Can anyone tell me the correct description in the old censuses of people whose main occupation was growing hops? Or was this perforce a seasonal occupation? (so at census time they would not have been doing that?) Would they have been classes as ag-labs or would it have required enough skill to be regarded as a separate 'trade'? I notice in a recent message someone is described as a hop-planter. Might this have been someone who owned a plantation as distinct from an employee who planted them and trained them onto sticks etc? Thanks for any advice, David "14th October 1793, Sun Newspaper, London A few days since, at St. John's Worcester, Mr ROLLASON, Printer & Bookseller, Coventry, married to Miss OVEN, daughter of the late Mr James OVEN, Hop-planter and Grazier, Dilwyn Herefordshire Diane J."

Hi David and all My great grandfather was involved in hop growing in Kent. (It is believed that he owned the smallest oast house in Kent, and one of the oldest). My Mum wrote a piece about her childhood, part of which says "Until WW2 my mother did not work outside the home, except for the annual 3 weeks spent picking hops at Harold Wilkinson's farm at Farningham, on the Benenden/Golford road, where my grandfather Santer was the hop drier, working day and night in the oast where he had a rough bed. Aunt Edie would cycle from Golford with his meals. Drying hops was a very skilled job, and the fire, which in those days was a coal one, needed expert attention." and: "Depending on the number of pickers in a family was the decision to have a bin or half a bin. Hops were picked in bins which were constructed from sacking secured to a wooden pole frame and, I think, would hold around 40 bushels. We picked in sets, so many bins to a set and so many"hills". A hill contained a certain number of "bines". When a set had been cleared, the bins were moved to another set. In this way every one had a share of "good" and "bad" sets. Earlier in the year, about May, women had been employed in hop training. The best bines in each hill were selected to grow up the strings to the overhead wire framework, and the weaker ones pulled out. The hops had to be trained three times with a period of time between each training. Aunt Nell was a regular and experienced hop trainer and later my mother did training,though not at the same farm. Hop training was also called hop tying." Hope this helps Regards Heather now in Oz but born & bred in Kent -----Original Message----- From: eng-hereford-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:eng-hereford-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of David Daniell Sent: 29 May 2008 20:18 To: Herefordshire Rootsweb Subject: [HEF] Hops Can anyone tell me the correct description in the old censuses of people whose main occupation was growing hops? Or was this perforce a seasonal occupation? (so at census time they would not have been doing that?) Would they have been classes as ag-labs or would it have required enough skill to be regarded as a separate 'trade'? I notice in a recent message someone is described as a hop-planter. Might this have been someone who owned a plantation as distinct from an employee who planted them and trained them onto sticks etc? Thanks for any advice, David "14th October 1793, Sun Newspaper, London A few days since, at St. John's Worcester, Mr ROLLASON, Printer & Bookseller, Coventry, married to Miss OVEN, daughter of the late Mr James OVEN, Hop-planter and Grazier, Dilwyn Herefordshire Diane J." ---- ENG-HEREFORD Mailing List ---- A genealogy and local history list covering the County of Hereford ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-HEREFORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi David I think the answer to your query would be "Farmer" or "Hop Grower". If someone was growing hops, they would have owned (or rented?) the land the hops were grown on, so wouldn't be "ag labs". Farmers probably had other crops or animals as well as hops, so hop growing would only be a small part of what they did - unless they only grew hops, which I would think would be fairly unlikely. If the crops were only harvested once a year, what would they have lived on for the rest of the year? Regards Heather -----Original Message----- From: eng-hereford-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:eng-hereford-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of David Daniell Sent: 29 May 2008 20:18 To: Herefordshire Rootsweb Subject: [HEF] Hops Can anyone tell me the correct description in the old censuses of people whose main occupation was growing hops? Or was this perforce a seasonal occupation? (so at census time they would not have been doing that?) Would they have been classes as ag-labs or would it have required enough skill to be regarded as a separate 'trade'? I notice in a recent message someone is described as a hop-planter. Might this have been someone who owned a plantation as distinct from an employee who planted them and trained them onto sticks etc? Thanks for any advice, David "14th October 1793, Sun Newspaper, London A few days since, at St. John's Worcester, Mr ROLLASON, Printer & Bookseller, Coventry, married to Miss OVEN, daughter of the late Mr James OVEN, Hop-planter and Grazier, Dilwyn Herefordshire Diane J." ---- ENG-HEREFORD Mailing List ---- A genealogy and local history list covering the County of Hereford ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-HEREFORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

David - try your local library/university for: Goals and Values of Hop Farmers - Brian W. Ilbery Regards - Terry -----Original Message----- From: eng-hereford-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:eng-hereford-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Heather & Chris Lord Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 7:04 PM To: eng-hereford@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [HEF] Hops Hi David I think the answer to your query would be "Farmer" or "Hop Grower". If someone was growing hops, they would have owned (or rented?) the land the hops were grown on, so wouldn't be "ag labs". Farmers probably had other crops or animals as well as hops, so hop growing would only be a small part of what they did - unless they only grew hops, which I would think would be fairly unlikely. If the crops were only harvested once a year, what would they have lived on for the rest of the year? Regards Heather -----Original Message----- From: eng-hereford-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:eng-hereford-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of David Daniell Sent: 29 May 2008 20:18 To: Herefordshire Rootsweb Subject: [HEF] Hops Can anyone tell me the correct description in the old censuses of people whose main occupation was growing hops? Or was this perforce a seasonal occupation? (so at census time they would not have been doing that?) Would they have been classes as ag-labs or would it have required enough skill to be regarded as a separate 'trade'? I notice in a recent message someone is described as a hop-planter. Might this have been someone who owned a plantation as distinct from an employee who planted them and trained them onto sticks etc? Thanks for any advice, David "14th October 1793, Sun Newspaper, London A few days since, at St. John's Worcester, Mr ROLLASON, Printer & Bookseller, Coventry, married to Miss OVEN, daughter of the late Mr James OVEN, Hop-planter and Grazier, Dilwyn Herefordshire Diane J." ---- ENG-HEREFORD Mailing List ---- A genealogy and local history list covering the County of Hereford ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-HEREFORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ---- ENG-HEREFORD Mailing List ---- A genealogy and local history list covering the County of Hereford ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-HEREFORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message