CURING, COOLING AND BALING. 



193 



shoes, that no nails may tear the carpet. The sacks 

 of hops are carried into the kiln and placed on the floor 

 near where they are to be emptied, without dragging 

 them across the carpet, and are emptied as lightly as 

 possible, without shaking the floor, so as not to break 

 the hops nor settle those already emptied. As fast as 

 emptied, the hops should be loosened and leveled with 

 a wooden barley fork. The floor can be laid to a 

 depth of three to four feet, but at that depth it will re- 

 quire a long time to dry, and the bottom hops would be 



PIG. 106. ELEVATION OF HOP HOUSE, NEW YORK See Page 181. 



scorched while the lop ones would hardly be dried. It is 

 best not to lay them deeper than can be dried and 

 moved in twenty-four hours, and the picking should 

 be stopped when enough have been secured for this 

 purpose. Therefore, it is bad policy to have too many 

 pickers, as they become dissatisfied if compelled to lay 

 idle any portion of the day. 



Hops that have been heated in the sack while wait- 

 ing to go on the kiln, will become smudged and discol- 

 13 



