802 BEER 



of barley, although its weight per imperial bushel is loss than the average of English 

 barley, and much less than the Scotch, 



The Saalo weighs from 50 to 54 per bushel 

 The English 52 58 

 The Scotch 54 59 



And as barleys, when equally well malted, yield the valuable saccharine principle 

 nearly in proportion to their weight, the heavier English or Scotch barley, in a 

 favourable season, is of the most value to the brewer of strong mild ales, where 

 peculiar delicacy of flavour is not so much required. 



HOPS. The female flowers, or catkins, of a dioecious plant (Humulus lupulus) 

 belonging to the natural order Urticacete, which grows wild in many English hedge- 

 rows, but requires the most careful cultivation to produce the highly odoriferous 

 and cordial properties so valued by the brewer. The plant springs up annually 

 from the old roots in April, flowers the latter end of June, and ripens towards the 

 end of August and September, when they are gathered, dried, and packed very 

 tightly in pockets or bags, for preservation and use. Hops are grown to the greatest 

 extent in Kent and Sussex ; but a strong hop is also grown in the north clay-district 

 of the county of Nottingham, and a very grateful mild hop in the Worcestershire 

 district. 



The flavour of the Goldings, or Farnham hop, a district in Surrey, is rich, and in 

 high estimation ; but the plant is one of the most tender cultivated, the flower small, 

 but heavy with the farina, and the crop very uncertain. The Canterbury grape-hop 

 is much cultivated in the districts of Kent and Sussex, and deservedly esteemed as a 

 good useful hop. 



The Flemish plant produces a large flower, but of light weight and of inferior 

 flavour : it is considered a hardy kind, and very productive. Hops require a rich 

 soil, well manured and cleaned, a sunny aspect, and to be sheltered from the east 

 winds, which not only check the growth of the plants, but cause them to bo infested 

 with vermin, which are sometimes so numerous as to destroy nearly the entire crop. 

 The flower, during the ripening season, is also sometimes attacked by the red or blue 

 mould, which often consumes a considerable portion of the farina, and may be dis- 

 covered by the strig of the flower being bare of leaf. The catkins or strobils of the 

 hop consist of the scales, or large and persistent bracts, which, in the early period of 

 their growth, arc of a light green colour (afterwards changing to a pale yellow), at 

 the bottom of which are small round seeds, that, when ripe, have a hard shell of a 

 brown or reddish colour. They are imbedded in the farina, or yellow powder, which 

 is the most valuable part of the hop. No hop should be gathered till the seed 

 is matured ; not for the sake of the seed itself, but the nectarium, or farina, techni- 

 cally known as ' the condition," will bo in larger particles, and its essential 

 aromatic and bitter qualities more perfectly developed when ripe. Good hops, when 

 rubbed in the hand, leave an oily, or resinous, and rather clammy feeling, with a 

 pungent and gratifying odour ; the scales should also be even in colour, and 

 without any green specks, or any appearance of mould on the sprig, or small stem of 

 the flower. 



The drying of the hop is an important part of its management, and requires great 

 care ; it is performed in kilns, in Sussex, termed oast-houses. 



The heat should be moderate and regular, in no case exceeding 120 F., as to over- 

 dry them would injure the flavour, and if not sufficiently dry they are liable to become 

 mouldy. 



The general practice is to try the strig or stalk of the flower, which, if it snaps 

 from brittleness, is sufficiently dried, but if it bends without breaking, more drying is 

 necessary. . 



In the process of drying every means should be used to avoid separating the farina 

 from between the scales of the hop, and the practice of passing the hops, after drying, 

 through what is termed a mill, for the purpose of giving more evenness to the ap- 

 pearance of the sample, must be highly injurious, as it breaks up the hop and exposes 

 to loss the most valuable part of the plant. The packing has also much influence in 

 the preservation of the valuable but volatile aroma. The finer flavoured and pale 

 hops are well rammed into sacks of canvas, called pockets, which weigh about l cwt. 

 each ; the stronger and dark-coloured hops into sacks of a coarser texture, called hop- 

 bags, and weigh from 2 cwts. to 3 cwts. each. 



If intended for export, the bags are sometimes subjected to the action of the 

 hydraulic press ; and if not required for immediate use, the simple screw-press may 

 be used with great advantage. 



Dr. Ives first directed attention to the yellow pulverulent substance that has boon 



