* *Mixr 
©ORE’S BUBAL HEW-YORKER. 
FT, S 
W 
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PICKING AND CURING HOPS. 
The following article, written some years 
ago by R. Van Horn, Pierstown, N. Y., is 
timely now, and may be of great service to 
inexperienced hop-growers: 
In the first place, no grower should raise 
more hops than he has kiln or kilns with ca¬ 
pacity to dry within eight or twelve hourB 
after picking ; for instance, hops picked to¬ 
day should be cured or taken off of kiln as 
soon as possible in the morning, for the kiln 
to cool off, and the hops picked in the fore¬ 
noon, to-morrow, if not suflicient for kiln, 
should be spread on kiln and lay until night, 
when the balance should be put on and u fire 
started immediately, and a good, strong heat 
kept up from four to six hours, the exact 
time depending somewhat on the bight of 
the kiln and the thickness of the hops spread 
on, which never should lie more than from 
twelve to fifteen inches. The longer the hops 
hang on the poles, and the. nearer they come 
to maturity, the less heat and time it takes 
to cure them. The kiln should have plenty 
of air below, not one-haJf of them having 
one-half enough ; also draft enough above to 
let the steam escape. 
Hops never should be turned on the kiln 
Some time, or any time when they arc dried, 
so the hops ou the top open and the steam 
has ull escaped, it will do to go through them 
with a scraper or the feet, and mix them. 
One great trouble is, most of the hops are 
over-dried, which injures the flavor. This is 
done by keeping the heat up after the hops 
are nearly dried through, A sack or bag of 
hops, if ten bushel boxes, weighs from forty - 
live to fifty-live pounds, which depends on 
the length of time the picker is picking the 
same, and something on the weather, as 
hops wilt and settle more in warm days than 
cool ones, and weigh from fourteen to sev¬ 
enteen pounds, when cured, and sometimes, 
if picked clean, twenty pounds to the box 
after being cured. This is to show you what 
moisture has to be taken out of a box of 
green hops, which I suppose must escape in 
the steam. 
Diseased or moldy hops require more heat 
and more close attention than a sound hop ; 
and often hops diseased will be very bad at 
the bottom of the poles, and some at top 
of poles sound, as was my friend Dorr 
Russei.l’s, in 18(17. 1 found by taking them 
off the kiln hot, that the diseased hops, which 
had begun decomposing when picked, almost 
all break up, lea ving sound hops to show—as 
when examined by dealers they always open 
a whole hop. 
Now’ as to using brimstone :—As a general 
thing there is too much used. Of course it 
depends on what condition the hops come off 
the poles; there is a kind of rust on hops 
that brimstone will hoi]), and there is a sort 
of canker comes on hops that brimstone will 
not affect; and there is one kind of a green 
hop that, may be benefited by using brim¬ 
stone, making them straw-color ; and there 
is another kind of green hop it bad better be 
kept off entirely. If the dryer is a good 
judge, he will make the proper distinction 
One thing more Growers often pick hops 
too soon and then brimstone too strong, to 
make them look as if they had come to ma¬ 
turity. 1 have always used more or less 
brimstone, still I hold that, no hop lias that 
fine, sweet flavor, that a really good judge 
can detect, when brimstone has been used ; 
my mode of using it is to use a little after 
the first fire, if they need it, for three or four 
hours, and by no means use too much at a 
time, but often and in small quantities as the 
hops may require. Still I think, ns a general 
thing, hops would suit brewers better if there 
was never another pound of brimstone used. 
I would strongly urge upon growers under 
no circumstances to pick their hops too early 
—among other objections, the vines are by 
premature picking of the hops greatly dam¬ 
aged, And when they are picked, do not let 
one picker stand all day filling a box, nor 
should they be left in the sack. In either 
case, the hops often heat, and are damaged. 
I will give you the principal reasons why 
hops should be treated as 1 say : 
1 st—They should be spread on the kiln 
soon after being picked, for the reason they 
will heat in the sack within three to five hours 
after being picked. The greener hops, or the 
first picked, if the day is warm will heat 
within three hours, or if diseased or moldy, 
they will heut sooner, and after being heated 
in the sack never cun be brought back to the 
original flavor they would possess if dried as 
soon as picked or spread on the kiln, where 
they will keep cool until cured or a fire 
started. 
2d—There should be a fire started as soon 
as possible after they are on the kiln, and 
keep a good strong heat from four to six 
hours, and then a slow, gradual heat until 
they are seen to open on the top of the kiln. 
The result would be, if the fire was allowed 
to go down after the heat has been, up say 
two hours, the hops would be full of steam, 
which would settle back, and the hops would 
be a leaden, dull color, and also affect the 
flavor. 
3d—There cannot be more than from 
twelve to fifteen inches well cured on any 
kiln at a time. The result is, you will heat 
or over-dry the bottom ones before you dry 
the top ones, unless you should take from 
fifteen to twenty hours to cure the kiln, and 
even then they would sour. 
•ith—There should be plenty of air below 
the stoves. Here is where most of dryers fail. 
When the hops lay on the Moth twelve to 
fifteen inches thick, it requires a Btrong cur¬ 
rent of cold air to drive the hot air through 
them ; and the result is, if you do not have 
it, the hops will have a dull, wilted color, 
and also affect the flavor. 
5th—A kiln of hops never should be turned. 
The result of turning them when about.one- 
lialf or two-thirds dried through is this:—the 
dam]) hops, which are on the top, are, of 
course, full of steam, and heavier than when 
put. on the kiln, arc either mixed with the 
dry ones, or if turned with a shovel arc put 
directly under the dry ones—consequently 
the steam having to pass through the dry 
hops to escape, gives them a had dull, color. 
Gtli—I will add they should be spread on 
the kiln as evenly as possible, so they will all 
dry about the same time ; uud as I have men¬ 
tioned, after these arc seen to open on the 
top of the kiln, then make a slow lire and 
go through them with the feet, and they will 
be dry enough, or three-fourths of the stems 
will be cured down, and the remaining one- 
fourth will cure in the pile and be fully 
cured. I will adu that they should lay from 
fifteen to twenty days before being pressed. 
But if it should be necessary to press imme¬ 
diately, two slow tires should be made after 
mixing with feet, with care not to over-heat 
them, as the heat passes through the dry hops 
rapidly. 
ing steers, milch cows and calves ; and while 
T cannot give you definite results, I can say 
it is more satisfactory to me than any other 
feeding I have ever done. When 1 see horses, 
mules and cattle turning up their noses at 
well cured clover hay and eating this feed 
with such satisfaction, consuming all of it 
but some litter of the stalks, I know it must 
be very palatable. Mules cat it all clean. I 
throw a small quantity of bran shorts or corn 
meal on the. cut feed, mix with water, with 
a small quantity of salt dissolved in it.. 
If I live through the coming winter, I hope 
to be prepared to give yon definite results, 
but for the present, will say 1 think it will 
pay any person to fix themselves to feed, as 
I have described, who will have as much as 
ten acres or more of cut up corn to feed. 
With corn fodder thus prepared, there is 
scarcely any waste and very little handling. 
You can cut up your feed, however inclement 
the weather. 
When there is snow on the ground is a con 
vonient time to haul iu a considerable quan¬ 
tity of coni, and it makes (lie work lighter. 
Whoever adopts this plan of feeding will be 
surprised at the small amount, of hay their 
stoek will consume, although at all times ac¬ 
cessible to them ; also, how much more stock 
a given number of acres of corn fodder will 
keep in good condition. I take it for granted 
every farmer will provide suflicient shelter 
for all Ilia stock ; if he. lias not, he hud better 
sell off until he can shelter all. 
Morgan Co., Ind. E. A. Ollkman. 
FLAXSEED FOR STOCK. 
CUTTING UP AND FEEDING CORN. 
Taking it for granted that the most profit¬ 
able way of marketing corn is to feed it to 
hogs ; also, as bringing the quickest return 
when fed to stock, yet .horses, cattle, mules 
and sheep must be provided for, and I have 
no doubt the best mode of feeding them corn 
is to cut it up in the fall, putting it into 
shocks, and then cutting it up with a feed 
cutter—corn and all. 
I commence cutting up the corn as soou as 
it is too hard for roasting ears, making the 
shocks contain 12 hills square. When first, 
commencing cutting, cut about one-half the 
shock, tie it, and let it. cure fv few days before 
cutt ing the other half of the shock. Bee that 
the stalk is well set up, a little bracing, and 
well tied, to keej) it from falling down. I 
have continued cutting up until November, 
but think the earliest cut best, and have al¬ 
ways observed that when cut just at the 
right time, when you go to use it the shock 
Opens out, nicely cured, and the blades a 
bright green color, looking good enough to 
eat. 
Now, many farmers shuck out the corn, 
taking down the shock, stand up the fod¬ 
der again, and tie it. it has to be handled 
when fed out to the stock. Whenever I see 
a farmer doing this, I know he is paying 
“ dear for Lis whistle.” I think this plan the 
poorest pay of any work I have ever seen 
done on a farm. 
Many farmers, in feeding cattle, haul out 
the. shocks, corn and all, and scatter it on the 
ground, the cattle kicking it over, taking the 
best of it, followed by hogs. This practice is 
wasteful ; but when corn is very abundant 
and cheap, it will do. But I want my brother 
farmers to try a better plan ; if they have 
not already got one, build a good barn ; get 
an endless chain horse power (I use Emery’s) 
which takes up but little room ; also, a pow¬ 
er feed cutter (I use Younglove, Hassy & Co., 
No. 5,) of the. best in the market; haul iu as 
much corn fodder as you can store in the 
barn. With ttu'oe hands, including myself, 
—one to lay the fodder on a table, one to 
feed, and one to scoop it away from cutter, I 
can cut 500 bushels of feed in a half day, com 
fodder and all. I cut my feed %tlis of an 
inch long—some cut shorter and some longer. 
I thus have u hill of feed that it will do one 
good to look at, and that stock will eat with 
avidity and grow fat on it. I have been feed¬ 
ing coin fodder thus prepared for two years 
to homes, mules and cattle, including fatten- 
Before linseed cake was made so common 
In England, the seed was a good deal used to 
fatten cattle and given as food generally to 
young stock by the best old-fashioned farm¬ 
ers. I can well remember several home¬ 
steads about the years from 1681) to 1830, 
where large boilers were fixed for the pur¬ 
pose of boiling the seed to a jelly, which was 
done, as any one may suppose, by a great 
deal of water being used to a small quantity 
of seed. My father used it freely to fatten 
all kinds of animals, and I well recollect some 
horses which had the finest kind of coats, 
their skins being full of mottled spots and 
shining like a looking-glass; and I have 
known cows which have had no fodder but 
chopped straw mixed with the jelly and, 
perhaps, u very littlo given in their racks, 
without being chopped, which have laid on 
flesh and fat faster than others eating hay 
and meal. 
The use of it now is so little understood, 
excepting us medicine, that many people 
have Ho idea how much cun be consumed 
without Any ill-effect as u diurrhetie. I have 
known a horse which was subject to swell¬ 
ing of the hind legs and to much itching of 
the skin, so that if fed on grain and allowed 
rest to become latter, would rub his mane 
and tail so as to disfigure himself and have 
scurfy heels besides, which, when fed with 
flaxseed, boiled, would be entirely free from 
all humor or foul blood. This was an entire 
horse, of the breed existing half a century 
ago in England. 
As hay sells proportionably higher than 
flaxseed, there may be some within reach of 
good hay markets, who could make money 
by consuming straw enriched with flaxseed 
and selling hay ; and doubtless there are 
more who might bring out beef and mutton 
much riper, and worth two or three ceuts 
per pound extra, by adding this jelly to the 
usual feed given, I don’t know the price 
per bushel now, butat the time alluded to, it 
was comparatively low—not so dear as wheat 
when reckoned by weight. I am aware that 
genuine linseed cake is preferred by many 
who understand the feeding of both jelly and 
cake in England ; but all the same, I imag¬ 
ine by using straw chaff with jelly, it might 
be more advantageous, all things considered. 
A Working Farmer. 
be at right angles to each other ; then bore 
one hole in the middlo ofi the cut, % inch. I 
have two iron rods % of an inch thick, and 
24 inches long ; now put the wire through 
the hole in the post, then through the small 
hole in the stick, as cut, and turn so as to 
form a lock ; then with the two irons 1 can 
tighten the wire as tight as I please, and 
when it is taut, put in a short, pin iu one of 
the holes and leave it. The strain comes on 
the whole wire, and in December he can let 
back those round cuts or rollers, and so 
loosen the wire for winter. Last, I put five 
or six upright sticks or slats in every space 
between posts. The sticks arc five feet long 
and split from some durable timber. 
I drive a staple over each wire on each 
slat or stick, and drive it tight. I let the 
lower end of the slats rest on the ground, 
using a notched board to keep the wire in 
place while putting in staples. I think it is 
better this way than more posts ; 1 use six 
wires, and the spaces may bo as follows 1st, 
G inches ; 2d, G inches ; fid, 7 inches; 4th, 
i» inches; 5th, 11 inches; Otli, 13 inches; 
this will make a fence 52 inches high. He 
can vary this as he pleases. This is the best 
way to make a fence so as to ease up on t ho 
wires in winter. R. B. Ransom. 
HOW TO HANG GATES. 
A correspondent of the Cincinnati Ga¬ 
zette writes :—“ In the spring of 18G7 1 hung 
four large gates. The posts were six by 
eight {riches square, and were put. iu the 
ground two and one-half feet.. The post that. 
1 hung the gate to was put down tirsi and 
the gate then hung. I then set the other 
post so as to let the gate shut Inside the post, 
against two pins driven in the post, one foot 
from the top and bottom of the gate. Then 
I put a one inch pin through the hood of the 
gate, putting the pin through the gate the 
same way the gate shuts, and extending 
through four inches, with the point of the 
pin elevated one inch. Tills pin was thus 
arranged sfc as to slip over the top pin iu the 
post, with uuflleieui bearing to take out the 
spring of gate, in this way, when shut, the 
gate is supported by both posts. The gate is 
made of lumber, bars one inch thick, four or 
live inches wide, and eleven feet long. I take 
for the two heel pieces lumber one inch thick, 
four inches wide, and four feet ten inches 
long. I also take two pieces two inches wide 
for the head of the gate, that arc set back 
three feet from the head of the gate. I then 
put a brace ou both sides, running from the 
top of the center upright slats to the bottom 
of the heel pieces, all being firmly bolted 
together. The latch or bolt (three and one- 
half feet long) is placed on the top of the 
third or fourth bar. A mortise is cut in the 
po 3 t for the latch or bolt to slide in. The 
above four gates were hung in the spring of 
’G7. They stand as firm to-day as they did 
the day I hung them. 
>-- 
STABLE MANURE UNDER SHELTER. 
TO MAKE WIRE FENCE. 
For the benefit of an inquirer in the 
Rural, I will give my fashion of wire fence 
that will stop sheep, cattle and horses. I 
set the posts 32 feet apart, and put staples on 
the wire at each post, but. do not drive them 
tight, at every twentieth post (having a post 
With a wide, flat side, and have it well 
braced). I bore through witli half-inch bit 
and put the wire through it instead of the 
staples. 1 cut the wire at this post, and I 
have some cuts off a hard wood round stick ; 
each cut G inches long. I bore two holes 11 1-1G 
inches, one in each end, so the holes will 
Will L. C., Knoxville, Tenn., asks us if 
stable manure ought to be kept under sin-1 
tor or allowed to remain out in the weather ? 
We reply, yes; manure ought to lie kept 
under shelter until it is ready for the field, or 
until the farmer i6 ready to apply it thereto. 
For if it is exposed to sun and rain it loses 
the. soluble parts of the ash aud other organic 
fertilizing properties by leaching or washing, 
and it loses carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, 
and nitrogen by evaporat ion, unless suflicient 
of the right kind of absorbents are composted 
with it to retain the liquid and gaseous prop¬ 
erties that go to render it most valuable. 
Whether composted or not, therefore, it is 
best to shelter it; and if itis not mixed wit h 
absorbents, such as muck, decayed wood, or 
even common soil, (clay or loam, which is 
better far than nothing) it should frequently 
be pitched over to prevent burning or “ flre- 
fanging,” as it is often culled. Whether 
sheltered or not, the stable manure, as it is 
taken from the stable daily, should bo liter¬ 
ally covered with some absorbent (as we 
have named above); then, if exposed to rain 
or sun, it loses less than otherwise. Manures 
should not be allowed to remain, in any case, 
exposed to heavy rains, unless there is some 
provision for utilizing the liquid which 
leaches from them. 
• -- ♦ - 
ECONOMICAL NOTES 
Destroying Cut-Worms.—1 have found 
that wherever lien-manure is used for ma¬ 
nuring corn (or any other plant tor that 
matter), cut-worms do not work. Have the 
Rural readers observed the same thing ( 
—P. G. 
