440 



FARMERS' REGISTER— CULTURE OF HOPS. 



man to a bin to handle the poles and to inspect the 

 pickers. The bin is a wooden box, about nine feet 

 long, three leet wide, and two and a half feet 

 high, made of thin pine boards, that it may be 

 easily moved over the yard, across which the 

 poles are laid, and into Avhich the hops are picked 

 by hand. Care should be taken when gathering 

 the hops, to cut the vines two lijet from the ground, 

 that the roots may not be injured by bleeding. 



The most important part in the management of 

 hops, is the curing and drying of them. Hops 

 always grow first'sort; second sort, and reflise 

 hops are made so by unfortunate or unskiltiil man- 

 agement. 



Much depends on a well constructed kiln. The 

 side of a hill is its best situation for convenience of 

 putting the hops on the kiln. It should be in a 

 dry place. The kiln should be dug out the same 

 bigness at the bottom as the top; the side walls 

 laid up perpendicularly, and filled up solid with 

 stone to give it a tunnel Ibrm. Twelve feet square 

 at the top, two feet square at the bottom, and at 

 least eight feet deep is deemed a convenient size. 

 On the top of the walls sills are laid having joists 

 let into them in like manner as for laying a floor — 

 on these joists, laths about one and a half inciies wide 

 are nailed, leaving open spaces between them 

 three-fourths of an inch, over which a thm linen 

 cloth is spread, and nailed at the edges to the 

 sills. A board about twelve inches wide, is set up 

 on each side of the kiln, on the inner edge of the 

 sill, to Ibrm a bin to receive the ho]'s. The larger 

 the stones made use of in the construction of 1;he 

 kiln the better; as it vv'ill give a more steady and 

 dense heat. The inside of the kiln should be well 

 plastered with mortar to make it completely air 

 tight. Charcoal (that made Irom j'ellow birch or 

 maple I should prefer,) is the only fuel proper to 

 be used in drying hops. The kiln should be well 

 heated betbre any hops are put on, and carefully 

 attended to keep up a steady and regular heat. 



Fifty j)ounds of hops when dried, is the largest 

 quantity that should be dried at one time, on a 

 kiln of this size; and unless absolutely necessa- 

 ry to put on that quantity, a less would dry bet- 

 ter. The green hops should be spread as evenly 

 and as light as possible over the kiln. The fire 

 at first should be moderate, but it may be m- 

 creased as the hops dry and the steam is evap- 

 orated. 



Hops should not remain long in the bin or 

 bag after they are picked, as they will soon heat 

 and become insipid. The hops should rwt be 

 stirred on the kiln until they are completely dried. 

 They should then he removed from the kiln into 

 a dry room and laid in a heap, and there remain 

 unmoved and unstirred, until biigged, which is 

 done with a screw, having a box made of plank, 

 the size the bag is wished, into which the cloth is 

 laid, and the hops screwed into the box, which is 

 eo constructed that the sides may be removed, and 

 the bag sewed together while in the press. 



The hops after laying a few days will gather a 

 partial moisture called a sweat. The sweat will 

 probably begin to subside in about eight days, at 

 which time and before the sweat is off, they ought 

 to be bagged in clear dry weather. As the exact 

 time when the hops will begin to sweat, and when 

 the sweat will begin to subside or dry off (the pro- 

 per time to bag them.) will vary with the state of 

 the atmosphere, it will be necessary to examine 



the hops from day to day, which is easily done by 

 takmg some of then) from the centre of the heap 

 with your hand. If on examination you find the 

 hops to be very damp and their color altering 

 which will be the case il"they were not completely 

 dried on the kiln, and not othwise, you must over- 

 hale them in the air. 



The most convenient size lor a bag of hops to 

 handle and transjjort is about five feet in length, 

 and to contain about 250 pounds. The best bag- 

 ging is coarse strong tow cloth of our domestic 

 manufacturing; next to that Russia hemp bagging. 

 The East India sugar and gunny bags, so called, 

 ought never to be used. The sugar bags, are of 

 an unreasonable weight, and both tliey and the 

 gunny bags are of no value to the brewer, where- 

 as the other bags are worth prime cost. 



It is now coaunon for those who have entered 

 considerably into the cultivation of hops, to build 

 houses over their kilns, whicli in wet weather, are 

 very convenient; othenvise a kiln in the open air 

 would be preferable. It is necessary to have these 

 buildings well ventilated wi*^h doors and windo'-vs; 

 and to have them kept open night and day, except 

 m wet weather, and then shut those only Avhich 

 are necessary to keep out rain. If a ventilaior 

 was put in the roof of' the building, directly over 

 the centre of the kiln, about six feet square, it 

 would be very advantageous. I have seen many 

 lots of hops nmch injured both in color and flavor, 

 by being dried in close buildings. 



Where the houses over the kilns are built large, 

 for the purpose of storing the hops as they are 

 dried, which is a great saving of labor, a close 

 partition should be made between the kilns and 

 the room in v/hich the hops are stored, to prevent 

 the damp steam from the kilns coming to them, 

 as it will color them, and injure their flavor and 

 quality very much. 



Many of our farmers will object to the mode 

 here recommended of manuring hops, their com • 

 mon practice being to put the manure in the hills, 

 when they plant the hops, and atierwards to ap- 

 ply the manure on the hills at the first and second 

 hoeings. Mr. B. thinks that the manure in the 

 hills has a tendency to produce worms, and its fer- 

 mentation at their roots to cause their decay; and 

 that a hop yard manure in the manner he directs 

 will continue in a fertile state for many years. He 

 also supposes that the quantity of manure recom- 

 mended will be objected to by many. Where 

 hops have been cultivated many ye.ars, farmers 

 complain that the quantity raised i)er acre does not 

 exceed one-half as much as was raised by their an- 

 cestors on the same land. Hops I believe, in com- 

 mon with all sorts of grain and vegetables flourish 

 best and produce the finest crops, when cultivated 

 on new lands, which required little or more manure 

 — and such were the lands their ancestors culti- 

 vated. The same complaints I presume would be 

 made against all sorts of grain and vegetables if 

 raised witfi little or no manure, on lands which 

 have long been cultivated. No crop can be more 

 improved and increased by high cultivation than 

 hops. 



vai.uk of hops. 

 The Bangor Republican says there are farmers 

 not thirty miles from Bangor^ who have taken a 

 thousand dollars in cash, as the clear income from 

 their crop of hops the present ."season. 



