A perfit platform of a Hoppe Garden, and necessary Instructions for the making and maintenance thereof, with notes and rules for reformation of all abuses, commonly practised therein, very necessary and expedient for all men to have, which in any wise have to do with Hops.  
Made by reynold Scot  prover. 11. 
Whoso laboureth after goodness, findeth his desire.  Sap. 7. 
Wisdom is nymbler than all nimble things:  
She goeth through and attaineth to all things.  
❧ Imprinted at London by Henry Denham, dwelling in Pater noster Row, at the Sign of the Star. 1574. Cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum.   

¶ To the Right worshipful Master William Lovelace, Esquire, Sergeant at the Law.  
Sir, considering the whole course of your life, how it altogether tendeth to the necessity, to the profit, and to the commendation of your Country, namely, in execution of justice, in direction of Counsel, and in maintenance of Hospitality: weighing also the disposition of your nature, how it rather inclineth to procure commodities, that make to the increase of your expenses, than to devise argument of private profit, to the qualifying of your charges, and last of all, acknowledging myself bound unto you in many duties, (as being laden under the burden of your benefits) I thought good to entertain your courtesy with some thankful devise, which might neither interrupt these your proceedings, nor impair your estimation, nor yet obscure the liberal disposition of your mind, and that none otherwise, but by way of request, desiring you, to accompany these your affections, with a matter of profit, or rather with a point of good Husbandry, (in appearance base and tedious, but in use necessary and commodious, and in effect pleasant and profitable) (that is to say) to look down into the bowels of your ground, and to seek about your house at Beddersden, (which I see you desire to garnish with many costly commodities) for a convenient plot to be applied to a Hoppe garden, to the furtherance and accomplishing whereof, I promise and assure you, the labour of my hands, the assistance of mine advise, and the effect of mine experience: And herein I rather crave pardon for my present boldness, than thanks for my promise past, or praise for my pains to come, as having more cause to engrave your benefits in stone, and to proclaim them in the Market place, than to print them in the dust, or to rake them up in a Hoppe hill, but being desirous to prosecute the affection I bear unto you, to the uttermost of my power, I set my good will in stead of better ability, in this sort, to meet with your friendlynesse towards me, and if it shall please you, being of such condition and reputation (notwithstanding the indignity of the matter) to allow of this motion, you shall thereby especially warrant the good opinion which is generally conceived of your good nature, increase the measure of your courtesy towards me, and finally make many other beholding unto you, for whose sake I shall publish a note for their profit and commodity, and though it be unto you a matter of small importance, for that he which is full, abhorreth the Honey comb, 
prover. 27.  yet in as much as I present herein a mind that wisheth well unto you, appeaching my disability, and giving in evidence against my sloth, producing as witness hereof, a hand ready to do, a pen to write, and a tongue to speak well of you, I hope the well meaning of my device shall be by you accepted, although the merit of my deed may justly be condemned, my writings wanting form, my wishes effect: and be it also known to all men by these presents, that your acceptance hereof shall not be in any wise prejudicial unto you, for I deliver it as an Obligation, wherein I acknowledge myself to stand further bound unto you, without that, that I mean to receive your courtesy herein, as a release of my further duties, which I own unto you. And although my matter be base, my device simple, and my style homely, especially for the contentation of a delicate ear, yet I trust it shall be gnitum opus agricolis, unto whose capacities I have directed the tenor hereof, not bombasting the same with the figures and flowers of eloquence, to the glory of my pen, or to the obscuring of this mystery, which although it shall seem plausible unto some (through the exceeding profit levied thereby.) Truly Sir, mine only meaning is hereby to gratify you, and to satisfy the necessity of my Country, and not to give the reins to insatiable Heraclitus, or to niggardlye Aristides, which covet to quench their thirst with the liquor (or rather the lucre) of flowing gains, nor to fill the paunch of Epicure, nor yet to paumper him in his ease and idleness, neither to ballast the belly of Bacchus, or to lull or rock Aeschilus' in his drowsiness, which sort of people are greedy to taste of the marrow of gains, and loath to break the bone of labour, which is the middle and both ends of this experience, and therefore this special note I will here set down for a general rule. The covetous man that lieth in wait to spare his halfepenye, the sluggard that sleepeth away opportunity, and the unskilful that refuseth to learn the right order; may happily rellesse the bitterness of the Hoppe, but shall never savour the sweetness thereof, and yet if Hops would be had with wishes, or if commodities might be bought with desire, who would be better provided than these men, namely these, that make their provision lying in their beds, or sitting by the fire, and in the end buy a great Kite in stead of a little Lark, whose minds void of wisdom, make their Purses many times void of money, and their doings void of effect: for the eschewing of all such inconveniences, as in this matter may happen, I mean if it shall seem good unto you, to publish this Pamphlet, wherein if any thing have escaped consideration, I submit the same to the correction of any other man better practised herein than I am: in the mean time I hearty desire you to allow of my motion, and to satisfy my request.  
Reynolde Scot   

To the Reader.  
Although Solomon wisheth us not to take overmuch pains to be rich, 
Prou. 23.  signifying unto us thereby, that the man that so doth, 
Prou. 28.  cannot be unguilty, and though he say further, that greedy travail doth nothing herein prevail, 
prover. ●.  in as much as it is the blessing of the Lord that maketh men rich, and albeit, 
Ibidem.  he also say in appearance to the contentation of the Idle, that one handful is better with rest, 
Ecclesi. 4.  than both hands full with labour and travail. Yet the same Solomon also sayeth, that the slothful body that will not go to the Plough in Winter for cold, shall beg in the Summer for need, 
Prou. 20.  giving us to understand thereby, that a simple man that worketh, 
Prou. 12.  is in better case than a gorgeous man that wanteth, because the diligent hand shall proceed in authority, 
Prou. 13.  while the Idle person shall remain under tribute. He sayeth also in despite of Idleness, that, 
Prou. 10.  the slothful is brother to the waster, and in contempt of sloth, that, the sluggard shall go in a ragged coat, 
Ecclesi. 10.  showing us how through sloth our banks fall down, and how through the Idleness of our hands, it raineth into our houses. 
Ibidem.  Finally, he sayeth to the comfort of the poor, that they which be diligent shall stand before Kings, 
Prou. 22.  and not in common places, and therefore. Solomon meant not to impeach a painful hand, but to control a covetous mind, in witness whereof he sendeth the Idle sluggard that sleepeth at home, to the busy Emmet that worketh abroad, 
Prou. 6.  and the sturdy runagate that hath none abiding, to the séeble Conye that buildeth among the rocks, 
Prou. 30.  even to be taught by those sielye worms to correct themselves, and thus is the covetous man condemned, because he setteth good conscience behind his greedy desires, and placeth his private profit before common humanity, to erect unto himself and his posterity, a kingdom of vanity and idleness. The slothful man is confounded, because he abuseth the time lent unto him, as though he only among all the Creatures of God, had a special privilege to be idle and careless: and therefore I am bold to commend this work unto you, even so far forth as the right use and purpose thereof deserveth (that is to say) as a recompense to the labourer, as a commodity to the housekeeper, as a comfort to the poor, and as a benefit to the Country or Common wealth, adding thus much hereunto, that there cannot lightly be employed ground to more profitable use, nor labour to more certain gains: howbeit, with this note, that no mystery is so perfect, no flower so sweet, no Scripture so holy, but by abuse a corrupt body, according to his venomous nature, may draw poison out of the same, and therefore blame not this poor trade for that it maketh men rich in yielding double profit, neither reprove me because by these presents I give notice thereof, in publishing this order, but condemn the man, or rather the mind, that wresteth it to serve his miserable affection, or covetous humour. Truly it grieveth me daily to see time ill spent, labour lost, cost cast away, much good ground naughtily applied, and many good men shamefully abused, through ignorance and ignorant workmen that undertake to deal herein; I see almost every man set his hand to work, or his head to devise hereupon. Finally, I see the Flemings envy our practice herein, who altogether tend their own profit, seeking to impownde us in the ignorance of our commodities, to cram us with the wares and fruits of their Country, and to do any thing that might put impediment to this purpose, dazzling us with the discommendation of our soil, obscuring and falsifying the order of this mystery, sending us into Flaunders as far as Poppering, for that which we may find at home in our own backsides. But it were better (in my judgement) to unlearn that which is conceived amiss, and to undo that which is unprofitably done, than to proceed with loss, and to end with derision, it were better also that Strangers should envy our prosperities, than our friends should pity our poverties, or that we ourselves should lament and bewail our own necessities, proceeding from our negligence in this behalf. Now therefore let this suffice to entreat you to consider hereupon, and then let your own consideration prevail to move you to take the work in hand, and so are you made an arbitrer of your own commodity, as being desired to measure your charges by your profit: I say therefore to you that shall be hereby persuaded to be doing herein, give ear to the reading, give diligence to the working, and doubtless you shall give credit and good report to the sequel hereof. Howbeit, I for my part can better use my hand in doing, than my pen in describing this mystery. Nevertheless, hoping hereby to stand my friends and country in some profitable stead; I rather choose to incur the danger of derision in speaking homely, than the fault of ingratitude in saying nothing, the respect of duty vanquishing in me the fear of ill report, mine ignorance craving pardon, mine affection, good will, and let them that are so dangerous of their cunning go for me with Timon into the Desert, there solitarily to enjoy their dainty wisdom. And to say the troth, to use eloquent school phrases in a homely rustical matter, were to bring the Country people to a new form of hearing, wherein they should be longer in learning to understand the curiosity of the style, than the knowledge of the Art, for such men (such men I mean whose hope is in their hands) have not been brought up in a close study to decipher the Art of Rhetoric with their wits, but have been trained in the open fields to practise the Art of Husbandry with their Limbs, as being placed in the frontiers of poverty, to bear the brunt of travail and labour, and therefore it sufficeth, if in a rude Cask I exhibit wholesome fruit, and writ plainly to plain men of the Country, and yet Saepe etiam est holitor valde oportuna locutus. In this sort I shall teach I trust without great error or tediousness, and you shall learn (I hope) without great pain or charges, the manner how, the time when, and the place where to plant Hops with effect: God give you increase according to his holy will, and to your good desire. In the mean time I desire of the learned, patience in reading, of the unlearned, diligence in hearing, of the rich, some expenses toward their great commodity, of the poor, some pain for much profit, and of them all, good will for mine endeavour. finally, I heartily desire you that when you have once conformed yourself to the right order, you proceed accordingly, otherwise neither of us shall be any thing the near, you of your purpose, nor I of my desire, and if there be contained herein any note of profitable instruction, apply the same to your own commodity. If the Lord bless your endeavour with increase, yield unto him (as unto whom the same appertaineth) all praise and thanks therefore.  
reynold Scott.   

¶ The Printer to the Reader.  
forasmuch, AS M. Scot could not be present at the printing of this his Book, whereby I might have used his advise in the correction of the same, and especially of the Figures and portraitures contained therein, whereof he delivered unto me such notes as I being unskilful in the matter, could not so thoroughly conceive, nor so perfectly express, as the expectation of him being the Author, or of you being the Reader, might be in all points satisfied. I shall desire you to let his absence serve for mine excuse in this behalf, I also pray you to take somewhat the more pains in conferring the words with the figures, which will mutually give light one to the other, and finally will assist the understanding of you the Reader, but chiefly of him that cannot read at all, for whose sake he devised and procured these Figures to be made, and howsoever the Painter hath performed his office, or I my service herein, I am persuaded that the Author hath perfectly accomplished his duty, and plainly delivered unto you the effect of that which he hath taken in hand  
Farewell.   

¶ The Table.  

A perfit Platform of a Hoppe garden. fol. 1.  
Of unapt and apt ground for Hops. fol. 1  
Of the Situation. fol. 3  
Of the quantity. fol. 4  
A proportion of the charge and benefit of a Hoppe garden. fol. 4  
Of the preparation of a Hoppe garden. fol. 6  
The time to cut and set Hoppe roots. fol. 7  
Rules for the choice and preparation of roots. fol. 7  
Of the good Hoppe. fol. 8  
Of the unkindly Hoppe. fol. 8  
Of the wild Hoppe. fol. 9  
Of setting of Hoppe roots. fol. 9  
Abuses and disorders in setting. fol. 13  
Provision against annoyance, and spoil of your Garden. fol. 14  
¶ Of Poles. fol. 14  
Of the erection of Poles. fol. 18  
Of Ramming of Poles. fol. 19  
Of Reparation of Poles. fol. 19  
Of the preservation of Poles. fol. 20  
¶ Of tying of Hops to the Poles. fol. 22  
¶ Of hylling and hills. fol. 23  
Abuses in hylling. fol. 27  
¶ Of the gathering of Hops. fol. 29  
¶ What there is to be done in winter herein. fol. 32  
¶ The order for reforming your ground. fol. 33  
¶ The order of cutting Hoppe roots. fol. 33  
Of divers men's follies. fol. 36  
Of disorders and maintainers thereof. fol. 37  
¶ Of an Host. fol. 38  
Of the several Rooms for an Host. fol. 38  
Of the Furnace or keel. fol. 39  
Of the bed or upper floor of the Host, whereon the Hops must be dried. fol. 40  
The orderly drying of Hops. fol. 42  
Other manners of dryings not so good. fol. 45  
The very worst way of drying Hops. fol. 46  
Of not drying. fol. 47  
¶ Of the packing of Hops. fol. 47  
¶ The reformation of a Garden of wild Hops. fol. 49  
¶ The reformation of a disordered Garden. fol. 50  
¶ Needless curiosities used by the unskilful. fol. 51  
The Epilogue. fol. 53    

Faults escaped.  
In the xix Page, and the xxij line (that is to say) in the first line of the title of Reparation of Poles, for, If any of your Poles, read, If any of the Poles, and in the next line save one, for the broken Pole, read the same broken Pole.  
In the xxj Page, and in the xxiij line, for overthwart, read cross or thwart.  
In the xxiiij Page, and in the second line, and the first word, for sith, read, snythe, and in the xxj line of the same Page, for appear, read, declare.  
In the xxuj Page, line xxij for long, read, great. In the same Page, and in the next line, for longer, read, greater.  
In the xxix Page, line. xxviij. for, here is instrument, read, one instrument.  
●●d. for, as as, read, as.  
In the xxxiij Page, line xxiij for, you must of necessity, read, you must now of necessity.  
In the xxxuj Page, line. j for the hill, read, and the hill.  
In the xxxix Page, line xxix for, and not, read, and of.   

¶ A perfit Platform of a Hoppe garden  
AT what time necessity, or any other good consideration shall move you to devise for a Hoppe garden, you are to consider of these three things.  
First, whether you have, or can procure unto yourself, any ground good for that purpose.  
Secondly, of the convenient standing thereof.  
Thirdly, of the quantity.  
And this I say by the way, if the ground that you deal withal, be not your own inheritance, procure unto yourself some certain term therein, lest another man reap the fruit of your travail and charge.  

Of apt and unapt ground for Hops.  
SOme hold at this day (and Ancient writers witness the same) that earth being salt and bitter of taste, 
Virgilius.  is neither good, nor apt to be made good.  
It is also often written, and generally received, that such earth as you shall see white and bore (that is to say) wholly chalk, or all sand lacking a mixture of perfit earth, 
Didymus.  or if it be clayey, or so dry, 
Plinius.  as thereby it shall gape or coane in the summer, is nought. etc.  
It is further said, that if you shall feel a clod (being dissolved with water) to be very clammy, or cleaving like Wax to your fingers in kneading it, the same to be profitable land. etc.  
I for my part rely not upon other men's opinions, neither mean to dispute with any man herein, I like not to make my mouth an arbitrer in this matter, mine eye may be deceived, and my feeling may err in the precise distinction of good or bad land, but mine experience hath never failed in this thing (that is to say) that a barren, a moorie or wet soil (though it perhaps do content a wild Hoppe) shall never please nor maintain a good Hoppe.  
I will not say with Varro, that a good ground yieldeth Walwoortes, nor with Columella, that where Crabs or Sloes grow, there the ground is rich. I can say nothing of Florentines experience, in digging a hole, and filling it up again, and by the swelling to judge the strength, or by the gaping to define the weakness thereof, but I can say again by sure experience, that a dry ground, if it be rich, meoloe, and gentle, is the soil that serveth best for this purpose, and such a mould must either be sought out, or else by cost and labour be provoked.  
If it be a very shallow rock (except you raise it with greet or good earth) you shall not set your Poles deep, steady, and fast enough, to withstand the force of the wind.  
To redress the inconvenience hereof, you shall be taught in the title of Poles.  
A light mould (though it be very rich) is not very apt for this purpose, for it is a received and a proved rule, that the heaviest ground will bear the most weight of Hops, I say, so as it be a ground apt for this purpose.   

Of the Situation.  
IT were good to place your Garden so as the Sun may have free recourse into it, either the whole day, or the greatest and warmest part thereof, so also as if may be armed against the violence and contagion of the Easternlye and Northernlye wind, but this I would wish to be considered rather in the situation of the place, naturally defended with a Northernly or Easternlye hill, than artificially be set and guarded with trees. Howbeit, if you be driven hereunto, provide so (if you can) that your trees may stand aloof, even that the shadow of them, reach not into your Garden, but in any wise that they drop not upon the hills.  
It should also be placed near to your house, except you be able to warrant the fruit thereof from such fingers as put no difference between their own and other men's goods.  
Also your Garden being thus placed, there may be made thereunto the more speedy and continual recourse, besides that, that the masters eye shall many times withstand and prevent the servants negligence.  
Finally, by this means, it may be with most ease and lest charge holpen with dung.   

Of the quantity.  
THe quantity of your Garden, must either be measured by the proportion of your yearly expenses of Hops in your house, or by the cost you mean to bestow in the preparation and keeping thereof, or by the pains and business that you are disposed, or able to employ upon it, or else according to the profit and gains, that you mean to levy and win by it, which later consideration pleaseth and flattereth much a covetous man's conceit, whose vain or humour, (or rather vain humour) is so resisted in the rules appertaining hereunto, as many times the greediness of his desire, is the overthrow of his purpose, as shall hereafter appear.   

A proportion of the charge and benefit of a Hoppe garden.  
But to be resolved in all these points that conscerne the quantity of your Garden, you must make your account in this voice.  
One man may well keep two thousand hills, and yet reserve his winters labour for any other purpose.  
Upon every Acre you may erect seven, eight, or nine hundredth hills, as hereafter shall be declared.  
Upon every hill well ordered, you shall have three pounds of Hops at the lest.  
Three pounds of these Hops will largely serve for the brewing of one quarter of Malt.  
One hundredth pounds of these Hops, are commonly worth xxuj s. viii. d. So as one acre of ground, and the third part of one man's labour, with small cost beside, shall yield unto him that ordereth the same well, forty marks yearly, and that for ever.  
And here is to be noted, that ground orderly used, doth not only yield the more, the greater, the harder, and the weyghtyer Hops, but also they shall go further, they shall endure longer, they shall be holesommer for the body, and pleasant of verdure or taste, than such as be disorderly handled.  
These things considered, you may proceed to the making of your garden, wherein you are yet to have counsel, for the laying out thereof, for the due season and the right trade to cut and set Hoppe roots, what choice you shall make of them, what charge you shall be at for them, you are yet also to learn the time, when, and the way how to prepare your ground, and to make it able to entertain and nourish them, to frame your hills, to maintain them, and to pull them down, to cut, to fashion, to erect, and to preserve serve your Poles, to gather, to dry, and to pack your Hops, with many other circumstances necessarily appertaining hereunto. finally, you must be taught the reformation of many enormities and abuses which are received in most places for good rules, the which (God willing) I will set forth truly according to the notes of experience, although not learnedly after the rules of Rhetoric.   

Of the preparation of a Hoppe Garden.  
YOu must lay forth the ground which you determine to employ this way, in as level, square, and uniform wise as you may.  
If your ground be grassy, rough, or stiff, it should be first sown with Hemp, or Beans, which naturally maketh the ground moolowe, destroyeth weeds, and nevertheless leaveth the same in good season for this purpose.  
But in what plight or state soever your ground be, till it, in the beginning of Winter with the Plough, if it be great, or with the spade, if it be small, and this do, not only the year before you plant it, but also every year after, even so long as you mean to receive the uttermost commodity of your Garden, assuring yourself that the more pains you take, and the more cost you bestow rightly hereupon, the more you do double your profit, and the nearer you resemble the trade of the Fleming.   

The time to cut and set Hoppe roots.  
IN the end of March, or in the beginning of April, repair to some good Garden orderly kept, as wherein the Hops are all of a good kind, all yearly cut, and wherein all the hills are raised very high, (for there the roots will be greatest) then compound with the owner or keeper thereof for choice roots, which in some places will cost six pence an hundredth, but commonly they shall be given unto you, so as you cut them yourself, and leave every hill orderly and fully dressed, but what order you shall use herein, I will hereafter show.   

Rules for the choice and preparation of roots.  
ANd now you must choose the biggest roots you can find (that is to say) such as are in bigness three or four inches about.  
And let every root which you shall provide to set, be nine or ten inches long.  
Let there be contained in every such root, three joints.  
Let all your roots be but the springs of the year last passed.  
You must have great regard that you cumber not your Garden with wild Hops.  
Wild Hops are not to be discerned from the good, by the roots, but either by the fruit, or by the stalk.   

Of the good Hoppe.  
THe good and the kindly Hoppe beareth a great and a green stalk, a large and a hard bell.   

Of the unkindly Hoppe.  
THe Hoppe that likes not his entertainment, namely his seat, his ground, his keeper, his dung, or the manner of his setting. etc. appeareth at the first out of the ground green and small in stalk, thick and rough in leaves, very like unto a Nettle, which will be commonly devoured, or much bitten with a little black fly, who also will do harm unto good Hops where the Garden standeth bleak, or the Hoppe springeth rath, but be not discomforted herewith, for the heat of the Summer will reform this matter, and the later Springs will be little annoyed with this Fly, who (though she leave the lease as full of holes as a net) yet she seldom proceedeth to the utter destruction of the Hoppe.   

Of the wild Hoppe.  
OF the wild Hoppe, the fruit is either altogether seed, or else lose and light bells, the stalk is red, howbeit, herein the difference between the good and the bad Hoppe is not to be discerned, until the stalk be two or three yards high, for at their first coming up, the one as well as the other appeareth red, and the best Hoppe is then the reddest.  
Provide your roots therefore, where you are before hand assured of their goodness.   

Of setting of Hoppe roots.  
Having made your provision of roots in this wise, return therewith to your Garden speedily, and either set them immediately, or lay them in some Puddle near thereunto, or bury them in the ground until conveniency of wind, weather, and leisure (the want whereof may sometimes prevent good expedition) shall serve. Provided always that you leave them not in water or Puddle above xxiiij hours, but in the earth you may leave them as long as the time of setting endureth.  
Your Garden being dressed, as before I advised you, it shall be easy for you to direct your hills aright, and that in equal distance, with a Pole, or rather with a line (that will not stretch) tying thereupon short threads, or placing in it pins, according to the proportion of space which you mean to leave between your hills, whereof if one be placed out of order, it shall blemish and hurt a great part of your Garden.  
If your Garden be one act in bigness, & lie square, leave between every hole, three yards, or eight foot at the lest in space, as well that the hills may be made the greater, & that the Hops of one Pole reach not to another, as also that the Sun may the more freely and universally pass through your Garden, which by this means may yearly be ploughed betwixt the hills, whereas otherwise it must be digged, a more tedious and costly business.  
If your Garden be very little, you may set the hills somewhat nearer together, namely, seven foot a sunder.   pins and line for planting hops 
Your line being laid level, you must dig underneath every thread or pin placed upon the same, a hole like to a Pitfall, one foot square, and one foot deep.  
When you have made twenty or thirty holes, take up so many roots, from where you bestowed them, as aught to be set therein, and go to work on this wise, always watching a time (if you may) that the wind be in some part of the South or West, but be not so scrupulous herein, that you overslip the month of April, lest Salomons saying be spoken of you: He that regardeth the wind shall not sow, 
Eccle. 11.  and he that hath respect to the Clouds shall not reap. For he that neglecteth the month of April, shall have a bad season to cut or plant Hops.   bundling hop roots 
bundling hop roots Take two or three of your roots (which by this time will yield forth green sciences or buds, and will also have small roots or beards growing out of them, the which must be all pared away hard by the old root) join them close together, so as (in any wise) they may be even in the tops, set them also altogether bolt upright, directly under the foresaid thread or pin, holding them hard together with the one hand, while you fill the hole with the other, with fine mould prepared and laid ready before hand, regarding that the tops of the roots be level with the face or uppermost part of the ground.  
Take good heed also that you set not that end downward, that grew before upward, which you shall know by the buds that appear in the knots of each root, & let no part of the dead stalk remain upon the uppermost joint thereof.   man planting hops 
And here is to be noted, that the readiest and evenest way, is always to set your roots at one certain corner of the hole, which corner should always be right underneath the said pin or thread, as is afore showed.  
At this time you must make no hill at all, but only cover the tops of your roots about two inches thick, with the finest mould you can get.   man planting hops  

Abuses and disorders in setting.  
SOme use to set at every corner of the hole one root, but this is a naughty and a tedious trade, because a man shall be longer in dressing one of these, than about four other. To be short, you shall this way so cumber both yourself and your Garden, that you will soon be weary with working, and your Garden as soon weary of bearing.  
Some wind them, and set both ends upward, and herein both the cunning of the workman, and the goodness of the roots, are together very lively expressed, for if the roots were good, they could not so be wound, or if the workman were skilful, he would not be so fond to set them in that order.  
Some use to say them thwart or flat, but I say flatly, that the same is an overthwart and preposterous way, for they can neither prospero well, (as being set contrary to their nature and kind of growing) nor be kept as they aught to be.  
Some use to make hills, and then set their roots therein, but these conclude themselves from ministering succour unto them at any time after, besides many inconveniences hereby ensuing.  
Some set their roots, and then bury them with a great hill made upon them, and this is all one with the other, saving that the hill so choketh these, as most commonly they grow not at all.  
Finally, there be as many evil ways to set, as there be ignorant men to devise.   

Provision against annoyance, and spoil of your Garden.  
IF your Garden be small, and very nigh to your house, you may arm every hill with a few thorns, to defend them from the annoyance of Poultry, which many times will scrape and bathe among the hills, and so discover and hurt the Springs, but a Goose is the most noisome vermin that can enter into this Garden, for (besides the Allegory that may be applied in this case) a Goose will brut upon every young science or Hoppe bud, that appeareth out of the ground, which never will grow afterwards, and therefore as well to avoid the Goose, as other noisome cattle, let your closure be made strong, and kept right.   

¶ Of Poles.  
IT remaineth that I speak now of Poles, because poaling is the next work now to be done.  
If your hills be distant three yards a sunder, provide for every hill four Poles, if you will make your hills nearer together, three Poles shall suffice.  
And note that in the first year you must occupy as many Poles as in any year after, the reason whereof I will declare in the title of Hills. etc.  
Alder Poles are best for this purpose, as whereunto the Hops seem most willingly and naturally to incline, because both the fashion of these Poles being as a Taper small above, and great below, and also the roughness of the Alder ryne, stayeth the Hoppe stalk more firmly from sliding down, than either Ash or Oak, which for continuance be somewhat better, howbeit, these with the order that I shall prescribe, will endure six or seven years.  
These are also best cheap, and easiest to be gotten in most places, and soon grown ready for this purpose.  
There is in the Springs of these, lest danger in growing, or in being destroyed, or bitten by cattle.  
finally, by the expense of these, there ensueth lest annoyance to the common wealth, as well for the causes aforesaid, as also because they grow not in so great quantity, to so good timber, nor for so many purposes as either Oak or Ash.  
The best time to cut your Poles, is between All hallowentyde and Christmas, but you must pile them up immediately after they are cut sharped, reformed in length, and smoothed, lest they rot before you occupy them.  
You may not leave any scragges upon them, the reason whereof you shall conceive in the title of gathering Hops.  
Your Poles may not be above xu or xuj foot long at the most, except your ground be very rich, and that you have added thereunto great labour in raising up your hills, and also except your hills stand to near together, if these three things meet in one Garden, the best way of reformation, is to set the fewer Poles to an hill, or to let them remain the longer. Otherwise the Hops will grow from one pole to another, and so overshadow your Garden, the fault thereof being only to be imputed to the nearness of the hills. But hereof shall be said more in the title of Reformations.  
The Hoppe never stocketh kindly, until it reach higher than the Pole, and return from it a yard or two, for whilst it tendeth climbing upward, the branches which grow out of the principal stalk (wherein consisteth the abundance of increase) grow little or nothing.  
Let the quantity of your Poles be great (that is to say) nine or ten inches about at the lower end, so shall they endure the longer, and withstand the wind the better.  
To describe the price of Poles, or what it will cost you to furnish a Garden containing one acre of ground, it were a hard matter, because the place altereth the price of wood. But in a Wain you may carry a hundredth and fifty Poles, and I see small cause why a load of these should be dearer than a load of any other wood.  
After the first year Poles will be nothing chargeable unto you, for you may either pick them out of your own provision of Fuel, or buy them of your neighbours that have no occasion to apply them this way. For, the yearly supply of two loads of Poles, will maintain one acre continually.  
Your rotten and broken Poles will do you good service, for the kindling of your fires in the Host, whereupon you should dry your Hops, and they should be preserved chief for that purpose.  
At Poppering (where both scarcity and experience hath taught them to make provision hereof) they do commonly at the East and North side of their Gardens, set and preserve Alders, wherewith they continually maintain them.  
Before you set up your Poles, lay them all alongst your Garden between every row of hills by three or four together, I mean beside every hill so many Poles as you determine to set thereon, so shall you make the more speed in your work.   

Of the erection of Poles.   two tools 
You must set every Pole a foot and a half deep, and within two or three inches at the most of the principal root.  
If your ground be rocky and shallow, tarry the longer before you set up your Poles, so as your Hops may be grown two or three foot high, that you may adventure to make a hill or bank at every Pole to stay and uphold the same, without burying any of the younger springs, which may afterward be covered with less danger and annoyance to the principal root.  
Let the Poles of every hill lean a little outward one from another, as is hereafter showed.   

Of Ramming of Poles.  
THen with a piece of wood as big below as the great end of one of your Poles, ram the earth that lieth at the  man inserting three poles into planted hops out side of the Pole, thereunto, but meddle not within the compass of your Poles, as they are placed, lest you spoil the springs.   

Of Reparation of Poles.  
IF any of your Poles chance to break when the Hoppe is grown up, some use tenderly to undo and pull away the broken Pole, and to tie the top of those Hops to the top of a new Pole, then winding it a turn or two about according to the course of the Sun, to set it in the hole, or besides the hole where the broken Pole stood, and some other being loath to take so much pains, turn it about some of the other Poles that stand upon the same hill, and so leave it. But the best way is, to set a new Pole beside the broken Pole, and to tie the broken Pole to the same, which may uphold the said broken Pole, and preserve the Hoppe.   

Of the preservation of Poles.  
ANd although we are not yet come to the laying up of Poles, I am bold herein, as I began to late, so to make an end to rathe, because I would couch the whole matter of Poles together, laying them by themselves (I mean) comprehending under one title, the business appertaining unto them.  
For the preservation and better continuance of Poles, some make houses of purpose, and lay them up therein.  
Some set them upright to a tree, and over them make a penthouse of boowes or boards.  
Some lay a great heap of Hoppestalkes upon the ground, and upon them a great heap of Poles, and upon the Poles again lay another heap of stalks. etc.  
These men do hereby express no great experience, although by their diligence they signify a good desire.  
You shall need to do no more but thus. At the ends or sides of your Garden, take three Poles standing upon three hills placed directly one by another, and three like Poles upon three other hills of the next row right over against them, constrain them to meet together by two and two in the tops, and so hold them till one with a forked wand may put three Withes (like unto three Broome bands) which must be made of the stalks of Hops, upon each couple of the said six Poles, so shall the same six Poles being so bound by two and two together, stand like the roof or rafters of an house.  
To keep the Poles that shall lie nethermost from rotting, by the moistness of the ground: use within the compass of your said six hills, (underneath the Poles that you have fastened together in the tops,) to raise three little banks 〈◊〉 thwart from hill to hill, as though you would make your six hills to be but three.   two men building a shelter for planted hops 
If you think that you have not Poles enough to fill the room, pull down the Wyths or bands lower, & your room will be less.   

¶ Of tying of Hops to the Poles.  
WHen your Hops are grown about one or two foot high, bind up (with a Rush or a Grass) such as decline from the Poles, winding them as often about the same Poles as you can, and directing them always according to the course of the Sun, but do it not in the morning when the dew remaineth upon them, if your leisure may serve to do it at any other time of the day.  
If you lay soft green Rushes abroad in the dew and the Sun, within two or three days, they will be lythie, tough, and handsome for this purpose of tying, which may not be foreslowed,  man tying plant stems to poles for it is most certain that the Hoppe that lieth long upon the ground before he be tied to the Pole, prospereth nothing so well as it, which sooner attaineth thereunto.   

¶ Of hylling and hills.  
Now you must begin to make your hills, and for the better doing thereof, you must prepare a tool of Iron fashioned somewhat like to a Cooper's Adds, 
This tool is here above better proportioned, than that on the other side following.  but not so much bowing, and therefore likest to the netherpart of a shovel, the poll whereof must be made with a round hole to receive a helue, like to the helue of a mattock, and in the poll also a nail hole must be made, to fasten it to the helue.  
This helue should boowe somewhat like to a Sith, or to the steal of a Sith, and it must be little more than a yard long.   scythe 
Some think it impertinent and not necessary to make hills the first year, partly because their distrust of this years profit quallifyeth their diligence in this behalf, and partly for that they think that the principal root prospereth best, when there be no new roots out of them forced and maintained. But experience confuteth both these conjectures, for by industry, the first years profit will be great, and thereby also the principal sets much amended, as their prosperity in the second year will plainly appear.  
But in this work you must be both painful and curious, as wherein consisteth the hope of your gains and the success of your work. For the greater in quantity you make your hills, the more in number you shall have of your Hops, and the fewer weeds you shall have on your ground, the more Hops you shall have upon your Poles.  
In consideration whereof, I say, your labour must be continual from this time till the time of gathering, in raising your hills and cleared your ground from weeds.  
In the first year that you plant your Hoppe-garden, suppress not one science, but suffer them all to climb up to the Poles, for if you should bury or cover all the springs of any one of your three roots, which you did lately set, the root thereof perisheth, and perhaps out of some one root there will not proceed above one or two springs, which being buried, that root I say dieth, and therefore the more poles are at this time requisite.  
After the first year you must not suffer above two or three stalks at the most to grow up to one Pole, but put down and bury all the rest.  
Howbeit, you may let them all grow till they be four or five foot high at the lest, whereby you shall make the better choice of them which you mean to maintain, whereby also the principal root will be the better. etc.  
Some suffer their Hops to climb up to the tops of the Poles, and then make the hills at one instant of such quantity as they mean to leave them, which is neither the best nor the second way.  
But if (for expedition) you be driven here unto, begin sooner (that is to say) when the Hops be four or five foot long, and afterwards if leisure shall serve, refresh them again with more earth.  
But to make them well, and as they aught to be made, you must immediately after your poles are set, make a little bank or circle round about the outside of them, as a mention how wide your hill shall be, and as a receptacle to retain and keep moisture, whereof there cannot lightly come to much, so it come from above.  
If your Garden be great, by that time that you have made an end of these circles or banks, it will be time to proceed further towards the building up of your hills.  
Now therefore return again to the place where you began, or else where you see the Hops highest, and with your tool pair of the uppermost earth from the Alleys or spaces between the hills, and lay the same to your Hops, upon and within the circle that you made before, always leaving the same highest of any part of the hill, and so pass through your Garden again and again, till you have raised your hills by little and little, to so great a quantity as is before declared, and look how high your hills is, so long are your new roots, and the longer your new roots or springs be, the more larger and better your Hops will be.  
Great and overgrown weeds should not be laid upon the hills, as to raise them to their due quantity, but when with diligence and expedition you pass through your Garden, continually paring away each green thing assoon as it appeareth, you shall do well, with the same; and the uppermost mould of your Garden together, to maintain and increase the substance of your hills, even till they be almost a yard high.   man tending to high plants with long tools 
In the first year make not your hill to rathe, lest in the doing thereof you oppress some of those springs which would otherwise have appeared out of the ground.   

Abuses in hylling.  
SOme observe no time, and some no measure in making their hills, but (having heard say that hills are necessary) they make them they care not when nor how.  
Some make hills once for all, and never after pluck down the same, but better it were to make no hill, than so to do, for after the first year it doth derogate, & not add any comfort to the root, if it be not new made and dressed. etc.  
Some use to break off the tops of the Hops when they are grown a xj or twelve foot high, because thereby they barnish and stock exceedingly, wherein though I cannot commend their doings, yet do they much better than such as will have their Poles as long as their Hops.  
But if your Pole be very long, and that the Hoppe have not attained to the top thereof before the midst of july, you shall do well then to break or cut of the top of the same Hoppe, for so shall the residue of the growing time serve to the maintenance and increase of the branches, which otherwise would expire without doing any good in that matter, because that whole time would then be employed to the lengthening of the stalk, which little prevaileth (I say) to the stocking or increase of the Hoppe.  
And here is to be noted that many covetous men, thinking (in haste) to enlarge their lucre, do find (at leisure) their commodity diminished, whilst they make their hills to thick, their Poles to long, and suffer to many stalks to grow upon one Pole, wherein (I say) while they run away flattering themselves with the imagination of double gains, they are overtaken with triple damage (that is to say) with the loss of their time, their labour, and their cost.   

¶ Of the gathering of Hops.  
AT what time (or rather before) that your Hops begin to change colour (that is to say) somewhat before Michaelmas, you must gather them, and for the speedyer dispatch thereof, procure as much help as you can, taking the advantage of fair weather.  
To do the same in the readiest and best order, you must pull down four hills standing together in the midst of your Garden, cut the roots of all those hills as you shall be taught in the Title of Cutting. etc. Then pare the same plot, level it, throw water on it, tread it, and sweep it, so shall it be a fair floor, whereon the Hops must lie to be picked.  
Then beginning near unto the same, cut the stalks a sunder close by the tops of the hills, and if the Hops of one Pole be grown fast unto another, cut them also a sunder with a sharp hook.  
You may make the Fork and Hooke (which cutteth a sunder the Hops that grow together) here is instrument to serve both these turns, as as is here after showed.  
Then you may with the forked end, thrust up, or shove off, all such stalks as remain upon each Hoppe Pole, and carry them to the floor prepared for that purpose.   two men removing plants from poles 
For the better doing hereof, it is very necessary that your Poles be straight without scrags or knobs.  
In any wise cut no more stalks than you shall carry away within one hour or two at the most, for if in the mean time the Sun shine hot, or if it happen to rain, the Hops (remaining cut in that sort) will be much impaired thereby.  
Let all such as help you, stand round about the floor, and suffer them not to pyngle in picking one by one, but let them speedily stripe them into Baskets prepared ready therefore.  
It is not hurtful greatly though the smaller leaves be mingled with the Hops.  
Remember always to clear your floor twice or thrice every day, and sweep it clean at every such time, before you go to work again.  
If the wether be unlike to be fair, you may carry these Hops into your house in Blankets or Baskets. etc. and there accomplish this work. Use no linen hereabouts, for the Hops will stain it so, as it can never be washed out.  
If your Poles be scraggye, so as you cannot stryppe the stalks from them in this order, you must pull them up with main force, and this is painful to yourself, hurtful to your Hops, and a delay to your work.  
Then must you lay these Poles upon a couple of forked stakes driven into the ground, being two or three yards distant one from another, as Spits upon Ranges, and so dispatch this business if the wether be fair, if it be like to be fowl, you must be fain to carry the Hops together with the Poles into your Barn or house.  
In any wise let not the Hops be wet when you cut them from the hills, neither make any delay of gathering after the same time of cutting, for in standing abroad they will shed their seed, wherein consisteth the chief virtue of the Hoppe, and hereof I cannot warn you to often, nor to earnestly.  
Now by order I should declare unto you, the manner of drying your Hops, but because I must therewithal describe the places meet for that purpose, with many circumstances appertaining thereunto, I will be bold first to finish the work within your Hoppe garden, and then to lead you out of the same, into the place where you must dry your Hops. etc.  
When your Hops are gathered, assoon as you have leisure, take up your Poles and pile them (that remain good) as I have showed you in the title of Poles.  
Then carry out your broken Poles, and the Hoppe straw to the fire.  
Now may you departed out of your Garden, till the March following, except in the mean time you will bring in dung or good earth to the maintenance thereof, towards the heigthening of your hills, or else will plough it. etc.   

What there is to be done in Winter herein.  
TO be curious in laying dung upon the hills in Winter, as to comfort or warm the roots (as some do) it shall be needless, rather pluck down the hills, and let the roots lie bore all the Winter season, and this is usually done where Hops are best ordered, especially to restrain them from to rathe springing.  
If the ground be great that you keep, you shall be driven so to do, otherwise you shall not be able to overcome your work in due time.  
In any case you must avoid new horsedung as a very noisome and pernicious thing for your Hops.  
Stall dung is the best that can be wished for to serve this turn, so it be thoroughly rotten.  
Rather use no dung than unrotten dung about the dressing of your Hops, but omit not to bring into your Garden dung that may there be preserved till it be good, or needful to be used.   

¶ The order for reforming your ground.  
IN March you shall return to your Garden, and find it replenished with weeds, except by tillage. etc. you have prevented that matter already. It must (as well therefore, as because the earth may be the more fine, and easy to be delivered unto the hills) be digged over or ploughed.   

¶ The order of cutting Hoppe Roots.   man cutting back plant roots 
In the doing hereof be careful that you spoil not the old sets, as for the other roots which are to be cut away, you shall not need to spare them to the delay of your work.  
Take heed that you uncover not any more than the tops of the old sets in the first year of cutting.  
At what time so ever you pull down your hills, cut not your roots before the end of March, or in the beginning of April, and then remember the wind.  
In the first year (I mean) at the first time of cutting and dressing of your roots, you must (with a sharp knife) cut away all such roots or springs as grew the ye are before, out of your sets, within one inch of the same.   man cutting back plant roots 
There groweth out of the old sets certain Roots right downwards not jointed at all, which serve only for the nourishing and comfort of those sets or principal roots: there be other like unto them growing outward at the sides of the sets.  
If they be not met withal, and cut a sunder, they will encumber your whole Garden.  
Because it may seem hard to discern the old sets from the new springs, I thought good to advertise you how easy a thing it is to see the difference thereof, for first you shall be sure to find your sets where you did set them, nothing increased in length, but somewhat in bigness enlarged, and in few years all your sets will be grown into one, so as by the quantity that thing shall plainly appear: and lastly the difference is seen by the colour, the old root being red, the other white, but if the hills be not yearly pulled down, and the roots yearly cut, then in deed the old sets shall not be perceived from the other roots.  
If your sets be small, and placed in good ground, the hill well maintained, the new roots will be greater than the old.  
If there grow in any hill a wild Hoppe, or whensoever the stalk waxeth red, or when the Hoppe in any wise decayeth, pull up every root in that hill, and set new in their places, at the usual time of cutting and setting.   

Of divers men's follies.  
MAny men seeing the springs so forward, as they will be by this time, are loath to loose the advantage thereof, and more unwilling to cut away so many goodly roots, but they that are dangerous in this behalf, take pity upon their own profit, and are like unto them that refrain to say dung upon their corn land, because they would not bewray it with so uncleanly a thing.  
And some that take upon them great skill herein, think that for the first year they may be left unhilled and uncutte. etc. deceiving themselves with this conceit, that then the sets prospero best within the ground when they send lest of their nature and state out of the ground. In this respect also they pull away or suppress all such springs (as soon as they appear) which grow more, and besides them which they mean to assign to each Pole, as though when a man's fingers were cut off, his hand would grow the greater. In deed if there be no hill maintained, than the more springs are suffered to grow from out of the principal root, the more burden and punishment it will be to the same. But when the springs are maintained with a hill, so much as remaineth within the same is converted into roots, which rather add than take away any state from the principal root, in consideration hereof, the suppressing of the springs may not be too rathe, for whatsoever opinion be hereof received, the many springs never hurt the principal root, if the hills be well maintained, but it is the cumbering and shadowing of one to another that worketh the annoyance.  
When you have cut your Hops, you must cover them as you were taught in the title of setting, and proceed according to the order already set down.   

Of disorders and maintainers thereof.  
SOme there be that despise good order, being deceived with a show of increase which sometimes appeareth in a disordered ground, to them I say and say it truly, that the same is a bad and a small increase in respect of the other.  
I say also that although disorderly doings at the first may have a countenance of good success, yet in few years the same, and all hope thereof will certainly decay.  
Some other there be that despise good order, satisfying themselves with this, that they have sufficiently to serve their own turn, without all these troubles, and surely it were pity that these should be troubled with any great abundance, that in contempt of their own profit, and of the common wealth, neglect such a benefit proffered unto them.   

¶ Of an Oste.  
Now have I showed unto you the perfect platform of a Hoppe garden, out of the which I led you for a time, & brought you in again when time required, and there would I leave you about your business, were it not to show you by description such an Host as they dry their Hops upon at Poppering, with the order thereof. etc. Which for the small charges and trouble in drying, for the speedy and well drying, and for the handsome and easy doing thereof, may be a profitable pattern, and a necessary instruction for as many as have, or shall have to do herein.   

Of the several Rooms for an Host.  
FIrst a little house must be built, of length xviij. or xix foot, of wideness eight, wherein must be comprehended three several rooms.  
The middle and principal room must be for your Host, eight foot square. The forepart which is to contain your green Hops, and the hinder part which must receive your dried Hops, will fall out to be five foot long, and eight foot wide a piece.  
The chief matters that are to be by me describe herein, are the Furnace below wherein the fire is to be made, and the bed above whereon the Hops must lie to be dried: this I have chiefly to advise you of, that you build the whole house and every part thereof as close as you can, and to place it near to your Garden for the better expedition of your work, and somewhat distant from your house to avoid the danger of fire.   

Of the Furnace or keel.  
THe floor or neither part of your Furnace must be about thirteen inches wide.  
The depth or height thereof must also be thirteen inches.  
The length of it must be about six or seven foot (that is to say) reaching from the forepart of the Host almost to the further end thereof, so as there be left no more room but as a man may pass between the wall and the end of it.  
It must be made wide below and narrow above fashioned in outward shape somewhat like to the roof of an house.  
It must have holes at each side, the length of one Brick a sunder, and not the bigness of half a Brick, placed checkerwise.   furnace  

Of the bed or upper floor of the Host, whereon the Hops must be dried.  
THe bed or upper floor whereon the Hops shall lie to be dried, must be placed five foot above the neither floor, whereon the furnace standeth.  
The two walls at each side of the house serve for the bed to rest upon two ways.  
Now must two other walls be built at each end of your Host, whereon the other two parts of the bed must rest, and by this means shall you have a close square room beneath, betwixt the lower floor and the bed, so as the floor below shall be as wide as the bed above.  
These two walls must also be made four foot above the bed (that is to say) nine foot high.  
At the one end below, besides the mouth of the furnace, you must make a little door into the room beneath the bed. At the other end above the bed you must make a window to shove off from the bed the dried Hops, down into the room below prepared for them.  
The bed should be made as the bed of any other Host, saving that the Rails or Laths which serve therefore must be sawen very even one inch square, and laid one quarter of an inch asunder.   placement of furnace 
And now once again wishing you to make every door, window, and joint of this house close, I will leave building, and proceed to the drying of Hops, saving that I may not omit to tell you, that you should either build all the walls of this house with Brick, or else with lime and Hair pargit over all the walls, posts, and beams thereof, or at the lest, that room wherein the furnace standeth.  
And although I have delayed you from time, to time, and brought you from place to place, and tediously led you in and out, and to and fro in the demonstration hereof, yet must I be bold to bring you round about again, even to the place where I left you picking, from whence you must speedily convey your pyckt Hops to the place built and prepared for them, and with as much speed hasten the drying of them.   

The orderly drying of Hops.  
THe first business that is to be done herein, is to go up to the bed of the Host, and there to receive Baskets filled with Hops, at the hands of one that standeth below.  
Then beginning at the further end (lest you should tread on them) lay down Basketfull by Basketfull, till the floor or bed be all covered, always stirring them even and level, with a Cudgel, so as they may lie about a foot and a half thick, and note that upon this Host, there is no Host cloth to be used.  
Now must you come down to make your fire in the furnace, for the kindling whereof your old broken Poles are very good, howbeit, for the continuance and maintenance of this fire, that wood is best which is not too dry.  
Your Hoppe stalks, or any other straw is not to be used herein.  
You shall not need to say the wood through to the farther end of the furnace, for the fire made in the forepart thereof, will bend that way, so as the heat will universally and indifferently ascend and proceed out of every hole.  
You must keep herein a continual and a hot fire, howbeit, you must stir it as little as you can.  
Neither may you stir the Hops that lie upon the Host, until they be thoroughly dried.  
When they are dry above, then are they ready to be removed away, and yet sometimes it happeneth that (through the disorderly laying of them) they are not so soon dry in one place, as they are in another.  
The way to help that matter, is to take a little Pole (wherewith you shall sensibly feel and perceive which be, and which be not dry, by the rattling of the Hops which you shall therewith touch) and with the same Pole to turn aside such Hops as be not dry, abating the thickness of the moist place.  
When your Hops are dry, rake up the fire in such sort as there may be no delay in the renewing thereof.  
Then with expedition shove them out of the window before mentioned into the room prepared to receive them, with a Rake fashioned like a Coal Rake, having in stead of teeth a board of one foot broad.  
This being done, go down into the lower floor, and sweep together such Hops and seeds as are fallen thereinto, and lay them up among the dried Hops, and then without delay cover the bed again with green Hops and kindle your fire.  
Say your dried Hops on a heap together till they be cold, and by this means such as were not perfectly dried through some disorder upon the Host, shall now be reformed.  
If they have been well ordered, they will now be brown, and yet bright.  
If they be black and dark, it is a note that they are disordered.  
The Flemings pack them not up before they cell them to the Merchant, but lay them in some corner of a fit where they tread them close together.   

Other manners of dryings not so good.  
SOme use to dry their Hops upon a common Host, but that way there can be no great speed in your work, nor small expense of your wood, besides the danger of fire, and ill success of your doings.  
On this Host you must have an Host cloth, otherwise the seed and Hops that fall down shall not only perish, but endanger the burning of your Host.  
Upon this Host you may not lay your Hops above eight or nine inches thick, which nevertheless shall not be so soon dry as they which lie upon the other Host almost two foot thick, and therefore this way you shall make more toil in your work, more spoil in your Hops, and more expense in your wood.  
Some use to dry their Hops in a Garret, or upon the floor of a fit or Chamber, in the reproof whereof I must say, that as few men have room enough in their houses to contain any great quantity or multitude of Hops, so the dust that will arise, shall impair them, the chynkes, crevices, and open joints of your Loftes being not close byrthed, will devour the seeds of them, in the end the leaves will endanger them with heating when they are packed, as being not so soon dry as the Hops which thereby shall be utterly spoiled in colour, in cent, and in verdure.  
As for any low rooms or earthen floors, they are yet worse for this purpose than the other, for either they yield dust in dryth, or moisture in wet weather.  
And therefore if you have no Host, dry them in a fit as open to the air as may be, sweep, wash, and rub the boards, and let your Broom reach to the walls, and even to the roof of your fit, for I can teach you no way to divide the dust from your Hops, but so to prevent the inconvenience hereof.  
Stop the holes and chynkes of your floor, lay them not above half a foot thick, and turn them once a day at the lest, by the space of two or three weeks.  
This being done, sweep them up into a corner of your fit, and there let them lie as long more, for yet there remaineth peril in packing of them.  
If the year prove very wet, your Hops ask the longer time of drying.   

The very worst way of drying Hops.  
SOme lay their Hops in the Sun to dry, and this taketh away the state of the Hops, and nevertheless leaveth the purpose of drying undone.   

Of not drying.  
SOme gather them, and brew with them being green and undried, supposing that in drying, the virtue and state of the Hoppe decayeth and fadeth away, wherein they are deceived, for the verdure is worse, the strength less, and the quantity must be more of green Hops that are to be brewed in this sort.  
In the first Woorte which the Brewer's call the Hoppewoorte (because the time of seething thereof is short) there goeth out of these Hops almost no virtue at all, and therefore experience hath taught them that are driven to brew with these green Hops, to seethe them again in the Woorte, which they call the Ney beer, where after long seething they will leave the state which remaineth in them, and that is not much.   

¶ Of the packing of Hops.  
IN the making of your Hoppesackes, use your own cunning or invention, for I have small skill therein, howbeit, I can tell you that the Hoppesackes that are brought out of Flaunders, may be good samplers for you to work by, the stuff is not dainty wherewith they are made, the Loom is not costly wherein they are woven, the cunning not curious whereby they are fashioned, but when you have them, and are ready to pack your Hops, do thus.  
Thrust into the mouth of your sack (which must be doubled and turned in strongly lest it break) four strong pins half a foot long a piece, placed in equal distance one from the other, than lay two Bats or big Poles cross or thwart two Beams or Couple of your house, which two Bats must lie no farther a sunder than the wideness of the Sacks mouth. Fasten upon each pin a rope, and knit two of those Ropes upon each cross Bat, so as the bottom of the Sack being empty, may hung within half a foot of the floor, then stand within the Sack, and receive the Hops, treading them down very hard, and before the Sack be half full, it will rest upon the ground, whereby you shall be able to press them the harder together.  
But the handsomer way were to make a square hole (as wide as the Sacks mouth) in the floor of the Loft, where your Hops lie, and to hang down your Sack at that hole, and with a Scuppet or shovel to shove down your Hops thereinto, and to receive them as is aforesaid, when the Sack is almost full, undo the Ropes, and wind those pins about for the harder shutting of the Sack, and fasten them therein.  
If you list, you may sow (over the mouth of this Sack) another piece of Sackcloth, whereof you must leave a little unsewed, until you have thrust as many Hops as you can between the Sack and the same, but in beholding the Hop-sackes sent from Poppering, you shall better understand and learn the doings hereof.  
For your own provision you may preserve them in Driefattes, Barrels, or such like vessels, for want of room to leave them in, or sacks to pack them in.  
There is, according to the Proverb, much falsehood in packing, I am unskilful in that Art, if I were otherwise, I would be loath to teach such doctrine.  
But to avoid such deceit, and to make the more perfect and better choice, it is usual and lawful in most places where Hops are sold, to cut the Sack that you mean to buy in seven or eight places, and to search at each place whether the Hops be of like goodness.  
Such places as you shall feel with your hand to be softer than the rest, you should specially cut, where perhaps you shall find Hops of another kind, elder or worse than the rest.   

¶ The reformation of a Garden of wild Hops.  
TO reform a Garden where the Hops be wild, the work is tedious, and none other way remaineth, but to dig over the same with a Spade, so deep as you may search out and throw out every root and piece of root that may be found in, or near thereunto, and then to plant according to the order before declared.   

¶ The reformation of a disordered Garden.  
TO repair a ruinous Garden, which through ignorauce was disorderly set, and through sloth suffered to overrun and decay, where nevertheless the Hops remain of a good kind (though somewhat impaired, as needs they must be, by this means) the very best way were to do as to the wild Hoppe.  
The second way is to forget that it is disordered at all, imagining that all were well, and to set your Poles in such order, and so far a sunder as is prescribed in that title, always directing them right with a line, so as a stranger beholding them, may suppose that your Garden is kept after the best manner, then lead unto each Pole two or three stalks which you shall find nearest thereunto, and there erect a hill which you may ever after cut and dress according to the rules before declared, and so by continual digging, paring, and diligence, you shall at leisure bring it to some reasonable perfection.  
If your Garden be very much matted with roots, so as it be to tedious to dig, set your Poles as you are already taught, and bring into your Garden, and lay near to every such place where you mean to make a hill, one Coorte load of good earth, with the which, after your Hops are tied to your Poles, begin to make your hill, and proceed as in the title of Hills, always cutting down such Hops or weeds as grow between the said hills.  
If your roots be set orderly, and your hills made accordingly, and yet left undressed by the space of two or three years, it will be very hard (I say) to discern the sets from the other later roots: nevertheless, if your ground be good, you may yet reform the inconvenience thereof, namely, by pulling down the hill, and cutting away all the roots contained therein, even with the face or upper part of the earth, searching also each side, and digging yet lower, and round about the root which remaineth, and to take away from the same all such roots as appear out thereof.   

¶ Needless curiosities used by the unskilful.  
TO water your Garden, as to make the roots grow the better, it were more tedious than needful, for the hylling thereof serveth for that purpose, and there is time of growing sufficient for them betwixt mid April and August, and yet it never hurteth, but rather doth good, if it be before the hill be made.  
To pluck of the leaves, to the end that the Hops may prospero the better, is also needless, and to no purpose, and rather hindereth than helpeth the growth of the Hops, for they are hereby deprived of that garment which Nature hath necessarily provided for them, and clothed them with.  
To flaw the Poles, thereby to prolong their continuance, is more than needeth to be done in this behalf, for it is too tedious to yourself, and hurtful to your Hoppe, and little availeth to the purpose aforesaid.  
To burn the neither part or great end of your Poles, as some do, to the end they should last or endure the longer, is also an unnecessary trouble, only Willow Poles you may so use to keep them from growing.  
To weed the Hills with the hand, whereas the same Weeds shall be buried by the raising of the hill.    

The Epilogue.  
THus have I, according to my small skill and experience, according to my friends desire, and according to the truth, uttered these few notes concerning the making and maintenance of an Hoppe garden, that which remaineth more to be said thereof, resteth in the skill of skilfuller persons, and is at this time either without the compass of my knowledge, or beyond the reach of my memory. I doubt not but I have herein taken upon me to teach some that, which they know better than I, and also provoked some that need not, and some that care not, to be employed in these matters: howbeit, I urge nothing, but that which may be done without great difficulty, charge, labour, or soil, the matter thereof being in deed to homely and base for the proud and disdainful, the exercise too tedious and busy for the slothful and idle, but the charge too costly for none but Niggard's, the cunning too curious for none but fools, and yet among these estates (I trow) there will some smell out the profitable savour of this Herb, some will gather the fruit thereof, some will make a Salad therewith (which is good in one respect for the belly, and in another for the Purse) and when the grace and sweetness hereof is conceived, some will dip their fingers therein up to the knuckles, and some will be glad to lick the Dish, and they that disdain to be partakers hereof, commonly prove to be such, as have Mountains in fantasy, and beggary in possession, I mean that they which have a Hoppe hill in derision, will scant fall out to leave a Moulehyll in reversion. Besides that, their security in this behalf makes room for strangers to deprive us of our commodities, who maintain ignorance in our bosoms, and beggary in our Purses, while we nourish disdain in our hearts, and sloth in our hands, and hereby we set our shame upon a stage for all the world to gaze upon, and make our folly so palpable, that Strangers from beyond the Seas, (which neither hear nor see us) can grabbe it out, for we can be content upon our Alebench, to entytle our Country to the name of fertility, and yet deprave the same with our peevishness, and slander it with our sloth, expounding and excusing our negligence by our ignorance, and covering the one with the others weeds, the goodness of our ground serving us to no other purpose, but to manifest our ill husbandry, but our abundance shall not excuse our unthankfulness, whilst we abuse the blessings of God to our own destruction, and oppose our sloth and ignorance against his bounty and goodness, but God forbid that the provision of the good should rest in the hands of the slothful, from whom let us departed, and leave them folding their hands together, 
Proverb. 24.  and so shall poverty come upon them. For, what fellowship can there be between an holy man and a Dog, 
Ecclesi. 13.  or between an honest man and an unthrift. Me thinks I might aptly compare such men as have ground fit for this purpose, and will not employ it accordingly, to Alehouse Knights, partly for the small devotion which both the one and the other have unto Hops, but especially for that many of these Ale Knights having good drink at home of their own, 
Ale to be commended, but not the Ale Knight.  can be content to drink worse abroad at an Alehouse, so they may sit close by it. Let them expound this comparison that buy their Hops at Poppering, and may have them at home with more ease and less charge, I only say that they resemble & agree together though not in good, yet in that which is evil, for I see no difference betwixt them, saving that unto the private unthriftiness of the Ale-knights, these men add a public despite unto the common wealth, 
Eccles. 14.  but how can he that is nought himself be good unto others. I for my part know not how to persuade such, nor what they will learn, that refuse to hearken to their own profit, for no receit serveth against despair, no Counsel prevaileth against Contempt. Their ground is taught to bear, their Hops to grow, their Poles to stand, their hands to work, their senses to perceive, if they would but teach their wills to consent to their own profit, they should have the gains, and I my desire. If they will not do so much for themselves, I pray God that the diligence of the little Emmet which (through their negligence doth much harm to their Hoppe roots) be not called forth at the last day to witness against their sloth. Now there remaineth no more to be said but a word or two to Momus, and his companions, whose office reacheth to the reproof of all things perfect and unperfect, and therefore my writings ministering much cause of reprehension, must needs be subject to their scorns, but I appeal from their mocks to wiser men's censures. For I am persuaded that I deserve rebuke at wiser men's hands than they are, but their correction will do me no good, for that it tendeth to the defamation, and not to the reformation of me and my writings, I take not upon me to make a philosophy, but a Hoppe garden, and yet I doubt, that because I resemble not Aristotle, this man and his Mates will counterfeit Diogenes, (that is to say) because I tender not a peripatetical reason for every syllable I writ, they will tender a Stoical frump for every word they read. Some say that Momus for his sawcynesse was torn in three pieces. etc. But that little prevailed to allay the lewdness of Mockery, for of one piece were engendered corrupt and hasty judges, of another, carpcious Controllers, and of his hinder parts, impudent Scoffers, and this should appear to be true. For some will take upon them to be judges, that (for their integrity) are not meet to be impanelled in a true jury, nor for their credit scant worthy to be hangmen to false thieves, their judgements being corrupt, and always tending to the condemnation of the unguiltye, their wisdom serving them to no other end, but to quarrel with other men's simplicities, the sharpness of their wits to nothing but to the maintenance of contention. Some will be Controllers, that neither have authority in their persons, nor wit in their heads, reproving that which neither they (being fools) know, nor other (being wise) mislike. Finally, some are so possessed with the spirit of scurrility, that they cannot gape, but Taunts appear in their mouths, confounding jest and sobriety in such sort, as though all things were but mockery. I say therefore, that from the highest to the lowest, from the judge to the Hangman, from the top of the Gallows, to the nethermost steal of the Ladder, and from Scoggin to Will Summer, there remaineth not one of these scoffers more favoured of himself, than abhorred of others, and therefore I would wish them, that when their grace, and the Majesty of their frumps faileth, (that is to say) when men leave to laugh at their follies, either to suppress their ignorance with such silence, as such as are honest, be not grieved therewith, or to express their knowledge in such words as such as they themselves are, will not laugh to scorn.  
FINIS.