366 Cultivation and Management of Hops. 
character, none of which have been adopted to any extent. Steam 
would be the best and most easily regulated medium for dryinghops ; 
but the application of it would be costly, as it would probably neces- 
sitate the reorganisation of existing buildings,* and there always 
has been and always will be such an uncertainty as to the future of 
hop-growing, that no one has liked to incur extraordinary expen- 
diture or to try experiments upon an important scale. With 
regard to the firing used for drying, there are different opinions. 
From experience, Welsh coal, with plenty of charcoal, produces 
the "softest" sample, most free from any smell of smoke. The 
usual practice, however, is to use coke and Welsh coal, in equal 
proportions, with charcoal for lighting up and making up the 
fires. Brimstone is not so lavishly applied as formerly to hops 
while drying. Mr. Rutley says of this that the burning of brim- 
stone " should be begun soon after the hops are laid on, and con- 
tinued gradually and slowly burning for from four or five hours." f 
A small quantity is now used just after evaporation of the moisture 
of the hops has commenced. It is burned off as quickly as pos- 
sible, and very rarely used more than once. The effect of brim- 
stone at this particular stage is to bleach the hop to a certain 
extent, and to make it generally brighter. Hops which have been 
brimstoned at several various times during the drying have been 
compared with others of the same kind in every way, only brim- 
stoned once, and not the slightest difference in colour could be 
detected between them. 
It is believed that there is nothing else to chronicle as new 
with regard to the cultivation and management of hops ; and it 
is hoped that the sketch of the improvements which have taken 
place within the last twenty years Avill serve to show that these 
are very important, and well worthy of honourable mention in the 
records of general agricultural progress. 
No doubt the progress in the next twenty years will be much 
greater, as the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of 
England have decided to offer special prizes for implements and 
machinery calculated to improve and cheapen the production of 
hops ; and hop-growers themselves seem determined to use their 
utmost energy and skill to raise the standard of the English 
growth, and to drive the " foreigner " from the field. 
* It was suggested that a prize should be offered by the Council of the Royal 
Agricultural Society for the best and most economical adaptation of steam to 
existing buildings for drying hops. 
t Mr. Rutley on the Culture of Hops, vol. ix. part 2, ' Journal of the Eoyal 
Agricultural Society.' 
