side, shall yield unto him that ordereth the
same well, fortie marks yearly and that for ever,' an optimistic
estimate that many growers to-day would like to see realized. 'In the
preparation of a hop garden', says the same writer, 'if your ground be
grasse, it should be first sowen with hempe or beanes which maketh the
ground melowe, destroyeth weedes, and leaveth the same in good season
for this purpose.[217] At the end of Marche, repayre to some good
garden to compound with the owner for choice rootes, which in some
places will cost 5d. an hundredth. And now you must choose the biggest
rootes you can find, such as are three or four inches about, and let
every root be nine or ten inches long, and contain three joints.'
Holes were then to be dug at least 8 feet apart, one foot square, and
one foot deep, and in each two or three roots planted and well hilled
up. Tusser, however, recommended them much closer:

'Five foot from another each hillock should stand,
As straight as a levelled line with the hand.
Let every hillock be four foot wide.
Three poles to a hillock, I pas not how long,
Shall yield the more profit set deeplie and strong.'

Three or four poles were to be set to each hill 15 or 16 feet long,
unless the ground was very rich, the poles 9 or 10 inches in
circumference at the butt, so as to last longer and stand the wind
well. After they were put up, the ground round the poles was to be
well rammed. Rushes or grass were used for tieing the hops. During
the growth of the hops, not more than two or three bines were to be
allowed to each pole; and after the first year the hills were to be
gradually raised from the alleys between the rows until, according to
the illustrations in Scott's book, they were 3 or 4 feet high, the
'greater you make your hylles the more hoppes you shall have upon
your poals'. When the time for picking came, the bines when cut were
carried to a 'floore prepared for the purpose', apparently of
hardened earth, where they were stripped into baskets, and Scott
thought that 'it is not hurtfull greatly though the smaller leaves be
mingled with the hoppes'. In wet weather the hops were to be stripped
in the house. The fire for drying hops was of wood, and some dried
their hops in the sun, both processes to us appearing very risky; as
the first would be too quick, and the latter next to impossible in
September in England. They were sometimes packed in barrels, as
Tusser