HOPS. 



so as to form a bag which docs not 

 reach the Kround. Three men or 

 women, or lour boys or icirls, are 

 placed on eat-h side of the bin, and 

 pick tlic hops from two poles at a 

 time. Where they are very careful 

 of the quality of the hops, they divide 

 them into three sorts : the green, 

 which are not quite ripe; the light 

 yellow-brown, whicli are in perfec- 

 tion ; and the very dark, which are 

 past their prime. The dew should be 

 off" entirely before they begin ; for 

 otherwise the ho|)s might become 

 musty, or take too long in drying, and 

 lose their fragrance. The hops, when 

 picked, arc dried on a cloth in a kiln. 

 When they appear sufficiently dry at 

 bottom, they are turned ; it is, how- 

 ever, thought by some hop-driers that 

 the turning of the hops is apt to in- 

 jure them, and that it is best not to 

 do so ; but, in order that the upper 

 part may be dried equally with the 

 lower, a wooden cover, lined with 

 tin plates, is let down over the hops 

 on the hair cloth, to within a few 

 inches of the surface ; this reverber- 

 ates the heat, and the whole is dried 

 equally. The heat must be carefully 

 regulated, in order that it may not 

 alter the colour. When the leaves 

 of the hops become brittle and rub 

 off easily, they are sufficiently dried. 

 They are then laid in heaps on the 

 floor, where they undergo a very 

 slight heating. As soon as this is 

 observed they are bagged. This is 

 done through a round hole, twenty- 

 five or thirty inches in diameter, 

 made in the floor of the loft where 

 the hops are laid. Under this hole 

 is a bag, the mouth of which is drawn 

 through the hole and kept open by a 

 hoop, to which it is made fast. The 

 hoop is somewhat larger than the 

 hole, and the bag remains suspended ; 

 a handful of hops is now put into 

 each corner of the bag, and there tied 

 firmly by a cord. A bushel or two 

 of hops are put into the bag, and a 

 man gets into it to tread the hops 

 tight. The bag does not reach the 

 floor below. As the hops are pack- 

 ed by the feet, more are continually 

 added till the bag is full. It is now 



382 



taken off the hoop, and filled up with 

 the hands as tight as possible. The 

 corners are stuffed as soon as the 

 mouth is partly sewn up, and tied, as 

 the lower corners were ; when sew- 

 ed close and tight, it is stored in a 

 dry place till the hops are wanted for 

 sale. 



" The crop of the third year will 

 average eight cwt. per acre. In some 

 very extraordinary seasons, on good 

 land, fifteen cwt. have been picked 

 per acre : in Flanders, where they 

 manure with urine and the emptyings 

 of privies, this is not an uncommon 

 produce. The plantation lasts fifteen 

 to thirty years. 



"Rape cakes, malt dust, woollen 

 rags, horn shavings, and nitrogen 

 manures are used with good success 

 in hop grounds : bones have been 

 tried, but with an uncertain result. 



" The hop is a dioecious plant (Fig.), 

 i. c, some of the individuals are male 

 plants, and others female, which have 



respectively flowers of a different con- 

 struction and of different habitudes. 

 The male or staminiferous flowers 

 (a), which grow on stalks quite dis- 

 tinct from the female flowers, pre- 

 pare the pollen, or fertilizing dust, 

 and afterward wither away, when 

 this dust has escaped from the an- 

 thers, and been committed to the air, 

 to be by it convej'ed to the female 

 flowers. The female flowers are in 

 the form of strobuli (i) or cones, con- 

 sisting of scales, which have at their 

 base the germ of the future seed, and 



i 



