Hopping (1899): more than a ton of hops an acre

Post date: Feb 15, 2012 3:38:0 PM

Extract from parish magazine of October 1899:

The Hopping this year was in many respects a remarkable one. The weather was fine throughout, the pickers were very quiet, the yield was greater (so it is said) than it has been since 1859—more than a ton an acre in most of the gardens of Mid-Kent—and the picking lasted fully a week or ten days longer than is usual nowadays. But—there is always a "but "—unfortunately the hops did not come down so bright and clean as they might have done, a fact which, coupled with the quantity to be put on the market, will from the growers' point of view, discount much of the value of the extra yield.

The great increase in the number of Sunday excursionists from London and elsewhere to the Hopper-camps has been attracting attention. Complaint is made that, while the pickers are yearly becoming quieter and more civilized in their behaviour, the rowdy element among the excursionists is increasing, with the consequence that it is becoming more and more difficult to get the pickers to work properly on Mondays. How to prevent this is a difficult problem. The railway company cannot stop the excursions, even if it were desirable that they should do so: for all the companies in the kingdom have agreed to give a return ticket for single fare for any distance over 20 miles on Sundays, and they are legally bound to carry all passengers who present themselves. Moreover, it is the small minority of the excursionists that do the mischief, while the greater number probably spend their day rationally, profitably, and pleasantly. No doubt the evil would be lessened if the company could be induced to withdraw the privilege whereby excursionists, on a small extra payment, can postpone their return till the Monday or Tuesday. That privilege is the chief cause of many evils. What good can they gain by stopping over night. Where can they sleep, without objectionable overcrowding ? Why should they be encouraged in staying away from their regular work on Monday, and hindering others from working?

With regard to the work which may broadly be called Mission Work among the Hoppers, a few words may be said. It consisted of lantern services, visiting in the gardens, and coffee stalls. We had 19 lantern services at the different encampments, including six taken by Mr. R. C. Colby and his assistants of the Hop-pickers' Christian Mission, the rest being organised by the Vicar, with the efficient and willing help of Mr. Hamshire (the assistant muster of the Boys' School), the two missioners of the Church of England Hop-pickers' Missionary Association, Messrs. Marchant and Gibson, and others. The so-called services consist of hymns and a lecture or story, illustrated by lime-light pictures. This year we had for instance, Gordon, Kitchener, and, Khartoum, and A Story of Heroism in the American Civil War. Some times the story is left to impress its own moral, sometimes opportunity is found for a brief address or a few scripture slides, and the service generally closes with a brief evening prayer and blessing: it depends very much upon the temper of the lecturer and of his listeners. As a rule, in our experience, the people are quiet and grateful for the attention shown to them. Sometimes we get only 30 or 40 people, generally many more, occasionally two or three hundred. We try and give each encampment a turn once a week. The missioners hold services during Sunday at various points. The people do not gather round them to any great extent, but often stand in their hut doors to listen. This is a branch of the work which seems to be difficult at the best of times, and to be growing more and more difficult.

The visiting in the Gardens is carried on by the Missioners and by two ladies who belong to what is called "Canon Carter's Mission," Canon Carter having started it and found the necessary funds for two seasons. This year the two ladies, who, like the missioners, put themselves under the Vicar for the time-being, were Miss Brodie and Mrs. Riches. Mrs Riches is a rescue worker in East End London parishes, and Miss Brodie (daughter of the late Sir Benjamin Brodie), who has been here two seasons devotes her life as a resident lady worker to the parish of All Hallowes, East India Docks. They come down to Wateringbury for the hopping by the permission of the clergy under whom they work in the East End. Their influence for good among the Hoppers, many of whom are known to them, is undoubtedly considerable. It is a quiet, unostentatious influence, difficult to estimate, impossible to advertise, but still apparent and considerable. The missioners, male and female, distribute literature of all kinds, among the pickers for their use in spare time and on Sundays, and they stand or sit and pick into their bins as they chat pleasantly to them about their work, here or at home, and their children, and anything that helps to win their goodwill. Thus they have many an opportunity of sympathising with them, and sometimes of doing them real service. All this helps to civilize the hoppers and increase their self-respect. Education has doubtless done much for this class of people; but it is not only the education of schools, it is also the education of the contact of such workers constantly among them, trying to help them, both at their homes in London and in the hop gardens.

Grateful thanks are due to the growers and to their bailiffs for the welcome that they have accorded to the missioners in the gardens, and for the help without which the arrangement of lantern services would be more difficult than it is.

Two coffee stalls have been opened this season, and the amount of the sales proves that the hoppers appreciate them. The stall at the Vicarage garden-gate, which was served by the mission-ladies, assisted by several ladies of the parish as well as the Vicarage maids, did business in ¹/₂d. cups of tea and coffee and ¹/₂d. slices of bread and butter or jam to the amount of nearly £7, and at the end showed a profit of 2¹/₄d. ! A deficit of about 30s. was due mostly to the initial expenses of hiring a water-boiler, buying cups, &c. The Vicar would be glad to receive from liberal parishioners small subscriptions to wipe off the deficit. It is intended to open the stall again next year.

A second stall was erected in the station yard by a small committee of neighbouring clergy as an experiment, to test the question whether it would be worth while to open one there throughout the hopping in future years. Towards its cost, about £6, a sum of £5 was given by one who wishes to remain anonymous. It was served by a member of the C. E. T. S., under Mr. Cobb's supervision. It was open for about a week during the departure of the hoppers. The amount of custom certainly justifies a hope that a more permanent stall will be established. It would be a great benefit to the hoppers on their arrival in the early morning, half famished with hours of travelling and waiting about. There is little doubt that the growers of Nettlestead, Wateringbury. Teston, Mereworth, and West, Farleigh as well as others, would be willing to start and maintain such a stall. A suitable building, made in such a way that it could be put together each season, and comfortably furnished, would cost £15 or £20.

A celebration of the Holy Communion was held in Wateringbury Church during hop-picking, and was followed by a conference, attended by 60 or 70 workers, lay and clerical, male and female. An address was given by Canon Joy. The conference touched upon some important matters, such as coffee-stalls and Sunday excursions, and decided to meet again a week later at Yalding. This movement, which has been gradually growing during the last five years, and has proved invaluable to workers newly attracted to the work, shows that the field of labour is so large that the excellent efforts of the established organisations have by no means filled it. It was accordingly resolved at the meeting at Yalding that a federation of the parishes interested (chiefly in Mid-Kent) should be formed with a view to preventing unnecessary overlapping in the work, further organising its different phases, collecting information. &c., &c. The federation is in process of formation, and it will probably take over the management of the ladies' mission which Canon Carter has inaugurated.