_Of the gathering of Hoppes, and the preseruing of the Poales._
Touching the gathering of Hoppes you shall vnderstand that after Saint
_Margarets_ day they beginne to blossome, if it be in hot and rich
soyles, but otherwise not till Lammas: likewise in the best soyles they
bell at Lammas, in the worst at Michaelmas, and in the best earth they
are full ripe at Michaelmas, in the worst at Martillmas; but to know
when they are ripe indeede, you shall perceiue the seede to loose his
greene colour, and looke as browne as a Hares backe, wherefore then you
shall with all dilligence gather them, and because they are a fruit that
will endure little or no delay, as being ready to fall as soone as they
be ripe, and because the exchange of weather may breede change in your
worke, you shall vpon the first aduantage of faire weather, euen so
soone as you shall see the dewe exhaled and drawne from the earth, get
all the ayde of Men, Women, and children which haue any vnderstanding,
to helpe you, and then hauing some conuenient empty barne, or shedde,
made either of boards or canuas, neare to the garden, in which you shall
pull your Hoppes, you shall then beginne at the nearest part of the
garden, and with a sharpe garden knife cut the stalkes of the Hoppes
asunder close by the toppes of the hils; and then with a straite forke
of iron, made broad and sharpe, for the purpose, shere vp all the
Hoppes, and leaue the poales naked. Then hauing labouring persons for
the purpose, let them cary them vnto the place where they are to be
puld; and in any case cut no more then presently is caryed away as fast
as they are cut, least if a shower of raine should happen to fall, and
those being cut and taking wet, are in danger of spoyling. You shall
prouide that those which pull your Hoppes be persons of good discretion,
who must not pull them one by one, but stripe them roundly through their
hands into baskets, mixing the young budds and small leaues with them,
which are as good as any part of the Hoppe whatsoeuer. After you haue
pulled all your Hoppes and carried them into such conuenient dry roomes
as you haue prepared for that purpose, you shall then spread them vpon
cleane floares, so thinne as may be, that the ayre may passe thorrow
them, least lying in heapes they sweat, and so mould, before you can
haue leasure to dry them. After your Hoppes are thus ordered, you shall
then cleanse your garden of all such Hoppe-straw, and other trash, as in
the gathering was scattered therein: then shall you plucke vp all your
Hoppe-poales, in manner before shewed, and hauing either some dry
boarded house, or shed, made for the purpose, pile then one vpon
another, safe from winde or weather, which howsoeuer some that would
haue their experience, like a Collossus, seeme greater then it is, doe
disalow, yet it is the best manner of keeping of poales, and well worthy
the charge: but for want of such a house, it shall not be amisse to take
first your Hoppe-straw, and lay it a good thicknesse vpon the ground,
and with sixe strong stakes, driuen slant-wise into the earth, so as the
vppermost ends may be inward one to another, lay then your Hoppe-poales
betweene the stakes, and pile them one vpon another, drawing them
narrower and narrower to the top, and then couer them all ouer with more
Hoppe-straw, and so let them rest till the next March, at which time
you shall haue new occasion to vse them.
{SN: Winter businesse.}
As soone as you haue piled vp your Hoppe-poales, dry and close, then you
shall about mid-Nouember following throw downe your hils, and lay all
your rootes bare, that the sharpenesse of the season may nip them, and
keepe them from springing too earely: you shall also then bring into the
garden olde Cow-dunge, which is at least two yeeres olde, for no new
dunge is good, and this you shall lay in some great heape in some
conuenient place of the garden vntill Aprill, at which time, after you
haue wound your Hoppes about your poales, you shall then bestow vpon
euery hill two or three spade-full of the Manure mixt with earth, which
will comfort the plant and make it spring pleasantly.
After your hils are puld downe, you shall with your garden spade, or
your hoe, vndermine all the earth round about the roote of the Hoppe,
till you come to the principall rootes thereof, and then taking the
youngest rootes in your hand, and shaking away the earth, you shall see
how the new rootes grow from the olde sets, then with a sharpe knife cut
away all those rootes as did spring the yeere before, out of your sets,
within an inch and an halfe of the same, but euery yeere after the first
you shall cut them close by the olde rootes. Now, if you see any rootes
which doe grow straight downward, without ioynts, those you shall not
cut at all, for they are great nourishers of the plant, but if they grow
outward, or side-wayes, they are of contrary natures, and must
necessarily be cut away. If any of your Hoppes turne wilde, as oft it
happens, which you shall know by the perfect rednesse of the branch,
then you shall cut it quite vp, and plant a new roote in his place.
After you haue cut and trimmed all your rootes, then you shall couer
them againe, in such sort as you were taught at the first planting them,
and so let them abide till their due time for poaling.