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"The hops having reached maturitv, or nearly so, the operation of picking 

 commences. This, to have the fruit in full perfection, should not be done until 

 it is ripe : at which time the seed will be found to have changed from a bright 

 straw color to a pale brown, and will emit a fragrant smell. With us hops are 

 usually ripe about the 5th of September ; but as it is better they should be 

 harvested rather green than be permitted to stand till over-ripe, liable to be 

 injured by the early frosts, and as they cannot all be gathered at once, it is 

 necessary in large fields to commence somewhat earlier — usually about the first 

 of September — in order that the work may be completed in season. The 

 picking is usually done by females. For this piirpose girls are frequently 

 engaged several months, and even a whole year, in advance, 



" The hops are commonly picked in large boxes, containing from twenty-four 

 to forty bushels. These boxes are divided lengthwise by a thin partition, and 

 then subdivided into quarters. They are raised a little from the ground, and 

 have handles at the ends to facilitate their removal from place to place, as may 

 be desirable. One man and four girls are allowed to each box. Each girl 

 deposits the hops she picks in her own division of the box. An industrious 

 hand can pick twenty bushels in a day without difficulty. It is the business 

 of the man to supply the boxes with poles, which he raises from the ground as 

 needed, cutting the vines about a foot high ; to see that the picking is properly 

 done, to remove the empty poles, clear them of the vines, and stack them in a 

 systematic manner. In picking, the hops should be kept free from stems and 

 leaves, and all blasted or immature ones should be rejected. The boxes should 

 be emptied at least once a day ; at all events, no hops should be left in them 

 over night. It is of great consequence that they should be dried as soon as 

 possible after they are picked, as they are quite liable, if left together in any 

 quantity, to heat and spoil in a few hours. They may be most conveniently 

 conveyed from the field to the dry-house in large sacks. 



" Drying. — The hop-house, or kiln, should be of a size proportionate to the 

 quantity of hops to be cured, so that they may not accumulate on hand. To 

 avoid this, it will generally be necessary to keep the kiln heated both day and 

 night. It js commonly built of an oblong form, and of two stories, the lower 

 part being occupied by the kiln and the press-room and the upper part by the 

 drying-floor over the kiln, and by a room of about an equal size for storing the 

 dried hops, which will of course be over the press-room. Kilns are sometimes 

 built of bricks or stone, of a circular form, with a round opening in the apex of 

 the roof, surmounted by a movable cowl, or SMnnging ventilator, to enable the 

 vapor of the drying hops to escape easily. If the building is of wood, the sides 

 of the kiln should be lined with brick-Avork, or thoroughly lathed and plastered. 

 It is found to be most convenient and economical to heat it with stoves, from 

 two to four of which will be necessary, according to the size of the kiln. The 

 drying-floor should be ten feet from the ground, that there may be no danger 

 of scorching the hops in drying. This floor is formed of slats about one and a 

 half inch in width, and the same distance from each other. These are covered 

 with a strong coarse cloth, of open texture, so as to admit of a free transmission 

 of the heated air from the kiln below. The drying-room should be of comfort- 

 able height for a person to work in it, and the sides should be lathed and 

 plastered, that there may be no irregularity of the heat in different portions of 

 the room during high winds. A good ventilator should be provided in the roof, 

 as described above. Openings should be left in the walls near the bottom of 

 the kiln to admit fresh air from without, the draught to be regulated by means 

 of flues, or sliding doors. The cloth for the drying-floor should be well 

 stretched over the slats and firmly nailed. On this floor the hops are spread to 

 the depth of six or eight inches. The proper thickness will depend somewhat 

 on the condition of the hops ; if they are very full of moisture, they should be 



