THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



35 



by tlie hand of man in picking too early, tlian all 

 other ways put together. When hops arc ripe, the 

 seeds are black, the fruit (the calices) approach 

 more or less to straw color, and being rubbed in the 

 hand, give out a strong and fragrant odour. 



To settle tlie question of the time of picking may 

 demand long experience. Let those who are inex- 

 perienced, guide by those whose hops are annually 

 reputed the best. 



Fields differ, no doubt, somewhat as to the time 

 of ripening. After twenty years of experience up- 

 on the subject, nine of wliich has included the du- 

 ties of inspector, I believe that few hops are truly 

 ripe and fit for picking before tlie lUth of Septem- 

 ber. 1 find a memorandum in my inspection book 

 of 1833, in these words, " among the hops inspect- 

 ed this year, I find those picked from the 10th to 

 I'lth September, to be best." There is one gen- 

 tleman in Milford, wlio was for years distinguished 

 above all others for the excellence of his hops. I 

 remembor that one year he did not begin his pick- 

 ing till the l-Itlior loth day of September. When 

 he ordinarily begins, I know not. 



Hops should not be picked when wet. Being 

 picked with the dew on is some slight injury, I 

 never suffer my hop pickers to go out till after 

 breakfast. 



Ho^}s should be pir/icd clran of stems and leaves. 

 If any one thinks that tlioj^e extra ingredients are 

 of little consequence, let him pick them separately 

 o.nd mak'e his own small beer and yeast from that 

 stock, and send the clear, clean, dry picked, well 

 dried, ripe fruit to those wlio are ready to pay cash 

 and the highest price therefor. It is due to the 

 market, and due to the inspector, to present your 

 crop, of as good a quality as Providence has given, 

 and without deterioration from the hand of man. 

 Self interest ought to induce much care, as the ar- 

 ticle must pass the ordeal of inspection. But I 

 tliink that ijispectors, (some of them at least,) are 

 not apt to exercise due vigilance witli respect to 

 dirty iiops. 



Al'ter a very varied practice of tra7ispor*ing hops 

 from the fields to the kilns, there is now a pretty 

 well established custom of puttii^g them into bags 

 ibr that purpose. I have for some years practised 

 this mode. My bags are si.\ feet long, and so wide 

 as to have them emptied from the bo.\ into the bags 

 with bushel baskets. This is a convenient size tor 

 a m.Tu to handle. The green hops should not be 

 trod into the bags. It is almost impossible for me 

 to enumerate all the ways of damaging this article. 



Green hops cannot lay long in boxes or thick 

 piles, and es])ecially in bags, without injury. 



Hops sJiould be laid liirbt upon the^ kibi cloih. 

 Mine are always handled over, after they are emp- 

 tied, and laid as light as possible upon the kiln cloth. 

 If they are allowed to lay as they are enij)tied, in a 

 dense mass with no operation except (hat <»f level- 

 ing, they never dry even, and never dry well. 



The process of dri/ing is generally considered the 

 mostdiilicult part of hop business. There are va- 

 rious ways in whicli hops maybe spoiled or damag- 

 ed, after they are well grown, well picked and well 

 laid upon the kiln. Three quarters of a pound 

 when dry, to a square foot of kiln *:loth, is enough. 

 1 should prefer one half a pound to a square foot. 

 When Ihin, they come off brighter. They should be 

 allowed to la}' upon the kiln about or quite twen- 

 ty-four hours. If nmdcration is expedient at any 

 time it is in hop drying. The fire at first should be 

 moderate, and after the hops are well warmed, it 

 should be increased to a pro]>er degree and kept as 

 even as possible till the work is finishefl. If- cir- 

 cumstances ^^'ill admit, it is best to let them cool 

 down ui)on the kiln before removing. In v/hich 

 case, fhey are not so dry and husky, and are less 

 liable to lose a portion of that part, which solely 

 constitutes their \vofth, viz. the Lnpulin, common- 

 ly called the flour. In shoving theiu off when dry, 

 more or less of that flour shakes out and sifts through 

 our thin, strainer-like kiln cloths, and is lost in the 

 kilnb"low. There is one gentleman in Lyndebo- 

 rougli, v.-ho takes the precrtulion, after the hops are 

 dry and before removing, to suspend a Burlap cloth 

 beneath his kiln cloth, to save the flour. The Bur- 

 lap is then removed, emptied, and tlie kiln prepared 

 for fresh hops. His kilns are so constructed, as to 

 be easily entered by a door. Hoi)s are sometimes 

 over dried, but oftener under dried. If scantily dry, 

 they should not be laid promiscuously in large piles 

 but by th-cmselves, and tliin, an.d where they can 

 have air. In such case, it may be necessary too to 

 shovel them over. But after Jiops are once dry and 

 laid away, I prefer not to be linder vh^ necessity of 

 moving them until they are haggled, as I consider 

 repeated exposure to air by shoveling over, of soirie 

 injury to the color and no doubt lo the flavor. Dry 

 hops should not be laid where they will feel the 

 heat or the steam of the hot kilns. 



If they feel the continued heat from the drying 

 kilns, the drying process is still unnecess:irily and 

 injuriously continued, and they consequently lose 

 a part of that excellent flavor and fragrance which 

 constitutes the properties of first sort. They are 

 also liable to become chaffy. If they lie within 

 reach of the rising and drifting steam of the hot 

 kiln.^, they will be colored and injured by tlie 

 steam se'tlling down upon them. 



After hops are dried and removed from the kilns, 

 they should be allowed to remain in a cool place, 

 neither too close nor too airy, for a week or fort- 

 night, to go through with an after process, common- 

 ly called toughening. It is the same process, 

 through which hay and the straw of grain and all 

 such products pass, after packing away. After hups 

 are removed from the kiln and sufficiently dry for 

 that purpose, there is still some moisture left in 

 some of them, either in the core or the thick part 

 of the leaves, which will escape by nature's law of 

 evaporation, some of it lodging iu the leaves, that are 

 now dry, rendering the whole mass tough, and some 

 portion escaping into the air. 



After hops have laid long enough to be fit for bag- 

 ging without risk, the sooner it is done in my ojiin- 

 ion, the better; as they waste less in strength and 

 flavor after they are screwed into bags, than they 

 do when lying loose in bulk. 



There are a number of varieties of the hop,, Jlii- 

 muhis Lupulns. Beside the male hop, I know of 

 but three varieties, viz. the long whites, the French 

 and the teasel. Mine are the long white, as are 

 most of the hops raised in this vicinity. This is 

 also esteemed the best, both as to its productive- 

 ness and the quality of the product. 



About a dozen years since, the male hop was in- 

 troduced on the urgent recommendation of a dis- 

 tinguished hop Inspector of a neighboring State. 

 The male is used now about in the proportion of 

 one hill to a thousand hills of female hop?. We 

 know the effect to be, handsomer colon.'d fruit, and 

 we fully believe with a greater yield ; and wo trust 

 without any deterioration of tiie quality. Ifpon 

 the last point, however, we are at issue with the 

 consumers of the article, they believing the male 

 to be injurious in its effects. Wlicthcr their opin- 

 ion is the result of indisputable facts, they have not 

 informed us. 



As to the diseases of hops, it is unnecessary to go 

 into that subject on tins occasion. Suifice it to 

 say, that they are less numerous here, than the En- 

 glish writers would induce us to suppose they are 

 in Kngland. 



As to the hop market, I have not much to say. 

 The production of every commodity raised for sale 

 should bear a strict proportion to the demand at 

 home and abroad. 



Tlie Brewers at Philadelphia and in the State of 

 New York have for a series of years pursued a 

 liberal policy ; having established their contract 

 price at fifteeir cents per lb. for first and fourteen 

 for second sort; and from which they do not vary-, 

 whether the fickle hop market be high or low-. 

 William Blanchard, Esq. of Wilmington, Mass. 

 Agent for all the principal houses in the above na- 

 med places, has at the present time contracts to fill 

 at the above prices. 



In one respect hops are an exception to the fari- 

 naceous and most other kinds of agricultural crojis, 

 as neither by fermentation, distillation, or any oth- 

 er process, can they be ni^-tde to jirodiice an intoxi- 

 cating liquor. Th.ey are a strong antiseptic, and 

 are used to preserve yeast and beer of all kinds, and 

 perhaps other materials. 



The quantity of hops raised in this country has 

 varied from year to year, ranging from one million 

 to three million pounds. An average crop in Great 

 Britain is about f'jrty-four million pounds. The a- 

 mount of our crop for the hoit year or two has 

 exceeded a million ; ajrd perhaps has come up to a 

 million and a half. When the shippers find it a 

 good article of export, our hojJ growers find them- 

 selves very liberall}' paid for their long crmrse of 

 care and labor in growing and curing the article. 



The estimated number of inhabitants in the Uni- 

 ted States is fifteen millioris. Allowing five 'indi- 

 viduals to a family, which was about the average 

 in New Kngland at the last census, the quantity of 

 heps raised in the couiltry would give about half a 

 pound to a family through the nation. This is ev- 

 idently a small supply, for yeast and small beer, to 

 say nothing of the bakers, Avhoare regular and free 

 consumers of the article. However, much of it 

 goes with a far greater quantity of barley to be 

 consumed by tlie brewers of pale ale and porter. 



S. PEABODY 

 .hnherst, March 6th, li-'39. 



7'o prevent blast or rust in ri/e and wheat. — A rope 

 drawn across the field early in the morning after a 

 fog or heavy dew. 



l-'ertlie F''tiriiit;r'fl .\lijliltily ViMJtor. 



Fine woolled Sheep. 



Hopldnton, March I, 1839. 

 Df-AU Sir; — I have seen in the first number of 

 the Fanner's Monthly Visitor, page seventh, an ac- 

 count of tlie purchase and stocking with sheep of 

 the Burleigh farm in Dorchester by President Lord 

 of Dartmouth college. In the account given a 

 very unfavorable allusion is made lo the fine Meri- 

 no and Saxony sheep, as requiring the utmost care 

 and the most tender treatment. I also find in the 

 second number of the same work, page eighteenth, 

 a declaration that the native New England sheep 

 are more hardy and less liable to disease, than the 

 finer breeds ; and that an opinion is suggested that 

 they may be kept at as gofid .idvantage. I am not 

 prepared to say that the native sheep of this coun- 

 try may not be raised by the farmer at a profit, if 

 they can be found; but I know of none that are not 

 more or less mixed with the finer kinds. I greatly 

 misjudge, if the advantage is not very much in fa- 

 vor of the finer breeds, and the finer the greater 

 the advantage and the greater the profit. I am also 

 extremely deceived if they are not kept through 

 the3'ear at as httle expense as the natives, and at 

 much less trouble. Native sheep are uniformly tall, 

 long, lank, and coarse wobled ; untame, great rac- 

 ers and expert jumpers ; vexing their owners, and 

 frequently the whole neighborhood by visiting ev- 

 ery field and enrlbiaure tiiey wish. The Saxony 

 and Merino sheep, which produce the finest wool 

 that is known in this or any other country, are shor- 

 ter legged than the native breed, more round and 

 plump in every part of them, and easily fattened. 

 They are more quiet and peaceable in their disposi- 

 tion, and with ordinary care of fences, seldom if ev- 

 er stray from the pasture where they are jiut. They 

 afford mutton equal to any other kind ; their quar- 

 ters being round and full, mild, tender, and fine fla- 

 vored. They are the smallest sheiq; I have ever 

 known. This I consider an advantage rather than 

 a disadvantage. They are not like our oxen requi- 

 red to perforin labor. They are kept Ibr their flesh 

 and fleece only, and from long observation I am 

 convinced that it requires the same quantity and 

 quality of food to make a hundred pounds of mut- 

 ton or a hundred pounds of wool, whether it be giv- 

 en to small or large sheep. 



As regards diseases of fine sheep I know of none 

 that may not be visited upon the natives which arc 

 equally liable when brought together in as large 

 flocks. In my own flock I have never known any 

 contagious disease, if I may except a flock of fine 

 sheep of one hundred arid twenty-one, which I took 

 in the fall of is27, for the term of one yeiir. When 

 I took this flock they were all diseased and lame 

 with the foot-rot.. I found them extremely poor, 

 and some of them unablo to walk, and feeding up- 

 on their knees. During the year I lost nine of them 

 by poverty and disease, and two by casualty. At 

 the expiration of the term I divided equally with the 

 other owner one hundred and ten old ones, and at the 

 thirds thirty six lambs, all perfectly healthy and in 

 good order. With this exception, I have never 

 known any contagious di-ease to trouble any sheep 

 I have had the care of. I seldom lose one in any 

 way, and am equally fortunate with my lambs, when 

 not troubled by foxes. At the 3-eaning season of 

 1837, one fox killed from my flock and carried to 

 her young, .seventeen lambs in four days and nights. 

 I had a number killed at other times, and my loss 

 in lambs by fo.\es that season was from fifty ^to sixty 

 dollaj's. 



I am one of those who believe things should be 

 told as they are. I should feel hurt were I to lead 

 any one astray from his interest by any thing that 

 I have said, and as some proof of the truth of the 

 forc'Toing, 1 here give an account of the income of 

 my own flock. My average number of sheep at the 

 shearing seiusou in eight years, from 1831 to 1838 

 inclusive, has been two hundred and forty-one. 1 

 have received in ca.sh for sheep and wool sold from 

 my flock during that time, four thousand, five hun- 

 dred eighty-four dollars and seven ^ceiits ; giv- 

 ing a yearly income of five hundred seventy-three 

 dollars and one cent, or at the rate of two dollars 

 thirty-seven cents and afraction a head, a year. 



AVhen it is considered that six small fine sheep 

 may be kept on the same Ibod that would be re- 

 quired to keep five large coarse ones, which I have 

 no doubt is short of a reasonable estimate ; a prefer 

 enoe for the fine flocks will be more apparent. 



i shall be likely to retain my partiality for fine 

 slieep till some one gives an account of a more 

 profi.table flock of coarse ones of an equal number. 

 STEPHEN SIBLEY. 



Farming lands, in Michigan, when improved, 

 sell atl") to :i5 dollars per acre, wild from 5 to 8 

 dollars. 



