38 SYSTEMS OF CULTIVATION. 



readiness : cokes may be sent for in July and August, and a 

 sufficient number of pickers engaged to keep your kilns or 

 oasts properly at work. In this you must be governed by 

 the size of the hops. Different plans are adopted in picking 

 and measuring ; some measure by tally, others by book and 

 cards representing the number of each crib or bin. I have 

 found it best to put two cribs into the centre of 100 hills ; 

 this is called a " house," and the cribs remain until the work 

 is finished. The poles will be in two heaps at either end of 

 the cribs, and in the proper place for stripping and piling. 

 If this is strictly carried out, much trouble is saved in 

 piling the poles. When a sufficient number of sacks are 

 picked to load one kiln (and this should be done before 

 breakfast), they should be taken and put on the oast, and so 

 on until all your kilns or oasts are loaded ; and it should 

 be so managed that hops enough be picked to reload the 

 kilns at night. 



" Hop drying requires great attention, and the slower, in 

 reason, they are dried, the better. They should be dried by 

 a current of hot air being continuously passed through them, 

 and not by combustion. Many say they can dry hops in 

 seven or eight hours ; rely on it, it is better to take twelve, 

 and let your heat not exceed 112 to 115 degrees. When the 

 hops are sufficiently dried, the fire should be raked or allowed 

 to go down, the hops remaining on the kiln until they 

 become soft, which will prevent their breaking on being 

 removed to the cooling room. These hops will be fit to be 

 bagged the next day, and with a proper staff this should be 

 carried out through the picking. 



" Poles are a heavy item in the cost of hop cultivation, and 



