1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



177 



twice as large fruits, (I have had them four 

 inches long,) as any other hop vines I ever 

 have seen. As soon as the vines have reached 

 the top of the poles, about twelve feet, their 

 heads are cut off by a knife tied to a long 

 handle." 



When a new hop-garden is formed in Eng- 

 land, the ground is trenched, Mr. Stevens says, 

 to the depth of two feet. Where labor is as 

 dear as it is in New England, few farmers will 

 dig holes six feet deep, or trench the whole 

 surface to the depth of two feet. But all hop- 

 growers agree in the importance of deep and 

 thorough cultivation, and high manuring. In- 

 deed the hop field, like the tobacco patch, 

 claims the lion's share both of attention and 

 manure, and gets it, too, where hop-growing is 

 made profitable. The following directions as 

 to the subsequent cultivation and kiln-drying 

 were written for the New England Farmer 

 some five years ago by a correspondent who 

 resided in Otsego county, the great hop-yard 

 of NcAV York : — 



"The first year, they are cultivated like 

 corn, no poles being set, and in the fall a 

 shovelful of coarse manure is thrown on each 

 hill, to keep them fiom freezing, and also to 

 keep the land in good condition. The next 

 spring the poles are set, two in each hill, as 

 soon as they begin to show themselves out of 

 the ground. The poles should be set very 

 firm, to resist the winds, which exert a tre- 

 mendous power on them when loaded with 

 vines. Poles are generally cut eighteen to 

 twenty feet long, which admits of their being 

 sharpened two or three times if they rot off', as 

 they always do in a few years. The land must 

 be cultivated the same as for corn, keeping the 

 weeds down, and hilling the hops up about the 

 first of July, the same as corn, As soon as 

 the hops are from two to four feet high, they 

 must be tied to the poles with woolen yarn, 

 putting two vines to the poles, and cutting off 

 all others close to the ground. Nothing more 

 is necessary imtil picking time, except to keep 

 watch and fasten up vines tliat happen to fall 

 down, and re-set the poles if any should hap- 

 pen to blow over. The picking is usualh' 

 done by women and boys at about two cents 

 per bushel. Boxes made of thin, light wood, 

 and holding from twenty to thirty bushels are 

 used to pick them in ; tour jiicking in a box, 

 and having one man to pull the poles, cut off 

 the vines, and lay them on the box. Large 

 sacks are used to carry them to the kiln where 

 they are dried before they are marketable. 



"The size of the kiln must depend on the size 

 of the yard. A yard of two acres Avould re- 

 qui'-e a kiln about fourteen by sixteen feet, and 

 twelve foot posts ; the lower room, seven feet 

 between joints, and lathed and plastered, so 



as to be perfectly tight, except overhead, 

 where there should be floor timbers eighteen 

 inches apart, and a floor of slats one and a quar- 

 ter inches square, and laid one-half inch apart, 

 and the whole covered with a kind of open 

 cloth made for the purpose. On this floor the 

 hops are spread from four to six inch(!s deep, 

 and a fire of charcoal made in the room below, 

 and the temperature raised to about one hun- 

 dred and twelve degrees. It usually takes 

 about twelve hours to dry a kiln, they being 

 stirred up every hour, and a teaspoonful of 

 sulphur put on the fire about as often ; the ob- 

 ject of which is to bleach or whiten them. Af- 

 ter being dried so that no moisture can be ex- 

 tracted by squeezing them between the thumb 

 and finger, they are taken off and prepared in 

 bales of one hundred and fifty to two hun- 

 dred pounds, and sent to market." 



Agricultural Schools. — Every farm and 

 workshop ought to be a school where our sons 

 and others can be taught to guide the plow and 

 swing the scythe, and handle every tool in the 

 most appropriate manner known to those skill- 

 ed in their use. In the one, should be taught the 

 nature of soils, the qualities and uses of manure, 

 and all the minutiaj of the cultivator's art ; in 

 the other, the Liavs which govern mechanics 

 should be studied, and the pupil should be in- 

 structed in all the mysteries of the mechan- 

 ic arts. Thus, in both, should be taught 

 all the various learning which goes to complete 

 the farmer's and the mechanic's education for 

 the practical duties of their calling. — Mirror 

 and Farmer. 



FOREIGN CLOTHING MATERIAL. 



The statistics given in the December number 

 of the report issued by the Department of 

 Agriculture at Washington show enormous 

 importations of clothing material for the year 

 just past. The wool growers of the L'nited 

 States complain that under existing laws there 

 is no inducement to continue in the business of 

 growing wool. Prices have declined under 

 foreign competition and excessive importations 

 to a point where wool growing ceases to be re- 

 munerative, and hence must be abandoned un- 

 less some check be inaugurated to change the 

 tide setting in against home fabrics manufac- 

 tured from home material. 



It would seem that a country as extensive 

 as that of the United States, and with resources 

 so abundant, ought to produce the raw material 

 and manufacture out of it her own fabrics. 

 The high rates paid by our people for cloths 

 ought, in part, to go back to our farmers, who 

 are able and willing to grow the i^aw material, 

 instead of being distributed abroad among for- 

 eign producers. 



The figures for eleven months of the past 

 three years, furnished by the New York Cus- 

 tom House entries, indicate a reasonable cause 



