The  Trials  of  Hop^Dri/ing  Plant,  1909. 
205 
We  do  not  consider  that  any  of  the  plants  shown  have  by 
any  means  reached  mechanically  the  standard  of  excellence 
that  is  desired,  hut  one  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  conditions 
that  pertain  to  a plant  of  the  sort  that  is  only  in  use  for 
say  three  weeks  or  a month  during  the  year ; therefore  the 
prime  cost  has  to  be  worked  off,  as  it  were,  in  a very  short 
space  of  time. 
Two  of  the  plants  that  we  judged,  viz.,  Shew’s  and 
Partridge’s,  used  forced  draught,  and  by  this  means  very  .many 
more  hops  can  be  dried  on  a limited  kiln  space  than  with 
natural  draught,  as  with  Mr.  Neame’s  system,  but  we  feel 
bound  to  point  out  that  where  there  is  plenty  of  kiln  room 
we  do  not  think  there  is  any  advantage  in  either  of  the  forced 
draught  systems  over  Mr.  Neame’s. 
After  various  personal  inspections  and  most  carefully  going 
into  the  figures  and  details,  and  weighing  up  the  various  reports, 
we  came  to  the  conclusion  that  Mr.  Shew’s  plant  was  the  best 
of  those  entered,  and  in  conclusion  we  desire  to  express  our 
deep  gratitude  and  appreciation  of  the  help  and  advice  on  the 
engineering  points  that  we  received  from  Mr.  Courtney,  the 
Society’s  Engineer,  to  whom  we  are  also  indebted  for  arranging, 
preparing,  and  tabulating  the  various  log  books.  We  also  wish 
to  express  our  thanks  to  Mr.  Basil  Richardson,  partner  in  the 
well  known  firm  of  Wigan  & Co.,  Hop  Merchants,  and  Mr. 
Sydney  Smith,  of  Messrs.  Pattenden  & Smith,  Hop  Factors,  who 
assisted  us  in  judging  the  samples. 
The  analyses  of  the  samples  were  made  by  Mr.  Lawrence 
Briant,  of  Holborn  Viaduct,  in  the  most  careful  and  thorough 
manner,  and  we  are  obliged  to  him  for  the  great  pains  he  took 
over  the  work. 
We  also  feel  indebted  to  the  Assistants  for  the  careful  and 
efficient  manner  in  which  they  performed  the  work  entrusted 
to  them. 
It  now  only  remains  for  us  to  say  that  we  are  quite  satisfied 
in  our  own  minds  as  to  the  genuineness  and  thoroughness  with 
which  the  trials  have  been  conducted,  and  trust  that  the  results, 
including  the  most  valuable  set  of  figures  marked  “ A ” in  the 
Appendix,  may  be  of  practical  use  to  hop  growers  generally 
and  ultimately  repay  the  outlay  so  generously  provided  by  the 
Royal  Agricultural  Society. 
Walter  R.  Elgar. 
John  Powell. 
Report  upon  samples  of  hops  in  connection  with  tests 
of  kiln  drying  made  under  the  control  of  the  Royal  Agri- 
cultural Society  : — 
