Rather ther spring preparations in the hop gardens somwhere in the H allertau districts north of Munich is what this photo is depicting. Her e in Germany's most important hop-cultivating area a farmer's wife lift s her husnabd and son to the right height via a lifting platform so tha t they can stretch the wires around which the winding plants with avera ge lengths of between four to eight meters when ripe will twine themsel ves. In the August harvest, the wires are released and the picking of t he hops (the pistillate catkins of the hop plant that is) is thereby fa cilitated hops are used all over the world as an aromatic additive in b rewing beer (once dried) because of the bitter flavour they impart to t he beverage.

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