The New-Style Hop-picker The Salvation Army and other such welfare
organisations still carry on their work during the month or six weeks of hop-picking. Casualties always occur, for the pickers come with several generations of relatives; old folk tottering toward the grave, wives in an interesting condition, a few invalids who ought to be in hospital, but are not, for lack of beds. But today there is little hooliganism ; and that is surprising, in view of the lurid news about crime, the post-war wave. The pickers come with more comforts now. Some bring rolls of wallpaper and paste it up in the huts. I have even seen an overmantel with mirrors being unshipped from a lorry. The food problem is eased by the modern stream-lined fish-and-chips van. There are fleets of them about the county throughout the year, and most villagers also reckon on a Saturday meal from this source. But during the hop-picking a high-speed, augmented service rushes about the lanes, trailing clouds of oily glory. This, mingling with the acrid tang of drying hops, gives a unique character to the month of September in Kent.
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