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64
THE FLOWING BOWL
stitute for wine might be expressed from grain
and water.
Hops were undoubtedly known
in England before the conquest, but do not
appear to have been regularly used in brewing
before the beginning of the sixteenth century.
It is probable, therefore, that they were employed
as medicine—and there is no better tonic than
your hop. The Germans would seem to have
brewed with the "wicked weed" before the
Englanders did, according to the omniscient
Pliny.
The horny-handed son of toil, who can put
away his four or five gallons daily during harvest-
time, without falling off the waggon, may not
know it, but it is only the female hop which is
used by the brewer of to-day. The character
istics of the he-hop are not known to the
writer, or whether he plays any part in aiding
to relieve the thirst of the lieges ; but the
female is said to exercise "a purifying, a pre
servative, and an aromatic influence over the
wort."
It used to be a popular fallacy that the beer
made at Burton-on-Trent was brewed from
Trent water, instead of, as was and is the case,
from spring-water, which is eminently suited to
the purpose. The chief industry at Burtonwas,
originally, cotton-spinning, but fifty years ago
this industry was discontinued owing to the
triumphal march of John Barleycorn. Why
spin cotton when the manufacture of beer is not
only a much healthier occupation but is far
more lucrative ? So Burton stuck to its beer-
making, a trade which was originally established