•268 



Cultivation of the Hop Crop. 



[June, 



during the process to a heap on the cooling floor, or small horse- 

 hair " lifter cloths," 4 yd. by 6 yd., may be spread on the 

 drying floor before each loading and lifted and discharged 

 through the oast door at the finish. In the general case, how- 

 ever, no such false floor is available, and the hops have to be 

 swept off the floor with scoop and broom, and are consequently 

 liable to damage if roughly handled. 



As soon as the hops are unloaded they should be spread abroad 

 over the cooling floor nominally to cool, but much more impor- 

 tantly to re-absorb some water and become less brittle, so that 

 when pressed into the hop-pockets they may retain their original 

 structure without breaking. 



In cases where natural draught kilns have been converted to 

 fan-draught and the output of dried hops has been doubled 

 without adding to the cooling floor, a considerable difficulty may 

 arise in cooling the hops owing to the increased depth upon the 

 floor ; in this case delay may be occasioned in packing or the hops 

 may have to be packed while still warm and brittle, thus occa- 

 sioning both loss in quality and also in weight. This difficulty 

 may be overcome by allowing access of air to the bottom of the 

 heap, in which case the hot air amongst the hot hops rises and 

 sucks the cool air Jn from below. The best way of accomplishing 

 this is to construct a false wooden floor upon wooden runners 

 about 6 in. high with 2 in. slats spaced 1J in. apart. Upon such 

 a false floor a depth of hops 3 or 4 ft. deep will cool as quickly 

 as a depth 12 to 15 in. deep on a close-boarded floor. It is con- 

 venient to spread a loosely-woven cccoanut matting sheet over 

 the false floor before unloading, so that the cool hops can be 

 easily moved off the false floor for packing. 



Packing. — Considerable judgment is required on the part of 

 the drier so that his hops may be ready for packing in an ideal 

 condition. They should be " home-dried," whole and soft to 

 the touch with the requisite quantity of re -absorbed water. If 

 by accident the hops have been unloaded before they were quite 

 dry and contain a small proportion of hops with tough or sappy 

 strigs they should not be spread abroad to cool but kept in a 

 big heap and covered over with cloths so that the dry hops take ■ 

 up some moisture from those which are not dry. If they were 

 dried too much they should be given extra time to cool and so to 

 gain weight. On the other hand if left too long on the cooling 

 floor in damp weather hops may absorb too much water vapour, 

 in which case they become sour on keeping and are said to be 

 41 cold packed." 



