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their own land. This change significantly motivated and
increased the number of new hop growers.

The share of rural hop fields in the Žatec region continued
to grow, and in the 1860’s it reached 80 % of the area
of all the hop fields in Bohemia. This development was
contributed to by the fact that hop growing was one of the
most characteristic crops of small-scale rural production.
The value of hops, and thereby also its market price,
depended, and currently still depends, on the careful
execution of all the necessary agricultural processes, from
spring pruning to harvesting and, to its thorough drying. All
this could be done to a much greater degree, and quality,
by smaller rural farms, rather than by the older patrimonial
estates that used unqualified workers for its hop fields or
nd
th
hired farmhands. Therefore, from the 2 half of the 19
century, the importance of the countryside increased, both
for the total production of Czech hops and for its assertion Wooden measure for picked hops "věrtel" with a capacity of 25 litres, Saaz hop
th
on foreign markets. growing region, end of the 19 century

The abolishment of the corvée duty, based on the number maintained the balance and permanent productivity of
of days, also led to an essential change in the assessment the agricultural soils. Progress was shown in the sufficient
of work performed during the hop harvest from "time- production of fodder and an increase in the production of
based" to "task-based." This resulted in the introduction manure.
of unique metallic "hop tokens" for the registration of
work performed. The picker’s earnings were established The introduction of new crops provided the impetus for
according to the number of hop tokens they received. At the improvement of ploughing and cultivation tools. In
first, these were only metal clippings, from galvanized iron 1827, a plough with a cylindrical board was invented, the
or brass, with imprinted initials of the farmer on them. swing-plough from the Veverkovi cousins, ploughs which
Later, at the end of the 19 century, professionally stamped turned the soil and could be used for heavy soil and to 105
th
hop tokens were used. make deep ditches. This development reached Bohemian
hop growing in the 19 century. The production of hops
th
Rotational tillage was gradually introduced in the fields was then consistently separated from other agricultural
in the 19 century, characterised by sowing methods that production, and the most suitable soils were sought for
th

Set of hop tokens in the Regional Museum in Žatec, 2016