GRADING AND MARKETING HOPS. 237 



as in the United States, particularly on the Pacific 

 coast, where a good crop is obtained the first year from 

 planting. 



STORING HOPS FOR LONG KEEPING 



Several methods have been recommended and 

 used to protect hops as much as possible against the 

 action of atmospheric air. Pressing them meets 

 with steadily increasing favor in England, and is gen- 

 erally used in America, instead of treading them into 

 bags, as is customary in Germany. This pressing is 

 of decided advantage, but the hops must be well dried 

 before they are pressed. It has been recommended to 

 press the hops into pitched barrels instead of bales, and 

 to store them in ice cellars (Scharr). Bing, of Nurem- 

 berg, presses them into square bales by hydraulic 

 presses; the bales are then put into well-soldered tin 

 boxes, and then are placed in well-pitched wooden 

 boxes. It has been further proposed to press the hops 

 into tin boxes, to close them hermetically, and to store 

 them in a cold cellar (Neubecker). 



According to Brainard's method of preserving 

 them, they are well dried and packed in bags, and 

 brought into a store room, which can be kept dark, dry 

 and cool, and can be hermetically closed. For this pur- 

 pose, the store room has double walls, and is provided 

 with ice on the upper floor, in the same manner as 

 Brainard's store cellar and fermenting cellar. The effi- 

 cacy of cold storage is seriously questioned, however. 

 The store room should be closed as much as ^possible 

 against the air, and should be dry and cool. It should 

 not be located directly under the roof, where damp air 

 can easily enter, and a simple partition of boards is 

 not sufficient for this purpose. The best plan is to build 

 the store room with bricks or double-frame sides, be- 

 tween which is placed an isolating layer. 



East Kent hops, when four months old, contained 



