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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November Ij 1883. 



proved to possess in all respects, by its being generally 

 adopted in Java. Every affair recommends itself ou its own 

 merits, and as this is viiidoubtedly the case here, we may 

 conclude that how mvxch may have been written against 

 it, the arrangement has a great practical value, and otfors 

 many advantages over the ordinary manner of drying in 

 the sun on plastered trays. 



Most drying-ho\ises, as they are at present, are of no 

 use for drjdng coffee and other tropical productions, the 

 temperature in them not being sufficiently equable. In 

 dyeing-houses, tanneries, etc., this can be ob\'iated by 

 shifting the objects there, but with coffee this is down- 

 right impracticable, the volume not allowing of it. 



To meet all requisites, a drying-house must answer to 

 the following conditions; — 



1 ® . Cheapness and simplicity of arrangement, so that it 

 can be -fitted up without difficidty by native work-people. 



2°. Avoidance of all machmery whatever, which cannot 

 undergo repairs in those mountainous districts, and would 

 require technical supervision. 



3 '^ . The arrangement must be destined and calculated 

 to di-y any reipiired quantity of coffee. 



4'^. The drying must be effected within a fLxed term, 

 or niunl)er of hours. 



5 ° . A certain temperature must not bo exceeded. 



6^. The temperature must be all over at the same 

 degree. 



T'^. The beans nuist be all of an equal dryness, and 

 hardness, without injuring the colour or the aroma. 



8°. The use of all kinds of wood ami refuse mu.st be 

 practicable for drying purposes, and the least possible 

 quantity of fuel in proportion to the volume to be dried. 



9 '^ . The escapmg air, ou leaving the apparatus must 

 have absorbed the greatest possible quantity of water. 



10 ^ . The operation must not require any great number 

 of work people or close supervision, and must be able to, 

 be left to any body. 



Mr. Vau Maanen has succeeded in compassing all this 

 and iu setting up an establishment, with which every 

 one who has adopted it, is highly gratified. As to the 

 establishment itself, it consists in a building, which is 

 warmed by flues serving also as smoke conduits. The 

 building is square, or oblong according as the local situ- 

 ation, or the quantity of coffee to be dried, may require, 

 and the dr\"ing is effected by a supply of outer air, heated 

 by contact with the flues, and which escMtts after absorb- 

 ing the moisture of the coffee. As tire coffee-bean is 

 pretty large, and there is consequently sufficient space 

 between the beans as they lie, to allow of the heated 

 air to escape directly from between them, without its 

 having insufficiently done its work which is also the case. 

 if the air be supplied at too quick a rate, it is clear that 

 the regulation of this — which cannot be fixed by thcopy, 

 but only by long and expensive experiments — constitutes 

 the great merit of this methotl, securing besides a great 

 simplification of the preparing process, and moreover a 

 great advantage tt> the agricultural interests. The costs of 

 drying are, indeed, thus reduced by fully 5-6ths of the pre- 

 vious amount. There is no longer any risk of the coffee 

 spoiUug by constant rains or other causes, and there is 

 the advantage besiiles that the product may be sold nearly 

 sLx months earlier, which is no unimportant saving of 

 interest on capital. The greatest objection originally raisrd 

 against the method A^an Maauen, to judge by the dis- 

 cussions in some papers, carried on by apparently in- 

 competent judges, was the high temperature and the fear 

 entertaineil that this would injure the (quality of the coffee ; 

 but this has by no means been verified, nor is it at all 

 possible, provided it be not carelessly treated ; for it is 

 always in one's powi'r, by applying more or less fire, to 

 regulate the heat of the air as oue thinks proper. 



Of course Mr. Van Maanen gives a temperature (70*^ 

 Celcius) at which the coffee c;in be dried and ready for 

 despatch exactly in 24 hours. This temperature is not 

 too ,hgih as in it none of the particles of the coffee de- 

 compose or volathze. The vegetable albumen solidifies 

 in it, and prevents influencing by fermentation the quality 

 of the beans. The time of '2i hours was rendered necessary 

 by the pat. ire of the operations in the establishment, 

 an<l because many persons conditioned so. But what pre- 

 vents eft'ectiug the drying at a lower tpm])eriiturei' It 

 Biay, indeed, laat a httle longer, but this drawback juight 



be met by building an establishment of somewhat larger 

 capacity than is strictly necessary. Coffee in the pulp 

 (cherry) dries perfectly in a temperature of 50 degrees 

 Celsius, or 132 Fahr. within 55 hours. Coffee in the 

 parchment, at 70 ^C. or 158 ° Fahi'. in 24 hours; at 6 ° 

 O. or 140= Fahr., in about 30 hours, and at 50=^ C. or 

 122° Fahr., iu about 36 hours. Now as the ordinary 

 temperature in India is about 130 a 140 Fahr. at the 

 hotttst time of day in the smi on plastered trays, it is 

 clear that in a similar temperature, artificially produced, 

 the coffee can never spoil, but that if such should be 

 the case, it must be attributable to other causes, and 

 more especially to carelessness of treatment, exceeding 

 the stated temperature, and most of all to a prolonged 

 drying-process, after the bean has already parted with all 

 its moisture. 



This process Van Maanen is also recommendable for 

 cocoa and other productions. — India Jlercuri/. 



THE HOP AND ITS CULTURE. 



TJV JAMKS PINK, F.R.H.S. 



The successful culture of the hop in Victoria and Tas- 

 mania being an already accompUshed fact, frequent inquiries 

 are being made by agriculturists as to its suitabihty for 

 cultivation in this colony. TliLs is a matter on which little 

 can be definitely stated, as beyond a few isolated plants 

 here and there no systematic experiments with regard to 

 its culture appear to have been attempted. I am of opinion 

 that the hop might be cultivated here with every success 

 in some localities and in suitable soils, provi-liug a sufficient 

 water supply be at hand for piu*poses of irrigation in dry 

 seasons ; and iu these progi-essive days of diamond di'iUs 

 and hydraulic pumps this should prove no obstacle. 



Very little is known of the early history of the hop 

 plant. It is not mentioned in Scripture, and neither the 

 Greeks nor the Romans appear to have been acquainted 

 with the hop as we know it. It was introduced into Eng- 

 land from Flanders about 1524. when it met with oppos- 

 ition from the ignorant and superstitious, just as nearly 

 two centuries later the Scots opposed the introduction of 

 the pot-ato, on the groimds that it must baa sinful plant 

 because it was not mentioned in the Bible. 



The hop, like its congener hemp, is a good fibre plant, 

 and in Sweden the manufacture of hop-yarn and linen has 

 long been an established branch of industry. 



The hop plant {flumidu^ lupi'tus), belonging to the Cau- 

 nabinaccK, is dicecious, the male and female flowers behig 

 produced ou separate plants; the hop of commerce being 

 the flower of the female plant, consisting of a leafy, cone- 

 like catkin. 



The hop delights in a rich, deep, well-drained soil. I have 

 seen it growing well on the London clays, and also in tho 

 stiff clay lands of the weald of Kent and Sussex, and better 

 still iu the deep sandy loams of East Kent and Surrey. 

 It is a gross feeder, and, therefore, requires large quant- 

 ities of manure. So far as soil is concerned, the hop shoulvl 

 do well iu the deep red soils of Toowoomba, and in the 

 district of Redland Eay and Cleveland, where there is good 

 deep soil with an open subsoil. From what I am told of 

 the land on the Blackall Ranges, it should be well adapted 

 to hop-growing ; but not having visited the district, I can- 

 not speak from personal observation. 



The hop sets are planted in hills, three sets in each 

 hill in the form of a triangle, the hills being in rows 

 about six feet apart each way; but in this country it 

 would probably be of advantage to plant the hills six feet 

 apart iu the row, leaving eight feet between the rows — 

 thus requiring about 4.500 sets per acre. Sets are cut- 

 tings taken from the crowns of the old plants, and are 

 either planted direct into the hills or p'a;ed in nursery 

 beds, where they remain one season before planting out. 

 Bedded cuttings are undoubtedly the most sitisfactory, giv- 

 ing the earliest returns, often producing from three to four 

 cwt. of hops the first year ; whereas when fresh cuttings 

 or sets are used, no produce cau be expected the first 

 se^-ison. The plants are abov;t three years iu arriving at 

 full-bearing maturity. 



The laud should be well prepared by manuring and deep 

 ploughing, and the hills well brokeu up with a spade before 

 planting ; the seta being put in by means of a dibble. Tho 

 hop plant is very seueitive, and no w^^eds must bo alloffeni 



