CONCENTRATION IN HOP GROWING. 247 



is their new kilns. These dry and cure the hops at the 

 lowest possible temperature and are now being further 

 improved with a system by means of which the hops 

 are dried by currents of air driven through them by fan 

 blowers. This air is not heated at all, and no artificial 

 heat of any kind will be used to effect the drying or 

 curing, thereby completely preserving the aroma, tex- 

 ture and lupnlin, qualities which are otherwise likely 

 to be sacrificed, to a more or less extent, during the 

 cure. These kilns and storage houses are built entirely 

 of iron, bridge construction for the frame, corrugated 

 iron for sides and roof, and the hop kiln floors are No. 

 4 steel wires, one and one-half inches apart, with No. 

 10 crosswires about six inches apart, thus giving prac- 

 tically all the surface to curing the hops, instead of 

 only one-half, as by the ordinary wooden floor process. 

 These iron kilns are considered so absolutely fireproof 

 that no insurance is carried, and this style of construc- 

 tion is evidently to come into general use. All the 

 other hop kilns on this ranch are now being remodeled 

 to conform to the arrangement of the battery of six 

 kilns above described, which are shown in the illus- 

 tration on Page 216. 



Another notable improvement used by Horst 

 Brothers is a hydraulic compress for recompressing 

 the ordinary 2OO-pound bale of hops into a package of 

 one-half the usual size. This saves space in storage 

 and in transportation, and brewers speak highly of the 

 better keeping qualities of the hops thus compressed. 

 The crop is here grown on such a large scale that it is 

 shipped from the ranch by whole train-loads, to be dis- 

 tributed throughout the world. 



