JUDGMENT IN HOPS BEST WATER FOR BREWING. 303 



of the hop. The brown colour is not always an in- 

 dication of either age or bad condition ; it is the 

 natural colour of some, as the pale green is of 

 others; for example, of the celebrated Farnham 

 hop. The colour and qualities vary with soil and 

 situation; clay lands producing the strongest and 

 harshest hops. Nevertheless, a brown colour, with 

 a dry and harsh feel, and hardness of the seed, in- 

 dicate either age, or the deteriorating effects of a 

 bad season. 



OLD HOPS will doubtless preserve beer ; and, in 

 fact, good-conditioned old ones are to be preferred 

 to new which are bad ; but, generally, new hops, 

 or those of an immediately preceding season, are 

 far the most valuable to a consumer, age necessarily 

 despoiling the hop of great part of those volatile, 

 aromatic, and peculiar qualities for which it is used, 

 and perhaps the whole of that material part, its 

 farina. In fact, age works a considerable change 

 in the properties of this article. The soil being 

 proper, the cultivation of the hop, to the extent of 

 family consumption, may answer the purpose of a 

 country resident devoted to rural pursuits. 



The WATER best adapted to the purpose of brew- 

 ing, is the soft, or that which will most freely and 

 easily lather with soap ; it will not only render the 

 most pleasant, wholesome, and best-keeping beer, 

 but also a considerably greater quantity from an 

 equal measure of malt. It must be understood, 

 nevertheless, that the water be pure, or as free as 

 possible from injurious impregnations. Thus rain, 

 river, or pond water, may be soft intrinsically, yet 



