2-982-402 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Hop-picking, 1858. Seasonal workers. 'Beautiful as the hop-gardens appear when the hops are in their pride and prime, and ere a pole has been pulled or a bine cut, yet to us they seem more beautiful when the fruit of the farmer's toil, and of God's goodness, is being gathered in...In one part stand the tall hop-poles, like an army, the bines twining lovingly around, and the green leaves and yellow hops hanging gracefully from them...forming perfect festoons...whilst the air is filled with the delightful aroma of the hops...between the ranks of the poles are placed the "bins," into which the hops are thrown as they are picked...Around them lie the picked and the unpicked poles...the hum of voices, the merry shouts of laughter, mingling with the melody of some old song tune, ever and anon borne on the passing breeze, sound strangely, yet pleasantly, in that hop forest where but yesterday the silence of nature reigned...The hop plant is indigenous to this and several other countries in Europe. Hops were first brought into England from Flanders in the year 1524, but it was not until 1693 that their cultivation was firmly established here. At the present time between 50,000 and 55,000 acres are cultivated for growing hops'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.