CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 2Q9 



book of 1833, in these words, "among the hops inspected this year, I find those 

 picked from the 10th to 15th of September, to be best." There is one gentle- 

 man in Milford, who was for years distinguished above all others for the ex- 

 cellence of his hops. I remember that one year he did not begin his picking 

 till the 14th or 15th day of September. When he ordinarily begins, I know 

 not. Hops should not be picked when wet. Being picked with the dew on is 

 some slight injury. I never suffer my hop pickers to go out till after break- 

 fast. 



Hops should be picked clean of stems and leaves. If any one thinks that those 

 extra ingredients are of little consequence, let him pick them separately and 

 make his own small beer and yeast from that stock, and send the clear, clean, 

 dry picked, well dried, ripe fruit to those who are ready to pay cash and the 

 highest price therefor. It is due to the market, and due to the inspector, to 

 present your crop, of as good a quality as Providence has given, and without 

 deterioration from the hand of man. Self interest ought to induce much care, 

 as the article must pass the ordeal of inspection. But I think that inspectors, 

 (some of them at least,) are not apt to exercise due vigilance with respect to 

 dirty hops. 



Bagging. After a very varied practice of transporting hops from the fields 

 to the kilns, there is now a pretty well established custom of putting them into 

 bags for that purpose. I have for some years practised this mode. My bags 

 are six feet long, and so wide as to have them emptied from the box into the 

 bags with bushel baskets. This is a convenient size for a man to handle. 

 The green hops should not be trod into the bags. It is almost impossible for 

 me to enumerate all the ways of damaging this article. Green hops cannot 

 lay long in boxes or thick piles, and especially in bags, without injury. 



Hops should be laid light upon the kiln doth. Mine are always handled over, 

 after they are emptied, and laid as light as possible upon the kiln cloth. If 

 they are allowed to lay as they are emptied, m a dense mass with no operation 

 except that of levelling, they never dry even, and never dry well. 



The process of drying is generally considered the most diflicut part of hop 

 business. There are various ways in which hops may be spoiled or damaged, 

 after Ihey are well grown, well picked and well laid upon the kiln. Three 

 quarters of a pound when dry, to a square foot of kiln cloth, is enough. I 

 should prefer one half a pound to a square foot. When thin, they come off 

 brighter. They should be allowed to lay upon the kiln about or quite twenty- 

 four hours. If moderation is expedient at any time it is in hop drying. The 

 fire at first should be moderate, and after the hops are well warmed, it should 

 be increased to a proper degree and kept as even as possible till the work is 

 finished. If circumstances will admit, it is best to let them cool down upon 

 the kiln before removing. In which case, they are not so dry and husky, and 

 are less liable to lose a portion of that part, which solely constitutes their 

 worth, viz: the lupulin, commonly called the flour. In.'shoving them off 

 when dry, more or less of that flour shakes out and sifis" through our thin, 

 strainer-like kiln cloths, and is lost in the kiln below. There is one gentleman 

 in Lyndeborough, who takes this precaution, after the hops are dry and before 

 removing, to suspend a Burlap cloth beneath his kiln cloth, to save the flour. 

 The Burlap is then removed, emptied, and the kiln prepared for fresh hops. 

 His kilns are so constructed, as to be easily entered by a door. Hops are 

 sometimes over dried, but oftener under dried. If scantily dry, they should 

 not be laid promiscuously in large piles, but by themselves, and thin, and where 

 they can have air. In such case, it may be necessary too to shovel them over. 

 But after hops are once dry and laid away, I prefer not to be under the neces- 

 sity of moving them until they are bagged, as I consider repeated exposure to 

 air by shoveling over, of some injury to the colour and no doubt to the flavour. 

 Dry hops should not be laid where they will feel the heat of the steam of the 

 hot kilns. 



If they feel the continued heat from the drying kilns, the drying process is 



Ntill unnecessarily and injuriously continued, and they consequently lose a part 



of that excellent flavour and fragrance which constitutes the properties of first 



sort. They are also liable to become chaffy. If they lie within reach of the 



18* 



