200 Dr. Ives oji the Chemical Properties and Economical [March, 



enumerate some of the most obvious benefits which would result 

 from these facts should they be found applicable to practical 

 use. 



1. It would diminish the expenses of transportation. ' In this 

 the savins^ would be enormous. The hops which are now 

 brought to this city are cultivated in the eastern states, and in 

 the western parts of this state, and the expense of transportation 

 is from one to two cents a pound. This is on account of their 

 bulk rather than their weight. Were the lupulin separated from 

 the leaves, it being but about the sixth part in weight, and not 

 one-twentieth in bulk, it might be compressed into casks, and 

 thus transported with convenience and at a small expense. In 

 short, the difference would not be less than that of sending 

 wheat to market before and after threshing. Mici;;ht it not also, 

 forthe same reason, become a profitable article of export? 



2. It would lessen the difficulty and expense of storage. Not- 

 withstanding the present mode of pressing hops into bags (which 

 is done not less to diminish their bulk than to preserve their 

 virtue) their storage is, as it ever has been, an important item of 

 expense, as well as a very great burden to the brewer. 



3. One object in pressing the hop into bags is, to preserve it 

 from the injury of the air, a long exposure to which, it is said, 

 partially destroys its virtue. Whatever may be the cause, it is 

 well known that the value of hops is diminished by age. This 

 could not result to the lupuhn any more than to our imported 

 teas, were it packed in casks which would secure it perfectly 

 from the air. 



4. The brewer would evade an enormous loss which he now 

 sustains in the wort absorbed by the hops. Dr. Shannon, who 

 has perhaps devoted more time and talent to the subject of 

 brewing than any other English author, lias demonstrated, by a 

 series of experiments, that one barrel of wort is absorbed by 

 every 60 pounds of hops in the ordinary process of brewing.* 

 The quantity of beer manufactured annually in London is 

 upwards of 1,500,000 barrels,t and the least quantity of hops 

 used in making it is two and a half pounds to the barrel, or 

 3,750,000 pounds ; now as a barrel of wort contains not less 

 than three bushels of malt, it follows that the quantity of malt 

 thus nnnually lost by absorption is 187,500 bushels — the price of 

 which may be fairly estimated at as many dollars. 



5. It will lessen the temptation to the fraudulent practice 

 which now prevails of adulterating beer with other vegetable 

 bitters. Notwithstanding the prohibitions of parliament there is 

 no article which is the subject of such varied and extensive 

 fraud in England at the present day as that of beer. As a sub- 

 stitute for the hop,J the cocculus indicus, quassia and wormwood 



♦ Vide, Dr. Shannon's Treatise on Brewing. 



•¥ Edinburgh Encyclopedia, vol. ii. 



X Accum's Treati»e on the Adulteration of Food. Also, Edinburgh Review, No. 65, 



