The picking then commences, and nimble fingers of all sizes very soon strip the poles of the aromatically-smelling ripe hops, the poles being cast aside in heaps, to be afterwards cleared of the old bines and put into "stacks" of three hundred each, and used again next season. The bins, which vary in number according to the size of the hop-garden, are placed in rows on the margin of the plantation, and usually have ten "hop-hills" (_i. e._ plants) on each side, and are moved inside the plantation as the poles are pulled up. Each bin belongs to a "sett" (_i. e._ family or companionship), consisting of from five to seven persons, and is taken charge of by a "binman." When the bin is full, a "measurer" (either the farmer himself or his deputy) takes account of the quantity of hops picked, and records it in a book to the credit of each working family. Then the green hops are carted off in "pokes" or sacks to the "oast-houses" to be dried. For this purpose, anthracite coal and charcoal are used in the kiln, a shovelful or two of sulphur being added to the fire when the hops are put on. The process of drying takes eleven hours, and afterwards the dried hops are packed in pockets which, when full, weigh about a hundredweight and a half each, the packing being effected by hydraulic pressure. They are then sent to market, the earliest arrivals fetching very high prices. As much as L50 per cwt. was paid in 1882, but the ordinary price averages from L4 to L8 per cwt. _Humulus Lupulus_, the hop, belongs to the natural order _Urticaceae_--a plant of rather wide distribution, but said to be absent in Scotland--and is a herbaceous, dioecious perennial, usually propagated by removal of the young shoots or by cuttings. According to Sowerby, the genus is derived from _humus_, the ground, as, unless supported or trained, the plant falls to the earth; and the common name "hop" from the Saxon _hoppan_, to climb. William King, in his _Art of Cookery_, says that "heresy and hops came in together"; while an old popular rhyme records that:-- "Hops, carp, pickerel, and beer, Came into England all in one year." Tusser in his _Hondreth Good Points of Husbandrie_, published in 1557, gives sundry directions for the cultivation of hops, and quaintly advocates their use as follows:-- "The hop for his profit I thus do exalt, It strengtheneth drink, and it savoureth malt; And being well brewed, long kept it will last, And drawing abide--if you draw not too fast." The hop has many varieties--thirty or more--among which may be mentioned prolifics, bramblings, goldings, common goldings, old goldings, Canterbury goldings, Meopham goldings, etc. When once planted they last for a hundred years, but some growers replace them every ten years or sooner.