Cultivation and Manar/ement of Hops. 
363 
hair, no move than a bushel or a bushel and a quarter to a square 
foot, and rarely have them turned more than once, and in some 
cases not at all. It is held that they should never be turned, as 
the temperature in the hops immediately above the hair ought 
not to be higher than it is just under or about the upper hops. 
In other words, the load should be so light as to offer no resistance 
to the thorough permeation of heated air through every part, and 
every hop should be simultaneously dried. 
After the load came off, the old custom was to leave the hops 
for as long a time as possible spread over the cooling- room in a 
thorough draft ; then they were raked about, sometimes screened 
or sifted, and finally trod into pockets or bags by men, the con- 
tinuous action of whose feet broke the hops more or less into 
pieces. The load or oasting is now put into a lump, and after 
six or eight hours the hops are pressed into pockets* by a machine, 
called a hop-presser, which is fast superseding treading by foot. 
This machine relieves the men of a work both laborious and 
injurious to health, and packs hops that are properly managed 
nearly as whole as they were picked, with a great saving of time 
and expenditure. By this machine hops are put together much 
more closely than by the old way of treading, while their aroma and 
general brewing qualities are better preserved. The presser made 
by Messrs. Garrett of Maidstone is much used in Kent and in 
Worcestershire. This is a capital machine, by which a greater 
amount of direct pressure can be obtained than by any other yet 
offered : the price is 27Z. with weighing apparatus complete. 
At Farnham t and in parts of Kent a more simple machine is 
used, costing 13/. This is not so easily worked, and does not 
put the hops so tightly or so evenly together as Messrs. Garrett's 
presser, which may also be used for straining or packing them 
more tightly when the market is lost, and they must be kept, or 
for exportation. 
The kilns of old davs, a few of which may still be 
seen in parts of the Weald of Kent and Sussex, were built 
upon the cockle principle, having chimneys to carry the smoke 
away from the hops. These were necessary when wood and 
household coals were principally burnt ; but since anthracite 
coals and coke have been introduced, chimneys have been aban- 
doned, and open stoves, or stoves horsed over with brickwork, or 
with an iron plate hung over them, are generally prevalent. The 
hair-level of these primitive kilns was only about 7 feet from the 
fire ; the distance from the hair to the cowl and the width of the 
* Pockets are made of coarse canvas, 2^ ft. wide by 5i ft. long, containing from 
1 J to 2 cwts. : they have entirely superseded " bags." 
t Mr. Elliott, of Farnham, makes an improved hop presser, which is used to a 
iconsiderable extent in the Farnham district. 
VOL. VI. — S. S. 2 C 
