4(30 H U M U L U S. 
■the open and moift, which were carefully managed and 
looked after. The honey-dews are obferved to come 
about the ifth of June, which, by the middle of July, 
turn the leaves black, and make them ftink. 
Dr. Hales relates, that in the month of July (the fea- 
fori for fire-blafts, as the planters call them) he has feen 
the vines in the middle of the hop-ground fcorched up 
almoft from one end of a large ground to the other, when 
a hot gleam of lun-lhine has come immediately after a 
ihower of rain, at which time vapours are all keen with 
the naked eye, but efpecially with refiefting telefcopes, 
to afcend fo plentifully as to make a clear and diftinft- ob¬ 
ject become immediately very dim and tremulous. 
The learned Boerhaave, in his Theory of Chymiftry, 
p. 245, Shaw’s edition, obferves, that “thofe white clouds 
which appear in fummer-time, are, as it were, fo many 
mirrors, and occafron exceffive heat. Thefe cloudy mir¬ 
rors arefometimes round, fometimes concave, polygonous, 
&c. When the face of heaven is covered with fuch white 
clouds, the fun, fhining among them, mull, of neceffity, 
produce a vehement heat, fmce many, of his rays, which 
■would otherwife, perhaps, never touch our earth, are 
hereby reflected to us.. Thus, if the fun be on one fide, 
and the clouds on the oppofite one, they will be perfect 
burning-glafles. I have fometimes (continues he) ob¬ 
ferved a kind of hollow, clouds full of hail and fnow, 
during the continuance of which the heat was extreme, 
fmce, by fuch condenfation, they were enabled to reflect 
■more ftrongly.. After this came a fharp cold, and then 
the clouds difcharged their hail in great quantity, to 
which fucceeded a moderate warmth. Frozen concave 
clouds, therefore, by their great reflexions, produce a vi¬ 
gorous heat, and the fame, when refolved, exceffive cold.” 
From which Dr. Hales obferves as follows: “ Hence we 
.fee, that blafts may be occalioned by the reflexions of the 
clouds, as well as by the above-mentioned refraction of 
•denfe tranfparent vapours.” 
About the middle of July hops begin to blow, and will 
be ready to gather about Bartholomew-tide. A judg¬ 
ment may be made of their ripehefs, by their ftrong fcent, 
their hardnefs, and the browniih colour of their feed. 
When by thefe tokens they appear to be ripe, they mult 
be picked with all the expedition pofllble; for, if at this 
time a ftonn of wind fhould come, it would do them 
great damage, by breaking the branches, and bruifing and 
.difcolouring the hops ; and it is Very well known, that 
hops, being picked green and bright, will fell for a third 
part more than thofe which are difcoloured and brown. 
The molt convenient way of picking them is into a long 
fquare frame of wood, called a bin, with a cloth hanging 
on tenter-hooks within it, to receive the hops as they are 
picked. The frame is compofed of four pieces of wood 
joined together, lupported by four legs, with a prop at 
each end to bear up another long piece of wood, placed 
at a convenient height'over the middle of the bin ; this 
ferves to lay the poles upon which are to be picked. 
This bin is commonly eight feet long, and three feet 
broad; two poles may be laid on it at a time, and fix 
or eight perfons may work at it, three or four on each fide. 
It will be belt to begin to pick the hops on the eaft or 
north fide of your ground, if you can do it conveniently} 
this will prevent the fouth-weft wind from breaking into 
*he garden. Having made choice of a plot of the ground 
containing eleven hills fquare, place the bin upon the 
hill which is in the centre, having five hills on each fide; 
and, when thefe hills are picked,.remove the bin into ano¬ 
ther piece of ground of the fame extent, and fo proceed 
till the whole hop-ground is finifhed. When the poles 
are drawn up to be picked, you mull take great care not 
to cut the binds too near the hills, efpecially when the 
hops are green, becaufe it will make the fap to flow ex- 
cefixvely. And, if the poles do not come up without dif¬ 
ficulty, they fhould be railed by a piece of wood in the 
nature of a lever, having a forked piece of iron, with 
aeeth on the infide, faftened within two feet of the end. 
The hops mull be picked very clean, i. e. free from leaves 
and ftalks., and, as there fhall be occafion, two or three 
times in a day the bin mull be emptied into a hop-bag 
made of coarfe linen cloth, and carried immediately to 
the oaft, or kiln, in order to be dried; for, if they fhould 
be long in the bin, or bag, they wiil be apt to heat, and 
be difcoloured. If the weather be hot, there fliould no 
more poles be drawn than can be picked in an hour, and 
they fliould be gathered in fair weather, if it can be, and 
when the hops are dry ; this will fave fome expence in 
firing, and preferve their colour better when they are dried. 
The befl method of drying hops is with charcoal on an 
oafi, or kiln, covered with hair-clotli, of the fame form 
and fafhion that is ufed for drying malt. The kiln ought 
to be fquare, and may be of ten, twelve, fourteen, or fix- 
teen, feet, over at the top, where the hops are laid, as your 
plantation requires, and your room will allow. There 
ought to be a due proportion between the height and 
breadth of the kiln, and the beguels of the fleddle where 
the fire is kept : viz. if the kiln be twelve feet fquare on 
the top, it ought to be nine feet high from the fire, and 
the lleddle ought to be fix feet and a half fquare, and fo 
proportionably in other dimenfions. The hops mufl be 
fpread even upon the oaft a foot thick or more, if the 
depth of the curb will allow it, but care is to be taken 
not to overload the oaft, if the hops be green or wet. 
The oaft ought to be warmed with a fire before the hops 
are laid on, and then an even fteady fire mull be kept un¬ 
der them ; it muft not be too fierce at firft, left it fcorch 
the hops; nor muft it be fullered to fink or flacken, but 
rather be increafed till the hops be near dried, left the 
moifture, or fweat, which the fire has railed, fall back, 
and difcolour . them. When they have lain about nine 
hours, they may be turned, and in two or three hours 
more they may be taken off the oaft. It may be known 
when they are well dried by the brittlenefs of the ftalks, 
and the eafy falling off of the hop-leaves. 
The Dutch and Flemings have another method of dry¬ 
ing their hops: they make a fquare kiln, or room, about 
eight or ten feet wide, built of brick or ftone, having a 
door at one fide, and a fire-place in the middle of the 
room, on the floor, about thirteen inches wide within, 
and thirteen inches high in length from the mouth of it, 
almoft to the back part of the kiln, a paflage being left juft 
enough for a man to go round the end of it; this they 
call a horfe, fuch as is commonly made in malt-kilns, the 
fire pafling out at the holes at each fide, and at the end 
of it. The bed, or floor, on which the hops lie to be 
dried, is placed about five feet high above; about that is a 
wall near four feet high, to keep the hops from falling. A 
window is made at one fide of the upper bed, to fliove off 
the dry hops down into a room prepared to receive them. 
The beds are made of laths, or rails, fown very even, ly¬ 
ing a quarter of an inch diftant from one another, with a 
crofs-beam in the middle to fupport them; the laths are 
let in even with the top of the beam, and this keeps them, 
even in their places; this they call an oaft. The hops are 
laid on this bed by bafkets-full, without any oaft-cloth, 
beginning at one end, and fo going on till all is covered 
half a yard thick, without treading them : then they even 
them with a rake, that they may lie of equal thicknefs. 
This being done, they kindle the fire below, either of 
wood or charcoal, but the latter is accounted the better 
fuel for hops ; this fire is kept as much as may be at an 
equal or conllant heat, and only at the mouth of the fur¬ 
nace, for the air will fufficiently dilperfe it. They do not 
ftir them till they are thoroughly dried, i. e. till the top 
is as fully dried as the bottom ; but, if they find any place 
not to be fo dry as the reft, (which may be known by 
reaching over them with a ftick or wand, and touching 
them in feveral places,) they obferve where they do not 
rattle, and where they do; and where they do not rattle, 
they abate them there, and difpofe of them where the 
places were firft dry. They know when they are tho¬ 
roughly dry, by the brittlenefs of the inner ftalk, if it be 
fhort 
