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hops. Two hundred pounds of green hops, when dried, pro- 

 duce only 50 to 54 lbs. If the heat is too great, the lupulin is 

 destroyed. If the heat is not sufRcient, a partial fermentation 

 takes place and injures the lupulin. The best-cured hops are 

 generally from eighteen to twenty-four hours upon the kiln. 



Much care is requisite in removing the dried hops from the 

 kiln and placing them in a dry loft, so as not to break them. 

 When properly cured they may be laid in this loft three or four 

 feet thick for some months before packing. In this situation 

 they pass through a slight fermentation and "make," as hay 

 "makes" in the mow, and become very aromatic and resinous. 

 It is a bad practice to pack them soon after drying. 



Many of onr cultivators have erected expensive and close 

 buildings over their hop kilns. These close buildings are 

 injurious. They prevent the vapor from freely passing off; it 

 lodges on the sides of the building. When the hops arrive to 

 a certain degree of dryness, they attract moisture and absorb 

 some of this vapor, to their very great injury in this warm 

 state. This moisture cannot be perfectly extracted again. In 

 the case of a bag of hops set endwise on a green plank and 

 allowed to remain in this position three or four weeks, the 

 hops at the end of the bag next to the plank, to the depth of 

 six or eight inches, became entirely rotten from the moisture 

 attracted from the plank. 



The mode of packing within a few years has been improved. 

 Formerly, they were trodden into round bags, but are now 

 pressed by screws into square bags. There is an evil however 

 in that many of the screws are too short, and it is necessary to 

 tread the hops in the box, which breaks and bruises them. It 

 is highly important that the hop should go to the consumer as 

 whole and sound, with the exception of evaporating the water, 

 as when taken from the poles. The essential properties of 

 hops for brewing consist in the lupulin ; when this is injured or 

 dissipated the value of the hop is much diminished. The proper- 

 ties of the hop are subtle and concealed ; the best chemists have 

 not been able to extract and concentrate it's essence for the 



