tieas have made
deadly assault upon its very stem and
roots Bulletins are posted at every ale
house in Kent. Nothing else is talked
about in every parish of the shire The
London market is 'feverish" while the
hop is in it's throes. In fact. all southern
England is solemn and serious until the
hop has passed from bine to bud and
bloom and is ready for the tens of thou
sands of hands that are tingling to wiring
its neck for gain.
Picking and curing are the final pro-
cesses. Perhaps from $4,000 to 100000
souls could at one time be found in the
hOp-gardens Of Kent. Half of these are
from London, and comprise the most in
describable lot of human various" ever
drawn together by a common interest in
all the world. If a field of twenty acres
is to be picked, there viii be from six 10
ten sets of Diclkprs with from half a