PRODUCTION ON THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 103 



pounds. The brimstone is placed in a little dish on the 

 stove, a small quantity at a time, and this is repeated until 

 the moisture is mostly expelled from the hop. In some 

 instances, when the hop has been injured, or become brown 

 on the vine, the bleaching process is desired to be continued 

 after the natural moisture has been expelled. In this case 

 sprinkling the*hop on the kiln, or setting kettles of water on 

 the stove, are resorted to. The time required to dry a kiln 

 of hops is about twelve hours. When the hop is a little 

 green, as at the beginning of the picking season, more time 

 is required ; and at the close, when the hop has become fully 

 ripe and does not contain as much moisture, less time is 

 required. The heat should be very carefully regulated, not 

 running above 100 or 120 Fahr. in the commencement, as 

 there is danger of scorching when the hop is full of moisture, 

 then gradually increasing the heat, as the process goes on, to 

 140-150 Fahr. Great care is necessary, that the tem- 

 perature is not allowed to recede during any stage of the 

 process, as the steam will settle back on the hops and give 

 them a dull, darkish colour, which materially lessens their 

 market value. The drying is considered complete when one 

 hop out of four or five is found brittle as taken from 

 the surface of different parts of the kiln. The fires are then 

 suffered to die out, and the hops allowed to remain on the 

 kiln until cool, the doors being thrown open to hasten the 

 cooling. They are then removed from the kiln into a 

 room, called a cooling room, where they are allowed to lie 

 until wanted for baling. They ought to be examined every 

 day to see that they do not heat, which is sometimes the 

 case when insufficiently dried. They should be allowed 



