50 THE HOP 







quality, or raised under unfavorable conditions, possess a 

 garlicky odor. Hops smelling moldy or musty, or which 

 have suffered injury in drying, or in the hop bale, should 

 not be used. 



"4. The separate cones should stick together when the 

 hop is pressed together in the hand it should ball together 

 and only slowly separate again; this is an indication of the 

 hop being rich in resin. If it contains little resin it does not 

 ball and feels dry. When marks are made upon the hand with 

 separate cones, these marks should be sticky and of a yel- 

 lowish color; unripe cones make light green marks. 



"5. The taste of the hop should be pure and agreeably 

 bitter. 



'6. It should be free from the leaves of the vines, pieces 

 of vine and other admixtures. The cone should not be cov- 

 ered with mold or the parasitic fungus-smut (Fumago 

 salicina), which covers the leaves and cones with a sooty 

 coating, and is very injurious to the hop plant. This fungus 

 may destroy an entire hop harvest. Plant lice frequently 

 make their appearance as forerunners of this disease, adher- 

 ing in skins to the hop and contaminating it. 



"7. They must not be too old. Old hops do not possess 

 certain of those already-mentioned good qualities; they have 

 lost considerably in value, as the volatile oil, as well as the 

 hop resin, has deteriorated. Hop cones which have been 

 stored for some length of time have a brownish color, the 

 fruits are easily detached from the peduncle, the agreeable 

 odoi has changed into a disagreeable, cheesy (rank) odor, 

 the flour has a reddish coloring and the hop has lost its 

 stickiness. The examination of the hop flour by a good mag- 

 nifying glass or the microscope is to be recommended as a 

 means of distinguishing old hops from fresh ones. Even then, 

 when the before-mentioned characteristics of old hops have 

 in some manner been obliterated with fraudulent intent, a 

 microscopic examination is still a sure guide. The separate 

 glands of fresh hops, which form the hop flour, are full, 

 glossy, and of a lemon color, have a smooth surface, and 

 when pressed discharge the contents of the gland, showing 

 a light yellow coloring. Glands of the old hops are shriveled, 

 wrinkled, and the fluid discharged from them is of greater 

 consistency and has a dark yellow to brownish color, and 

 this color will show itself the more the older the hops are, 

 and the smaller the quantity of hop balsam. In time the hops 

 become poorer in oil, which has been partly oxidated and 

 changed its color." 



