1910.] Picking, Drying, and Packing Hops. 



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do not materially lower the value of the crop (except in so 

 far as the weight per acre is reduced by early picking), whereas, 

 if the hops are left to get "dead-ripe," the aphides increase 

 with astonishing rapidity, filling the hops with their excre- 

 ment, and finally dying. A black mould grows upon the 

 excrement and the dead bodies of the aphides, making the 

 inside of the hops black and the crop well-nigh worthless. 



In the case of moulded hops, again, picking should be 

 hurried forward, because the white mould quickly gives rise 

 to the red form as soon as the hops get ripe, and the 

 presence of this reduces the value of the sample. 



(iii) Varieties Ripening in Sequence. — Several varieties of 

 hops are, as a rule, grown on each farm, some early, some 

 medium, and some late, so that the hop-picking may be 

 extended over as long a period as possible. In those 

 cases, however, in which such a sequence is not grown, it 

 will usually be found necessary to commence picking before 

 the hops are fully ripe. 



Hop-Drying. — Hop-Drying is the most difficult and at 

 the same time the most important of all the operations con- 

 nected with Hop-Growing. One dryer by careful manage- 

 ment can increase the value of the whole crop by ios. per 

 cwt. ; whilst a careless dryer can spoil many oastings, even 

 to the extent of half their value. 



The object of drying hops, like that of harvesting other 

 crops, is to convert them from a damp state into one of 

 comparative dryness, so that the hops may be kept for a 

 considerable time without undergoing decomposition or loss 

 of valuable properties. Well-dried hops can be kept for two 

 or three years in cold storage without depreciating in A^alue 

 to any serious extent. 



Before drying, hops contain various amounts of moisture, 

 depending upon the degree of ripeness and the variety of 

 hop. In the process of drying, 65 to 75 per cent, of water 

 is evaporated from the hops, which, however, still contain^ 

 after drying, from 8 to 10 per cent, of moisture. 



The drying process in the common open-fire system 

 consists briefly of spreading the hops out upon a horsehair? 

 cloth stretched over a floor of laths. Below this floor, at 

 a distance of from 12 to 14 ft., is a fireplace in which smoke- 



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