PRODUCTION ON THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 101 



8 feet apart in each direction, and in straight rows. The 

 hop plant does not yield the first year, hut only in the second 

 year, when the vine is trained on poles prepared for the pur- 

 pose, 15 to 16 feet in height ; two or three poles are set to 

 a hill, and two or three vines are run up each pole. When 

 three poles are used, generally two vines are run up each. 



The plant ffowers about the middle of July, and remains 

 in blossom from a week to ten days, when it expands (which 

 is termed hopping out) and forms the strobiles of commerce. 

 They soon attain their full size ; but are allowed to remain 

 on the vine to mature until about the 1st of September, when 

 picking commences. The picking is performed mostly by 

 women and children, who gather the fruit into boxes, the size 

 of which is regulated by law. Each consists of a large box, 

 usually made of pine or some light wood, divided into four 

 equal compartments, each compartment measuring 3 feet long, 

 1 J foot wide, and 2 feet in depth, and holding about 7 bushels. 



The pickers are arranged four to a box, each picking in 

 one of the small compartments, which constitutes, when 

 full, what is termed a box of hops. The average number 

 of boxes picked per day by the pickers is two; this varies, 

 however, according to the activity of the person, some pick- 

 ing three to four, and others only one to one and a half 

 boxes. They receive generally from thirty to forty cents 

 per box. The average weight of a box of hops when dried 

 is about 10 Ibs. The drying is performed in kilns, in 

 houses which are built either of stone, brick, or wood. Stone 

 or brick is preferred, but wood is mostly used in Wisconsin, 

 and is plastered all the way up on the inside to the peak, to 

 prevent the escape of heated air laterally. 



