Chap. XIII
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 séede to loose his gréene 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 bréede change in your worke, you shall vpon the first aduantage of faire weather, euen so soone as you shall sée 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, séeme greater then it is, doe disalow, yet it is the best manner of kéeping 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 betwéene 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.
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 kéepe them from springing too earely: you shall also then bring into the garden olde Cow-dunge, which is at least two yéeres 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 thrée 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 sée how the new rootes grow from the olde sets, then with a sharpe knife cut away all those rootes as did spring the yéere before, out of your sets, within an inch and an halfe of the same, but euery yéere after the first you shall cut them close by the olde rootes. Now, if you sée 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.