154 THE COMPLETE FARMER 



into the box, which is so constructed that the sides may be 

 removed, and the bag sewed together while in the press. 



* The hops, after laying a few days, will gather a partial 

 moisture, called a sweat. The sweat will probably begin to 

 subside in about eight days, at which time, and before the 

 sweat is off, they ought to be bagged in clear dry weather. 

 As the exact time when the hops will begin to sweat, and 

 when the sweat will begin to subside or dry off, (the proper 

 time to bag them,) will vary with the state of the atmos- 

 phere, it will be necessary to examiixC the hops from day to 

 day, which is easily done by taking some of them from the 

 centre of the heap with your hand. If on examination you 

 find the hops to be very damp, and their color altering, which 

 will be the case if they were not completely dried on the 

 kiln, and not otherwise, you must overhaul them and dry 

 them in the air. 



' The most convenient size for a bag of hops to handle 

 and transport, is about five feet in length, and to contain 

 about two hundred and fifty pounds. The best bagging is 

 coarse strong tow cloth of our domestic manufacturing- ; next 

 to that, Russia hemp bagging. The East India sugar and 

 gunny bags, so called, ought never to be used. The sugar 

 bags are of an unreasonab'a weight, and both they and the 

 gunny bags are of no value to the brewer ; whereas the 

 other bags are worth prime cost. 



' It is now common for those who have entered considera- 

 bly mto the cultivation of hops, to build houses over their 

 kilns, which, in wet weather, are very convenient ; other- 

 wise, a kiln in the open air would, in my opinion, be prefer- 

 able. It is necessary to have these buildings well ventilated 

 with doors and windows ; and to have them kept onen night 

 and day, except in wet weather, and then shut those only 

 which are necessary to keep out the rain. If a ventilator 

 was put in the roof of the building, directly over the centre 

 of the kiln, about six feet square, built like those in brew- 

 eries and distilleries, I am of the opinion they would be 

 found very advantageous. I have seen many lots of hops 

 much injured both in color and flavor by being dried in close 

 buildings. 



' Where the houses over the kilns are built large, for the 

 purpose of storing the hops as they are dried, which is a 

 great saving of labor, a close partition should be made be- 

 tween the kilns and the room in which the hops are stored, 

 to prevent the damp steam from the kilns coming to them, as 



