468 THE BREWING INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 



determined usually by {a) the colour, which should be a light yellow ; (J?) the 

 fulness, which can be seen when a sample is cut out of a bale ; (c) the 

 quantity of seed they contain, and {d) the aroma or flavour. The hops used 

 for making- pale ales are finer in quality and dearer in price than those 

 generally used for mild ales and for black beers. Hops are grown chiefly in 

 America, Germany, and England, Kent being the chief centre of the hop 

 gardens in the latter country. The area under hops in England has 

 ■during the last thirty years ranged between 70,000 and 50,000 acres, and 

 during the last few years it has been just above the latter figure. The labour 

 bill forms the chief item in the price ; it has been calculated that the average 

 expenditure upon wages is £2'^ per acre of hops. During the first few days 

 of the season dozens of special trains are run from London to various 

 -stations in Kent, which convey thousands of men, women, and children to 

 assist in the harvesting of the hops. This annual exodus of the very poor 

 from London to the hop gardens of Kent, for a short period of healthful and 

 profitable work, is an interesting example of those temporary migrations of 

 labour with which we are so painfully familiar in Ireland. The crop is a very 

 uncertain one ; in 1899 the yield in England was 661,373 cwts., and in 1900 

 only 347,894 cwts., though the acreage was practically the same in both years, 

 and in 1901 the yield rose to some 550,000 cwts. Last year 116,042 cwts. of 

 hops, valued at ;£'45 9,051 were imported, of which two-thirds came from 

 America, but this quantity was little more than half the average quantity 

 imported during the past twenty years. Owing to the uncertainty of the 

 crop, the price of hops is subject to great fluctuations, and consequently 

 brewers carry a fair stock from year to year to guard against vicissitudes ; 

 and the application of the cold storage system to hops, has, by decreasing 

 the depreciation in strength caused by keeping, exercised a further steady- 

 ing influence upon their price. 



Water is the last but not the least important ingredient which may be 



referred to. Generally speaking pale ales require a 

 Water. hard water and porter a soft water, such as that 



of Dublin and the south-east of Ireland generally. 

 Brewery water is nearly always well filtered. Sometimes, without any 

 known cause, the water suddenly goes wrong and as suddenly comes right 

 again. These occasional troubles happen to most brewers in both town 

 and country, though perhaps more often to the latter than to the former, and, 

 while they last, they occasion great anxiety and loss. At the end of the 

 year the item " returned beer " is an indication of their effect. For the 

 purposes of brewing pale ale, where the water is soft, it is sometimes sought 

 to harden it and render it suitable by the introduction of chemicals, and 

 n porter brewer troubled with hard water may similarly attempt to soften it. 

 It is, however, questionable if these attempts to rectify the water to suit the 

 purpose required are entirely successful. A plentiful supply of naturally suit- 

 able water is indispensable to successful brewing. The quality of the water is 

 frequently tested by analysis to detect impurities and to prevent mishaps. 

 In addition to the water used in the process of brewing, an immense quantity 

 is required for cleansing casks, for refrigerating, and other purposes. 

 Many town brewers get their cooling water from wells and from the rain 

 water which they store. In the country, where the water charges are not 

 so heavy, the whole of the water required is usually drawn from the one 

 source. It is difficult to obtain accurate statistics as to the quantity of water 

 ■used in breweries, apart from the water consumed in the actual process of 



