2912. 
Tl-m RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
911 
HOP GROWING IN NEW YORK. 
Part II. 
CcmxG the Hops. —-In order that they 
may keep well and their valuable proper¬ 
ties may be conserved, the hops must go 
through some form of drying which will 
reduce the 05 to 75 per cent of moisture 
which they contain when picked to not 
more than 14 pet ?ent. The curing must 
be commenced soon after the hops are 
picked. The hops grown here are cured by 
fire heat. The kiln is in a tightly closed 
part of the hop house. It is heated by a 
furnace in which coal is used for fuel. 
About 15 feet above the furnace is a floor 
of slats which is covered with coarsely 
woven cloth to keep the hops from falling 
through. On this cloth the hops are spread 
to the depth of from 12 to 20 inches. The 
temperature is kept at from 140 to 180 de¬ 
grees. A higher temperature hastens the 
drying, but injures the quality of the hops. 
During the process a great deal of moisture 
is given off and passes through ventilators 
In the roof. A strong draft is needed to 
maintain the lire and the ventilation. The 
drying is seldom finished in less than 12 
hours, and it sometimes takes 18 hours. 
If the hops are spread evenly when they 
are put in they will need but little stirring. 
When they have dried so that the moisture 
has been driven from the center of the 
hops the contents of the kiln are thrown 
into the adjoining room of the hop house 
with a large wooden shovel. In a fair-sized 
kiln from 40 to 50 boxes of hops can be 
cured at a time. In the early part of the 
curing process from 15 to 20 pounds of 
high-grade sulphur for each 50 boxes of 
hops is burned. The quantity needed va¬ 
ries with the color and condition of the 
hops. Enough should be used to change 
the green or red color to nearly a light 
straw tint. The curing process requires a 
great deal of skill and constant attention. 
Baling and Selling. —After being re¬ 
moved from the kiln the hops go through 
a mild sweating process which takes from 
a week to 10 days to complete. By means 
of a hand press the hops are then made 
into bales which are about five feet long 
and 20 inches square, and which weigh 
from 180 to 200 pounds each. These bales 
are covered with burlap which is sewn 
around them to keep the hops clean and 
keep the outer ones from falling off. and 
they are then ready for the market. If 
desired the hops can bo kept for a long 
time, provided the house in which they are 
stored is kept tightly closed. It is thought 
that they kegp better in bins than they do 
in bales, but even under tile best WIKlUions 
there is some impairment in quality after 
the first year. Practically all the crop is 
sold to representatives of wholesale deal¬ 
ers or large consumers after they have 
given it personal inspection. The grower 
cures and sacks the hops and delivers them 
at some designated railroad station. 
Diseases and Enemies. —The most seri¬ 
ous disease of hops here is the blue mold. 
It doe.i not appear every year, and ft sel¬ 
dom destroys the crop of an entire yard. 
If the crop is nearly ripe when the disease 
appears harvesting is commenced at once. 
The quality of Die hops is injured, but they 
are not entirely spoiled. Dusting with dry 
sulphur appears to be the only practical 
remedy but as it is still regarded in the 
light of an experiment, it has not come 
into general use. Eire blight sometimes at¬ 
tacks the leaves and by checking the 
growth of the plants causes a good deal of 
injury. No efficient remedy has been found. 
The hop grub frequently causes a good deal 
of damage. It bores into the large shoots 
near the ground thus weakening and some¬ 
times destroying the vines. There is no 
known way of getting rid of it except by 
pulling and burning the infested plants. At 
long intervals the hop aphis proves in¬ 
jurious. In 1885 it destroyed the crop 
here, but as a rule it is not very trouble¬ 
some. The weather also has much to do 
with the success or failure of this crop. 
An excessive rainfall produces too large a 
proportion of leaves, retards ripening, and 
prevents proper coloring. A drought re¬ 
duces the yield and gives the hops a red 
shade that is objectionable, and in some 
seasons the wind does more damage than 
anything else. 
Cost and Piute. —The cost of growing 
hops is figured at 10 cents a pound, but 
some years it is very much higher. The 
price fluctuates more than that of any 
other farm crop. Within the past 40 years 
it has ranged from six cents to $1.10 a 
pound. The price last named was paid in 
1882. Tt seldom goes below 12 cents or 
above 40 cents -a pound. In 1008 it was 
12 cents; in 1900, 23 cents, and in 1010, 
25 cents. Owing to the unfavorable season, 
which has reduced the yield at least one- 
half, it is expected that the 1011 ciop will 
bring from 50 cents to 55 cents a pound. 
Cost and Size ok a Yard.— -The starting 
of a bop yard involves considerable ex¬ 
pense. Land suitable for hop growing is 
worth at East $00 per acre. A kiln must 
be provided, and poles, cloth and many 
other things are needed in the way of 
equipment. The yard should get into good 
bearing condition in two or three years 
after P is set, and should be at its best by 
the time it lias been out six years. For 
the nexi six or eight years a high level 
should be maintained. With good c-e.re, and 
by replanting bills whenever a failure oc¬ 
curs. the yard should be kept fairly pro¬ 
ductive until it has been planted at least 
20 years. A yard that is in good condition 
should produce 1.000 pounds of hops per 
acre, and in exceptionally favorable sea¬ 
sons it may yield 1500 or even 1800 pounds. 
The vines from which the hops have been 
picked are thrown upon the ground ’and 
when sufficiently dry they are burned. The 
poles are stacked at convenient places for 
use the following year. Each stack con¬ 
tains the poles from 30 hills. 
Condition and Prospects. —Most of the 
hop yards here are in good condition. The 
‘mailer ones contain about two acres. The 
largest grower is D. I). Harp, with 25 
acres. John Morris, who has eight acres, 
has been growing hops here for 48 years. 
Present indications are that all who are 
in the business will keep tlieir yards, and 
if prices do not greatly decline it is highly 
probably that the area devoted to hop 
growing will soon he considerably increased. 
j, e. r. 
Weeds in Manure Pit, 
Am I wise in putting my garden weeds 
in my manure pit? The manure of three 
horses and three pigs goes into it, also 
about 10 tons annually of purchased man¬ 
ure. Ilow long will it take to kill the 
weed' seed? Should I add anv lime? 
Ridgefield, Conn. w. s. n„ 
Yes, if you have a pit for manure it Is 
wise to put all vegetable matter into it. 
These weeds from the garden will mostly 
be pulled before they form seed. Bv Spring 
in any event the vitality of such seeds will 
lie destroyed. Do not add lime to the 
manure pit. You could hardly do a worse 
tiling, for the lime will set free part of 
the ammonia and it will escape. Use a 
quantity of acid phosphate and muriate of 
potash. The manure needs these elements 
to make it most effective. 
Coating for Concrete. 
lVe have just built gate posts of grout¬ 
ing, stuccoing them on the outside, capping 
off with large white flints. \Ye have white¬ 
washed the stucco, or pebble dash I believe 
it is called by some. And now 1 have con¬ 
cluded I would like them to glisten or shine 
like the flints on the top. Fan you tell 
me of any solution which will do this? 
How about alum in the whitewash? Prob¬ 
ably some reader could advise. c. L. n, 
Virginia. 
If you apply a coating of water glass to 
the posts you will get the desired lustre. 
You can use either the crude solution of 
sodium silicate or potassium silicate, both 
being called soluble glass or water glass. 
The former is cheaper and does well. First 
apply two or three thin coatings and let 
them work in, if they will. Then from 
time to time as the posts appear to need it, 
apply a fairly thick coating. Water glass is a 
yellowish, syrupy liquid and is very cheap. 
It may be purchased at any hardware, paint 
or drug shop. The posts would resemble 
the flint more if the water glass is applied 
directly to tile concrete without having a 
coating of whitewash as the color of the 
concrete will show through the glass coat¬ 
ing. The water glass, too, will preserve the 
posts and make them waterproof, it being 
commonly used on floors and walls, and to a 
less extent, on the exterior of buildings. 
R. p. c. 
Good Roads Make Good Friends. 
The following little sermon Is told by 
Prof. Chns. Dillon, of the Kansas Agricul¬ 
tural College. It needs no comment: 
“Two of the oldest men in the town of 
Goffs. Nemaha county, quarreled eight or 
10 years ago. They have bei u mighty care¬ 
ful ever since not to see each other on the 
street or to speak. There has been no open 
hostilities, but jn»t 2 silent warfare. No 
one knows how the. old grudge mfglit-lLtYQ 
resulted eventually had it not been for 
this: Nemaha county had a good roads 
turnout a day or two ago. One hundred 
and twenty-five men witli 50 teams gave 
one day to improving one mile of the worst 
road in the county. Three long hills were 
cut down, two old broken bridges were re¬ 
paired. These bridges are to lie replaced 
at once with concrete. All the weeds and 
brush for several miles along the road were 
cut and burned. 
“At noon the good roads workers met 
at the big picnic in Taylor’s orchard to 
hear A. It. I^osli, assistant• State highway 
engineer from the agricultural college, give 
a good roads talk, and get something to 
eat. And there the two old business 
enemies met. After the silence and con¬ 
tempt of years they looked at each other 
for a moment, and then shook hands. 
‘Bill.’ said one. ‘we surely do need work 
on these roads.’ 
“ 'We surely do,’ said the other. ‘And the 
only way to do it is to get together.’ One 
of the farm women noticing the old-time 
enemies talking and shaking hands as if 
after a long absence, nudged one of her 
neighbors and said, 'He surely works in a 
mysterious way. His wonders to perform.’” 
Dairy of a* “Back to the Lander.” 
Cover Crops. —Wo are interested in 
learning all we can about cover and green 
manuring crops. Vetch and Sov beans are 
being tried by many. We want to know 
just how they behave. Here is a report 
from Manistee Co., Mich. : 
“Three tons of forage to the acre is re¬ 
ported by A. R. Atherton. The crop was 
grown upon new ground which was stumped 
iu July of 1911. After the ground had 
been thoroughly prepared it was seeded with 
the following for each acre: Three pecks 
of Winter rye, 20 pounds of Ilairv vetch 
and 10 pounds of clover. The field was pas¬ 
tured with calves and sheep during the Fall, 
hut produced a remarkable crop, which was 
cut for hay June 15, the hay being nearly 
as good as a half and half mixture of Tim¬ 
othy and clover. In addition to the hay 
crop a good catch of clover was secured anil 
the roots of the plants are covered with ni¬ 
trogen holding nodules, although there was 
no artificial inoculation. 
TaKe No Chances 
You can’t afford to take chances 
with the weather man. He is an 
irresponsible, inconsistent, fickle old 
fellow, who takes advantage of unpro¬ 
tected orchardists. Don’t trust your crop to 
him. It is economy to prepare for changes 
in the weather—the best economy you can 
practice. It is a part of good management 
— to put your crop tinder a roof of 
(Accent on the RO” and always spelled with one “B”) 
It Is the cheapest roof you can buy; considered from 
the standpoint of 10 or 20 years’ service. It lasts longer than metal or shingles, and 
costs less. RU-BER-0ID is cold-proof, heat-proof, rain-proof, time-proof, and fire- 
resisting. It contains no rubber.no tar. For any building, you can not buy a better 
roofing or siding than RU-BER-OID. For a building in which to store perishable crops 
Rli-BER-OID is the supreme roofing and siding. 
KA-LOR - 0 i)D Permanently colored roofing. It is 
(Colored Roberoid) made in three colors: Red— Green—Brown. 
RU-BER-OID is the original prepared roofing, which for over twenty years has been 
the recognized standard of roofing quality. There are over three hundred imitations, 
and unless the RU-BER-OID Man is shown on the outside wrapper, the roofing is not 
the genuine RU-BER-OIC. §ee that he is there when you buy roofing. He is your 
protection against imitations. 
THE STANDARD PAINT 
Boston, 
Philadelphia, 
CO. 100 William Street, NEW YORK 
BRANCHES 
Chicago, Dallas, Denver. 
LIME 
for the soil only. Onr Agri¬ 
cultural Lime can be applied 
at the time of seeding and 
will not burn anything. Will 
drill, broadcast or scatter. 
We guarantee immediate 
shipment, analysis, mechani¬ 
cal condition, fineness, quick 
INTERNATIONA!, A8R1CULTURAL CORPORATION Litaus paper’ tree. WriSu!' 
CALEDONIA MARL BRANCH, Caledonia, N. Y. 
$ 10 , 000.00 
Deposited With Baulk 
to Protect You 
You’ll be a delighted customer if you buy this 
Greencastle Grain Drill, or we’ll have to tako 
machine baek and pay freight both ways. There’s 
no other way out of it—we’ve put np a $10,000.00 
legal bond with our bankers to refund all your 
money if this Drill isn’t exactly what we say it 
is—we would not—dare not—dispute your word 
after you’ve tried the Greencastlt. TryitSOdays 
free at our risk—sow all your seed—and if the 
dreencastle 
_ Qraln Drill 
does not more than satisTy ydv. U bock and 
we’ll return yonr money in full—or Tofrelt yitL- 
000.00. We know that this Drill is perfect—will 
sow grain, seed or fertilizer accurately and stand 
tip to its work in any soil—that 's why we guar¬ 
antee it one year and let you try it one full month 
free. We sell direct from factory-6ave you $20 
to $30 dealer’s profits. Write for booklet, copy of 
guarantee and $ 10 , 000.00 bond. J1 you answer this 
right away we will make you special price offer 
to introduce this drill in your localit v. 
HERTZLER & ZOOS CO.,'Bos 100, Belleville, Fa. 
It pays to bale your hay in 
DEDERICK’S 
STANDARD 
Baling Presses 
Catalogue Free 
P. K. DEDERICK’S SONS, 
42 Tivoli St., Albany, N. Y. 
Auto-Fedan 
Bay Press 
Let us place the Auto-Fedan on your farm^nd 
put it in operation. It it is not thoroughly satis¬ 
factory in every respect- if it will not bale hay 20 per 
cent cheaper than any other machine on the mark* i— 
we will not ask you to buy, ami will refund you the 
freight and take charge of the machine. 
Wftle its toda!)for.catalofl ami.prices. (37) 
Auto-Fedan Hay Press Co.,Box I , Albion, Mich. 
THRESHERS,GASOLINE ENGINES, Hinhoct 
HORSE POWERS, ENSILAGE CUT- 
ters, and wood saws. Grade 
Send today for 40-page illustrated catalog, free. A. W Gray’s Sons, 14 South St., Middletown Springs, Vt. 
’S 
Farmers Thresh Your Own Grain 
ELLSS CHAMPION enoug ^ *° own thresher. Be independent. 
THRESHERS wor ^ w ^ en y° u J$L s et rea ^y- 
Suit everyono. Both the profes¬ 
sional threslierman or the farmer 
who wants a homo outfit will find the 
Champion lightly named. The picture 
shows ELLIS CHAMPION NO 2. It is complete 
with stacker, tailings, elevator and grain bag 
gor. Connect it with steam, gasolene, tread or any 
other power, put in the grain and the Champion does 
the rest. slNo straw clogging. Any size. 
We also tunko tread arid ew<-?|i horse-power, drag or olreular saws _ 
ensilnge cutters, eorn shellers, etc. ___ ’ 
Our catalog tells the whole story. ELLIS KEYSTONE AGRICULTURAL WORKS, Pottstown, Pa. 
Buy “this DAIN PRESS for Heaviest 
-QUILT 
Vi; Jfj custoi 
fc'j wear. 
• Thn TYoi 
with particular attention to the needs of the man doing 
custom baling, it will stand the knocks of transportation and hard 
wear. Best of material gives strength, and durability. 
The Dain Belt Power Press has large capacity and combines many 
time and labor-saving devices, which makes it the most profitable hay 
press to operate. It makes neat, smooth square-ended bales. 
One of the greatest advances in hay press 
construction is the Dain automatic condenser 
hopper. 
The feature of condenser hopper and self-feed 
working together increases capacity and 
decreases cost of operation by 
requiring less labor than other 
machines. 
Pitman is I-beam steel, rigid 
and substantial. Plunger is all 
iron and steel, therefore not 
affected by damp weather or wet hay. 
Gears are large and have strong heavy teeth. 
Pitman is operated by twin drive gears insuring 
true, perfect application of power. Long shaft bearings of the finest 
quality of babbitt metal hold shafts in perfect line and insure proper 
meshing of gears, which lessens friction and saves power. 
Fly wheel runs smoothly. Is large and heavy so it carries plunger 
over heavy part of stroke. Friction clutch gives perfect control. 
The Dain automatic tucker folds every charge of 
hay, making smooth, neat and square-ended bales. 
Blocks are inserted automatically by self-feeder, and 
are conveniently located for operator. 
Baling case is carefully constructed as it 
must stand terrific strain in forming bales. 
Heavy steel angles and plates are used re- j 
inforced with trusses, and all liberally riveted ‘ 
and bolted. 
For further information write ua free 
Circular No. M —33 
John Deere Plow Company j 
Moline, Illinois 
