Evening journal., 1896-11-07
ENGLISH HOP YARDS.
HARVEST SCENES DESCRIBED BY AN
AMERICAN VISITOR.


cient market town about 80 miles from
London, which is in the midst Of one Of
the most fertile and extensive hop dis
tricts n the world, tho soil being of the /
rich quality that produces the famous
golden hop. stood on an eminenoe
and surveyed in every direction the |
piantf tions Of tall hops, luxuriant on /
the straight, firmly set poles the deep |
green of the vine leaves beautifully
gemmed by the great bunches Of golden
flower On hillside little distance
to the left were the uniform white tents
Of the hop pickers, like the encainpment
Of an army-for you must know that
the hop pickers are not residents Of the
neighborhood. They come from distances
by families. largo proportion of them
from London. And, be il known. the
majority of the hop pickers are wretch
edly poor. The pay for hop picking is
so very little that only by the united
efforts Of a fRmily OF three or four
workers is the result Of the days labor
worth the effort Last year, for exam
pie, the pay for picking was a shilling
for seven bushels. so that worker had
to complete seven bushels before tho
shilling was earned. This year condi-
tions are little better, but at the best
hop picking is only profitable when tho
family has six or eight pairs of expert
hands to strip the vines swiftly. Some
of the women have reduced this picking
to an art, tho deft facility with which
they take four or five flowers at time
completely deceiving the novice, who
imagines skill to be nothing in this
business.
The poles in ahopfield are so perfectly
set at right angles that you may look
down uniform avenue Of overhanging
vines in whatever direction you turn
your eyes. But this exaotitude is less
for beauty of appearance than for con-
yenience Of arrangement of picking par
ties, for a field is let out in small sec
tions, so many hills-two poles make a
hill-to a family, according as the fam
lily has agreed for half q bin or more.
Therefore. as you walk down the path
that intersects hopfeld, you sec here
and there at fixed distances apart the
different independent groups of pickers,
their canvas bins, with wide, fiaring
mouths, all Of regular size. stretched on
poles and set on crosspieces the length
Of their section, and while the man cuts
the vines a third of the wayup the poles
and pulls up the poles to carry to the
bin side the women and children inces-
sanity work from a N. to p. m,
save only for the half hour at noon for
dinner. And what a sight it Isl At the
very edge Of the field where l spent
most time rears, rugged and tall. the
ivy draped tower Of ST. Leonards, said
to be the very first, and therefore the
Oldest, of the Norman towers. the pio-
turesque ruins Of which so interest the
intelligent visitor to rural England.
This tower was built by Gundulf bishop
Of Rochester. somewhere about I076-0O.
This abbey, by the way, has been re-
stored and is once more home Of nuns
At the foot Of this old tower yesterday
relleo and tumbled a score of grimy,
half naked, tatterdemalion children, Of
ages running from the infant that should
have been in arms to pair Of 4-year-
old twins, in patched. dirty red dresses,
and with huge brass earrings hiding the
/ lobes Of their unclean little ears. Thus
did half barbarous young modesty kick
up its slovenly little legs in contempt Of
that still grim though dismantled tower,
built eight centuries ago to repel the
assaults Of those savGges who were fore
runners Of the present day Englishman.
And among the vines yonder were the
motley groups of persons to whom these
] 1,,fl OF .nf
any means as picturesque and fascinat-
ing as italian grape pickers; nothing OF
the rich, dark beauty of the southern
! types, but different sort of interest at
taches to these hopelessly ignorant. hall
vagrant creatures, who have come to
the pioidng-by donkey cart, by train.
on foot-bearing with them their mis-
erable utensils for cooking and faring,
in their rags and their tatters. the filth
Of which they are not ashamed, sleep
ing by night in tents If they are so for
tunate, behind hedges and under rude
wigwams Of boughs, if they must, work
ing from day dawn to evening close for
a mere pittanoe-yet not wolfish OF sur
ly, not rude-indeed, good natured
when you address them, and in rough
way jocular or in shy way communica-
tive. Here and there, TO be sure, some
thing more protentious, the epitome Of
lower middle class shift and tidiness,
but in the main a hop picking scene
such as you may witness at Mailing
tells you what pitiful poverty and
wretchedness are hidden from the world
by the purple splendor Of the richest ma
tion upon which the curious sun looks
askance.
Fill in imaginatiyely the picture OF
which l have given but true outlines.
Scan the hillside encampment, where in
fancy and ago swarm about the evening
fires. Walk through the fields Of vine girt
poles, that seem a compact mass as you
look down upon them. Talk with these
women and children stripping the yel-
low floweys swiftly from the stems.
Glance at the various troops Of thought
lessly begotten infants rolling on the
green grass or burrowing in the soft
earth, and then, as you blow the froti
from vour next glass Of beer, reflect