HOP CULTURE IN AUSTRALASIA. 113 



ceiling, and so enclosing the heat below the floor of the kiln. 

 After being placed in the kiln the hops are turned with a 

 wooden rake, and are dried until the leaves become brittle, 

 and rub off easily. They are then removed to the cooling 

 room, which is a large apartment under the same roof, 50 feet 

 long, where they are laid in heaps, ready for packing or 

 bagging. Thespian adopted for packing hops is the same as 

 that by which wool in the neighbouring colonies is packed, 

 and the ordinary screw press, which is used for this purpose, 

 communicates with the apartment below, which is the storing 

 room. The hop pack is placed in the box, as in the case of 

 wool, and the hops are then thrown in through the aperture 

 in the floor of the upper apartment, and when this is full the 

 screw descends, and the whole are pressed tightly into the 

 pack. Before the hops are baled, they are passed through a 

 coarse sieve of cane, which breaks them up thoroughly, and 

 also removes any portion of the vine stalk which may acci- 

 dentally have been overlooked in measuring. Mr. Allwright 

 has every convenience attached to his kiln, and he expects it 

 to answer his purpose admirably. 



At New Norfolk, the oldest hop-growing district, the 

 average per acre increased from 607 '96 Ibs. in 1868-9 to 

 837-45 Ibs. in 1869-70; in the district of Hobart it in- 

 creased from 148 Ibs. to 611 '94 Ibs.; at Brighton, . from 

 250 Ibs. to 400 Ibs.; at Glenorchy, from 154 '80* Ibs. to 

 451 '61 Ibs.; and so with other districts. The gross yield 

 increased from 242 '268 Ibs. to 415*061 Ibs., or 71 '32 per 

 cent. 



There are now fourteen districts in the island in which 

 hops are grown. 



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