Every summer thousands invaded the countryside of such counties as Hampshire, Herefordshire, Sussex and Worcestershire to help bring in the harvest. A large supply of willing hands was crucial for the success of the crop, especially in Kent where it was not unusual for more than 3,000 pickers to be employed in each garden (a historic name for what was really a large field). They came from London (particularly the East End), Portsmouth, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Manchester and even Wales<\/a>. \u201cA strange crowd they are indeed!\u201d announced the English Illustrated Magazine<\/em> in 1886, describing \u201cragged tramps\u201d, \u201csmart servant<\/a> girls\u201d and \u201cweatherworn mothers of the neighbourhood with the whole family at their heels\u201d.<\/p> The railways made travel to the countryside easier, and most pickers used the \u2018Hopping Special\u2019 trains. Some of the railway companies even used cattle trucks to carry extra passengers.<\/p> With so many additional workers in the fields \u2013 many of them staying up to a month \u2013 hop farmers needed to provide somewhere for them to sleep at the end of an arduous day. Initially, living conditions were extremely poor, perhaps just a piece of canvas slung over some sheep hurdles for shelter, although the 1750 agricultural text Modern Husbandry<\/em> describes one Kentish farmer who generously provided huts with straw bedding. But conditions had barely improved a century later. The situation reached crisis point in 1866 when London pickers introduced a cholera outbreak to the hop-growing districts of Kent, which was exacerbated by the unsanitary living conditions. The Morning Post<\/em> reported that \u201cthe provision made for the reception of these poor people by the hop-growers is of the most wretched character. Hovels without windows or sleeping accommodation, into which the rain readily enters, or old Crimean tents, are the only places for their shelter.\u201d The resultant outcry, and the Victorians\u2019 propensity for charitable schemes, made change inevitable.<\/p> The Society for the Employment and Improved Lodging of Hop Pickers was formed in 1866. The society encouraged growers to provide suitable lodgings for their workers and by the mid-1880s things had improved so much that \u2018Hoppers\u2019 Houses\u2019 were being erected, described by the Montgomery Express<\/em> in 1883 as \u201clong rows of single storey dwellings, one room numbered to each squad of up to 12, according to size, sexes separate. Scripture readers and other good people attend upon them, and there is much more order and decorum.\u201d<\/p> Hoppers worked hard. In the 19th century, hops were grown on upright wooden poles so that the bines (shoots) could be trained to grow upwards. The hop cones grew high on the bine, so the bines were cut near the base of the pole and the entire pole uprooted and laid across a bin or basket on a wooden frame. In the 20th century a system of stringing and wirework became the preferred method, and a sharp tool called a \u2018binman\u2019s hook\u2019 was used to pull down the bines at the top to release them from the string. A picker would then lay the bine across their lap and pluck each hop cone individually. The pickers were supervised by an overseer, whose job it was to measure the quantity of picked hops twice a day. They also made sure that each bin or \u2018bushel basket\u2019, large enough to hold eight gallons, was properly filled. The hops were then taken to the oast house for drying. Despite the laborious nature of the job, pickers would return year on year \u2013 often to the exact same hop fields.<\/p> Payment was via a medal or token depending on the quantity of bushels picked, which was exchanged for cash at the end of the picking season. Tokens were often accepted by local inns and shopkeepers, who would then settle with the hop farmer later. A holiday picker could earn \u00a32\u2013\u00a34 at the end of the 19th century, rising to \u00a310\u201315 in the late 1930s.\u00a0<\/p> By the 1890s late-Victorian sentimentalism had kicked in and the hop-picking holiday was seen as a tranquil, rural break from smog-choked cities. As the writer John B Marsh observed in his book Hops and Hopping<\/em>, \u201cThe hop-garden is the promised land of the eastender\u2019s life\u2026 what the banks of the Riviera are to the children of the aristocracy, the banks of the Medway and the Stour are to the children of the poor.\u201d<\/p> However, with so many incoming strangers, tensions with the local population were inevitable. Petty crime was common, but situations could escalate quickly. In October 1866 an inquest was held in the Kent village of Ide Hill, following a fatal fight between a party of pickers and some locals. \u201cIt appears that some ill-feeling existed between the resident labourers and non-resident hop pickers,\u201d reported the Sussex Advertiser<\/em>, \u201cwhich only needed a favourable opportunity to bring the parties to blows\u2026 some 30 residents engaged about eight or 10 hoppers in a fight, and the injuries inflicted show a pretty free use of sticks and knives.\u201d<\/p>![\"Black](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2024\/03\/Hop-pickers-2.jpg\")
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