70 



^{)t jTanncr's iHontl)li) bisitor. 



Ill W ■ Ml llll ■! nil n 



rapidly than the cotton manuractiire has increas- 

 ed nt Manchester. 



The same autliority, Mr. iMcCiilloch, estimates 

 the entire value of the Linen maniifactiire ol 

 Great Brilnin and Ireland at £7,500,000 or 30 

 millions of dollars. One-third part of this is es- 

 liiijated as the value of raw inulerial, and 25 per 

 cent for profit, superintendence, we.-ir an<l tear of 

 inaohinery, coal, iScc, leaving £3,125,000 or 15,- 

 600,000 dollars to he divided as wages among 

 those employed in the manufacture, eslimaled at 

 173,000 persons, earning £18 or $80 per aiinutn 

 each. The consumption of foreign Linens in 

 Great Britain is quite inconsiderahle, not exceed- 

 ing £20,000 



CuItiTation of the Hop. 



■HUMULOS LUPULU3. 



Although the Hop is not n culinary vegetahle, 

 as it is more or less used in every part of our 

 country, it may not he amiss to treat of its cul- 

 ture. It is presumed, that in proportion as hah- 

 ils of temperance are inculcaterl, our citizens will 

 have recourse to beer as a wholesome heverage : 

 and as a great deal depends on the manner in 

 which Hops are cured, I propose giving direc- 

 tions for their management throughout, so as to 

 enable those who choose, to prepare their own. 

 My information is collected chiefly from Loudon's 

 Encyclopiedia of Plants. 



"The Hop has been cultivated in Europe an 

 unknown length of time lor its flowers, which 

 are used for preserving beer. Its culture was 

 introduced from Flanders in the reign of Henry 

 the VIII; though indigenous both to Scotland 

 and Ireland, it is little cultivated in those coun- 

 tries, owing to the hinnidity of their autumnal 

 season. Like other plants of this sort, the hof> 

 bears its flowers on different individuals; the fe- 

 male plants, therefore, are alone cultivated. There 

 are several varieties grown in Kent and Surrey, 

 under the name of Flemish, Canterbury, Gold- 

 ings, &c.; the first is the most hardy, difl^ering 

 little from the wild or Hedge Hop; the Gohling.-- 

 is an improved and highly productive variety, but 

 more subject to blight than the other. 



" The hop prefers a deep loamy soil on a dry 

 bottom; a sheltered situation, but at the same 

 time not so confined as to prevent a free circula- 

 tion of air. The soil requires to be well ptdver- 

 ized and manured previous to planting. In hop 

 districts the groimd is generally trenched either 

 with a plough or spade. The mode of planting 

 is generally in rows six feet apait, and the same 

 distance in the row. By sonu;, live, six or seven 

 plants, are placed in a circular form, which cir- 

 cles are distant five or six feet from each other. 

 The plants or cuttings are prociued from the 

 most freallhy of the old stools; each should have 

 two joints or buds: from the one which is plac- 

 ed ill the ground springs the root, and from the 

 other the stalk. Some plant the cuttings at once 

 where they are to remain, and by others they are 

 nursed a year in a garden. An interval crop of 

 beans or cabbage is gcMerally taken the first year. 

 Sometimes no poles are placed at the plants till 

 the second year, and then only short ones of six 

 or seven feet. The third year the hop generally 

 comes into full bearing, and then from liiur lo 

 six poles from Iburleen to sixteen feel in length 

 are placed to each circle, or one poln to each 

 plant if cultivated in straight rows. The most 

 durable timber for poles is that of the Spanish 

 Chestnut. 



" The after culture of the hop consists in slir- 

 ring the soil, ami keeping it free liom weeds : 

 in guiding the bIioois to the pedes, and somelimes 

 tying them for that purpose wiih bass or wither- 

 ed rushes; in eradicating any superfluous shoots 

 which may rise from the rooi, and in raising a 

 small heap of earth over the root to nourish the 

 plant. 



"Hops are known to be ready for gathering 

 when the chaffy capsules acquire a brown color, 

 and a firm consistence. Each chafly capsule, or 

 leaf calyx, contains one seed. Before these are 

 picked, the stalks are detached, and the poles 

 pulled up, and placed horizontally on fraiiK^s of 

 wood, two or three poles at a time. The hops 

 are then picked ott' by women and children. Af- 

 ter being carefully separated from the leaves and 

 stalks, they are dropped into a large cloth hung 

 all round within the frame on tenter hooks. 

 When the cloth is full, the hups are emptied into 

 a large sack, which ig carried home, and the hops 



lai<i on a kiln to be tried. This is always to be 

 done as soon as possible alier lliey are picked, 

 or they arc apt to sustain considi'iahle 'lamage, 

 both in color and flavoi-, if allowi^l to reujain 

 long in the green stale in which they are picked. 

 In very warm weather, and uhcn they are pick- 

 ed in a moist state, they will often heat in live or 

 six hours: for this reason, the kilns are kept con- 

 slantly at work, both night and day, troni the 

 coinmencement to ihe conclusion of the hop- 

 picking season. 



"The operation of drying hops is not materi- 

 ally different from that of drjing malt, and the 

 kilns are of the same consliiiciioii. The hops 

 are sfiread on a hair cloth, fiom eight to twelve 

 inches deep, according as the season is dry or 

 wet, and the ho[is rij.e or imnjatiirc. When the 

 ends of the hop stalks become quite shrivelled 

 and dry, they are taken off the kiln, and laid on 

 a boarded floor till they become quite cool, when 

 they are put into bags. 



" riie bagging of hops is thus performed: in 

 tiie floor of liie room where hops are laid to cool, 

 there is a round hole or trap, equal in size to the 

 mouth of a hop-hag. After tying a liainlful of 

 hops in each of the lower corners of a large bag, 

 which serve after fijr handles, the mouih of ihi^ 

 hag is fixed securely to a strong hoop, which is 

 made to rest on the edges of the hole or trap ; 

 and the bag ilself being then dropped through the 

 hole, the packeisgo into it, when a person who 

 attends fiir the puipose, puts in the hops in small 

 quanliiies, in order to give the packer an oppor- 

 tunity of packing and trampling iheni as hard as 

 possible. When the hag is tillefl, and the hops 

 trampled in so hard that it will hold no more, it 

 is drawn iqi, unloosed from ihe hoop, and the end 

 sewed up, two other handles having been previ- 

 ously formed in the corners in the inaiiner men- 

 tioned above. The hiiglitest and finest colored 

 hops are put inio pockets or fine bagging, and 

 the brown into coarse or heavy baggnig. The 

 former are chiefly used for brewing fine ale, and 

 the lattPr by ihe porter brewers. But when hops 

 are intended to he kept two or ihree years, they 

 are put into bags ol' strong cloth, and firmly 

 pressed so as to exclude the air. 



" The stripping and slacking of tl-rf! poles suc- 

 ceed to the operalioij of pickiiiir. 'I'he shoot or 

 bind being stripped olf, such poles as ai-e not de- 

 cayed, are set up togelher in a conical pile of 

 three or lour hundred, ihe centre of vvhiidi is 

 formed by three stout poles bound together a few 

 feet from their tops, and th(;ir lower ends spre.iil 

 out. 



" The |irodiice of no crop is so liable to varia- 

 tion as that of the hop ; in a good season an acre 

 will pioduce 20 cwt. but from 10 to 12 cwt. is 

 consideri'd a tolerable average crop. The (piali- 

 ty of hops is estimaied by Ihe abundance or 

 scarcity of an unctuous clammy powder which 

 adheres to them, and by their bright yellow col- 

 or. The expenses of foririmg a hop plantation 

 are considerable ; but once in hearing, it will con- 

 tinue so fijr ten or filteen years before if requires 

 to he renewed. The hop is peculiarly liable to 

 diseases; when young it is devoured by fleas of 

 difii.rent kinds ; at a more advanced stage, it is 

 attacked by the grcuMi fly, red spider, and ot^er- 

 iiioili, Ihe larva' of which prey even upon the 

 roots. The honey-dew often ni;iterially injures 

 the hop crop; and ihe mnuld, Ihe lire-blast, ami 

 olher blights, injure it ul dillereiit times towards 

 the laller peiioil of the growth of Ihe planl." 



The cultuie of hops is bucoming an inq>ort;int 

 branch of husbandry in ihe state of New Vork.* 

 A correspondent ohserv<'S, that " as line samples 

 have been grown in Orange and Madison coun- 

 ties as in any part of the world. The hop is con- 

 sidered somewhat pri'carious ; hut ulien the sea- 

 sou is good, the profit is veiy great. The average 

 product may hi' stated at 700 lbs., though it has 

 reached llldO lbs. lo the acre ;, and in the latter 

 I'ase the expense amounted to sixty dollars. The 

 ordinary, or averagi; price, may be stated at eigh- 

 teen cents per potmd. The profits on an ordina- 

 ry crop, according to these assumed data, would 

 lie about sevi'iily dollars from the acre. It ofieii 

 liills materially shoit of this, however, from ihe 

 want of knowledge and care in gutiiering and 

 drying the crop. 



" The (piantity of hops taken to Albany and 



the neighboring towns on the Hudson, this year, 

 (lrt34) has been estimated at 2,300 bales, or 500,- 

 000 lli.-<., which, had not many of iherii been pre- 

 nialnrely gathered, or badly cin-ed, would have 

 jielded to the growers ninety or a hi:ndriil ihoii- 

 sand dollars. But of the 2,300 bales there was 

 not more than 200 hales, we are informed, that 

 ought to have received the denoininalioii ol' first 

 sorts. Many of them were picked too • ai ly, be- 

 fVjre ihe mailer that imparts to them their value 

 was sufficiently developed ; and others were 

 scorched or srnokeil in curing. This carelessness 

 has seriously affected ihe eiiar.icter of our hops 

 abroad, and ihey are no loiiger purchased by the 

 Pliiladelphia brewers. They would soon fi)rm 

 an important article of export, if iheir characler 

 Was raised by earn in their culture and drying, 

 and a rigid iiispection." 



The young shoots of bolh wild and cullivateil 

 hops are considered by some as very wholesome, 

 and are frequently gathered in the spring, boiled, 

 and eaten as asparagiLS. The stalk and leaves 

 will dye wool jellow. From the stalk a strong 

 cloth is made in Sweden, the mode of [ireparing 

 which is described by Linniens in his Flora Sue- 

 cica. A decoction of the roots is said In he as 

 good a sudorific as Sarsaparilia ; and ihe smell of 

 ihe flowers is soporific. A pillow filled wiih hop 

 flowers will induce sleep, unatleiidcd with the 

 bail effects of soporifics, whicli require lobe ta- 

 ken internallv. — Gardener's •'Issislant. « 



Cabbage Sprouts. — Very few people take 

 half the pains ihey ought with cabbages. When 

 they are cut— no mailer how — ihe slumps are left 

 to bring sprouts ; no matter when, nor how many. 

 Now, the fact s, that when the sprouts begin to 

 come, they should he all rnblied olf but the best 

 — or at most two ; but if there be only one left to 

 grow on ea<-h slump, it "ill grow faster :ind bet- 

 ter, and be occasionally as good as the first head 

 that w:is out; instead of which, a mnlliiude of 

 small ones are allowed to grow, mil any of \\ hicli 

 bring good hearts, and all are, for the most part, 

 but a poor apology for greens. When a cabbage 

 is cut, the leaves should be cut oft" the stem, and 

 as soon as the buds of tlie stump begin to glow, 

 rub oft' or cut, all that :ire not wanted, leaving 

 one of the strongest and best to grow into a head, 

 wliiidi it will do ill an incredihiy short time; 

 equalling, and mon.' frequently excelling, the first 

 head itself, in flavor and appearance. This is 

 ada[ited lor families more than market cardens, 

 because there is some trouble in rubbing and 

 taking oft' the useless shoots ; but it is well worth 

 while in the case of early cabbages, in a private 

 fiimily, for it forms an excellent second crop. 



• Clinton Avcr>', In llio village of W.ilcrloo, (Ineiila Co., 

 Nrw Vork, is salil to have rained in 1843 on twelve acrfu of 

 land, no,937 lb». of bopi.. 



From Tucker's Cultivalnr. 



Kitchen Chemistry. — Heat. 



Principi,i;s, — The heat of bodies may be af- 

 fected in various ways, among w hich aie, by con- 

 diiclion, by r.'.dialioii, and by the conversion of 

 solids inin liquids and liquids into vafiors. 1. 

 The conilitdion of heat through bodies isliimiliar 

 to most persons. If a short rod of iron be held 

 in the fiie, the heat passes alon< it, iniiil tho 

 whole is gradually more or less healed. But if 

 a rod of wood or earthern ware is similar- 

 ly placed, it becomes warmed ihrough its length 

 in a very small de;free. Hence, ir(ni is a good 

 coiiducior, and wood :iiid eiulli. had. Iron ficls 

 colder on a cold day, than wood, by conduct- 

 ing the heat more rapidly from ibe hand, ihongli 

 the actual lempera'.nre of the two suhslances 

 may be ihe same. Hence the reason that re<l 

 hoi iron burns more evenly than burning char- 

 coal. 



2. Air is a vi>ry had conductor, yet on standing 

 before a fire, hiat is felt at a considerable distance 

 being ihiown out in straight lines liom the lire 

 by radiii(ioii — \ii the same way that rays of light 

 are radiated in straight lilies from a candle. 



3. If a small vessel he filled wiili snow on a 

 very colli morning, say at 10 di'grees Fall., tho 

 immersion of the thermometer in the snow will 

 show that tcmjreruinre. Apply the heat of a 

 lamp to the vessnl, and the thermometer will 

 rise as the snow hecomes warmer, till it gets up 

 to 32 degrees, (tho li-ee/.ing point.) when it will 

 remain perfectly stationary till all the snow is 

 melted. It is Ibnnd that the time thus required 

 to melt the snow, would have heated an equal 

 weight of walernp to 172 degrees, or 140 degrees 

 aboTS frecziiii.'. Thai iJUlVUlU vt" I'vat has there- 



