AGRICULTURE. 



ing is usually done by females. For this pur- 

 pose 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 facili- 

 tate their removal from place to place, as may 

 be desirable. One man and four girls are al- 

 lowed 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 

 at least once a day; at all events, no hops 

 should be left in them over night. It is of 

 great, con sequence 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 is commonly built of an oblong form, 

 and 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 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 mov- 

 able cowl, or swinging 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 brickwork, 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 ne- 

 cessary, 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 cov- 

 ered with a strong coarse cloth, of open texture, 

 so as to admit a free transmission of the heated 

 air from the kiln below. The drying-room 

 should be of comfortable 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 dur- 



ing high winds. A good ventilator should be 

 provided in the roof, as described above. Open- 

 ings 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 condi- 

 tion of the hops ; if they are very full of moisture, 

 they should be laid on quite thin ; but if gath- 

 ered when fully ripe, and in fine weather, a 

 depth of ten inches will be allowed. 



" The hops being spread as evenly as possible, 

 the fires are immediately kindled in the kiln, 

 and the temperature regulated to one uniform 

 degree of heat. This, however, may be quite 

 high at first, as there will be at that time but 

 little danger of scorching the hops if the floor 

 is sufficiently high. If the hops are rusty, or 

 discolored from any other cause, it is usual to 

 burn a little sulphur under them, which will 

 bring them to a uniform appearance. This is 

 done as soon as the hops are well warmed 

 through, and feel somewhat moist. Great prej- 

 udice formerly existed against the use of sul- 

 phur in drying hops ; but no objection is now 

 made to it by the brewers, and it is generally 

 thought that the use of it improves the appear- 

 ance of all hops, and that it also facilitates the 

 drying. 



" During the drying process the fires should 

 be kept up, and there should be a free supply 

 of fresh air below, sufficient to keep up a regu- 

 lar succession of heated air from the kiln, pass- 

 ing through the hops and out at the ventilator, 

 carrying with it the vapor expelled from the 

 drying hops. This will be found far preferable 

 to a still, dead heat. As soon as the upper 

 part of the hops appears to have felt the fire, 

 the lower part may be considered as nearly dry, 

 and will rattle a little. The heap may then be 

 turned. Before this is done the heat should be 

 suffered to abate a little, and increased again 

 after the turning is finished. I am aware that 

 many do not turn their hops while drying, nor 

 suffer them to be disturbed at all until they are 

 ready to be removed from the floor. StiD, the 

 better opinion, I think, is in favor of turning 

 as tending to facilitate the drying and render 

 it more perfect by the more effectually exposing 

 every portion of the mass to the action of the 

 heated current of air, than would be case were 

 they allowed to remain as first deposited on the 

 floor, containing many inequalities in density 

 even when the utmost care is exercised in their 

 distribution. If turned at the right time, and 

 in a careful manner, there need be no injury 

 done to the hops. "When sufficiently dried they 

 should be allowed to cool off a little, if time 

 can be afforded, otherwise there will be great 

 danger that they will break in moving, or a 

 portion of them shell off and waste. Ten or 

 twelve hours are required to dry a kiln of hops. 

 Two kilns may be dried in twenty-four hours 



