Book VI. THE HOP. 8G3 



5426. As a preparation for jmlling the hops, frames of wood, in number proportioned to the size of the 

 ground, and the pickers to be employed, are placed in that part of the field which, by having beeo most 

 exposed to the influence of the sun, is soonest ready. These frames, which are caWtui bins or cribs, are 

 Tcfy simple in the construction, being only four pieces of boards nailed to four posts, or legs, and, when 

 finished, are about seven or eight feet long, three feet broad, and about the same height. A man alway* 

 attends the pickers, whose business it is to cut over the vines near the ground, and to lay the poles on 

 the frames to be picked. Commonly two, but seldom more than three, poles are laid on at a time. Six, 

 seven, or eight pickers, women, girls, and boys, are employed at the same frame, three or four being 

 ranged on each side. These, with Uie man who sorts the poles, are called a set. The hops, after being 

 carefully separated from the leaves and branches, or stalks, are dropped by the pickers into a large cloth, 

 hung all round within-side the frame on tenter-hooks. When the cloth is full, the hops are emptied into 

 a large sack, which is carried home, and the hops laid on a kiln to be dried. This is always done as soon 

 as possible after they are picked, as they are apt to sustain considerable damage, both in color and flavor, 

 if allowed to remain long in sacks in the green state in which they arc pulled. In very warm weather, and 

 when they are puUeil in a moist state, they will often heat in five or six hours : for this reason the kilns 

 are kept constantly at work, both night and day, from the commencement to the conclusion of the hop- 

 picking season. 



5427. To set on a sufficient number of hands, is a matter of prudence, in the picking season, that the oasts 

 or kilns may never be unsupplied with hops ; and if it is found that the hops rise faster than could have been 

 expected, and that there are more gathered in a day than can be conveniently dried off", some of the worst 

 pickers may be discharged ; it being very prejudicial for the green hops to continue long in the sacks 

 before they are put on the oast, as they will in a few hours begin to heat, and acquire an unsightly color, 

 which will not be taken off in the drying, especially if the season be very moist; though, in a wet hop- 

 ping, it is no easy matter to prevent the kilns from being overrun, supi>osing that there were pickers 

 enough to supply them if the weather had been dry, because in a wet cold time the hops require to lie a 

 considerable while longer on the kiln, in order that the superabundant moisture may be dried up. It is 

 therefore expedient in this case that each measuring be divided into a number of green pockets or pokes. 

 The number of bushels in a poke ought never to exceed eleven ; but when the hops are wet, or likely to 

 continue together some time before they go on the kiln, the better way is to put only eight bushels in a 

 sack, pocket, or poke. 



5428. Donaldson asserts, that diligent hop-pickers, when the crop is tolerably abundant, will pick from 

 eight to ten bushels each in the day, which, When dry, will weigh about one hundred weight ; and that 

 it is common to let the picking of hop-grounds by the bushel. The price is extremely variable, depend- 

 ing no less on the goodness of the crop than on the abundance or scarcity of laborers. The greatest part 

 of the hops cultivated in England are picked by people who make a practice of coming annually from the 

 remote parts of Wales for that purpose. 



5429. The operation of drying hops is not materially different from that of drying malt, and 

 the kilns, or oasts, are of the same construction. The hops are spread on a hair-cloth, and 

 from eight to ten, sometimes twelve, inches deep, according as the season is dry or wet ; 

 and depending also on the state of the hops in regard to ripeness. A thorough know- 

 ledge of the best method of drying hops can only be acquired by long practice. The 

 general rules are to begin with a slow fire, and to increase it gradually, till, by the heat 

 on the kiln, and the warmth of the hops, it is known to have arrived at a proper height. 

 An even steady fire is then continued for eight or ten hours, according to the state or 

 circumstances of the hops, by which time the ends of the hop- stalks become quite 

 shrivelled and dry, which is the chief sign by which to ascertain that the hops are pro- 

 perly and sufl^ciently dried. They are then taken off the kiln, and laid in a large room 

 or loft till they become quite cool ; and they are now in condition to be put into bags, 

 which is the last operation the planter has to perform previous to sending his crop to be 

 sold. 



5430. When hops are dried on a cockle-oast, sea-coal is the usual fuel, of which a chaldron is generally 

 esteemed the proper allowance to a load of hops. On the hair kilns, charcoal is commonly used for this 

 purpose. Fifty sacks of charcoal are termed a load, which usually sells for about fifty shillings. The 

 price for byrning is three shillings per load, or twelve shillings for each cord of wood. The process of 

 drying having been completed, the hops are to be taken off the kiln, and shovelled into an adjoining 

 chamber called the stowage-room ; and in this place they are continually to be laid as they are taken off 

 the kiln, till it may be thought convenient to put them into bags, which is rardy done till they have lain 

 some time in the heap; for the hops, when first taken off the kiln, being very dry, would (if put into the 

 bags at that time) break to pieces, and not draw so good a sample as when they have lain some time in 

 the heap ; whereby they acquire a considerable portion of toughness, and an increase of weight. 



54.31. The bagging of hops is thus performed : in the floor of the room, where the hops 

 are laid to cool, there is a round hole or trap, equal in size to the mouth of a hop bag. 

 After tying a handful of hops in each of the lower corners of a large bag, which serve 

 afterwards for handles, the mouth of the bag is fixed securely to a strong hoop, which is 

 made to rest on the edges of the hole or trap ; and the bag itself being then dropped 

 through the trap, the packer goes into it, when a person who attends for the purpose, puts 

 in the hops in small quantities, in order to give the packer an opportunity of packing and 

 trampling them as hard as possible. When the bag is filled, and the hops trampled in 

 so hard as that it will hold no more, it is drawn up, unloosed from the hoop, and the end 

 sewed up, other two handles having been previously formed in the corners in the manner 

 mentioned above. The brightest and finest colored hops are put into pockets or fine 

 bagging, and the bro vn into coarse or heavy bagging. The former are chiefly used for 

 brewing fine ales, and the latter by the porter brewers. iBut it is to be observed, that 

 where hops are intended to be kept for any length of time, it is most proper to put them 

 into coarse doth. The proper length of a bag is two ells and a quarter, and of a pocket 

 nearly the same, being one ell in width. The former, if the hops are good in quality, 

 well cured, and tight trodden, will weigh about two hundred and a half; and the latter, 

 if of the Canterbury pocketing, about one hundred and a half. If the weight either 

 exceeds or falls much short of this medium, it induces a surmise, that the hops are 



