INTRODUCTION. 



XXI 



them with blankets. Three or four days will be fuiFicient 

 for them to lie in that ftate. When the hops are fo moift 

 that they may be preiTed together without breaking, they are 

 fit for bagging. Bags made of coarfe hnen cloth, eleven feet 

 in length, and feven in circumference, which hold two 

 hundred pounds weight, are moil commonly ufed in Europe ; 

 but any fize that bed fuits may be made ufe of. To bag hops, 

 a hole is made through a floor large enough for a man to 

 pafs with eafe : the bag mufl be faftened to a hoop larger 

 than the hole, that the floor may ferve to fupport the bag. 

 For the convenience of handling the bags, fome hops fliould 

 be tied in each corner to ferve as handles. The hops fliould 

 be gradually thrown into the bag, and trod down continually 

 tilt the bag is filled. The mouth of the bag mufl: then be fown- 

 up, and the hops are fit for market. The harder hops are 

 packed, the longer and better they will keep ; but they mufl: 

 be kept dry. In mofl: parts of Great Britain where hops are 

 cultivated, they efl:imate the charges of cultivating an acre of 

 hops at forty-two dollars for manuring and tilling, exclufive 

 of poles and rent of land. Pole^ they efl;imate at fixteen 

 dollars per year, but in this country they would not amount 

 to half that fum. An acre is computed to require about 

 three thoufand poles, which will lafl: from fix to twelve years, 

 according to the kind of wood ufed. 



The Englifli growers of hops think they have a very 



