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pounds. The brimstone is placed in a little dish on the stove, a small quantity at a time, and this is repeated until the moisture is mostly expelled from the hop. In some instances, when the hop has been injured, or become brown on the vine, the bleaching process is desired to be continued after the natural moisture has been expelled. In this case sprinkling the hop on the kiln, or setting kettles of water on the stove, are resorted to. The time required to dry a kiln of hops is about twelve hours. When the hop is a little green, as at the beginning of the picking season, more time is required; and at the close, when the hop has become fully ripe and does not contain as much moisture, less time is required. The heat should be very carefully regulated, not running above 100° or 120° Fahr. in the commencement, as there is danger of scorching when the hop is full of moisture, then gradually increasing the heat, as the process goes on, to 140°-150° Fahr. Great care is necessary, that the temperature is not allowed to recede during any stage of the process, as the steam will settle back on the hops and give them a dull, darkish colour, which materially lessens their market value. The drying is considered complete when one hop out of four or five is found brittle as taken from the surface of different parts of the kiln. The fires are then suffered to die out, and the hops allowed to remain on the kiln until cool, the doors being thrown open to hasten the cooling. They are then removed from the kiln into a room, called a cooling room, where they are allowed to lie until wanted for baling. They ought to be examined every day to see that they do not heat, which is sometimes the case when insufficiently dried. They should be allowed

to remain in the cooling room four or five days before baling, or better, about two weeks, when not in haste to place them on the market, as they are not then required to be dried quite so much on the kiln, and allowed to finish in the cooling room, which makes a softer, silkier sample, and one not as liable to be broken and powdered in baling.

Baling is performed in portable presses of sufficient power to make a handsome bale, weighing about 200 lbs. Care is necessary in baling not to powder and break the hops, as there is a great loss of strength by the lupuline sifting out, and it also injures the appearance, upon which their market value largely depends.

In the years of 1866-68 the yield reached the almost incredible amount of 2400 to 2500 lbs. per acre, 2000 lbs. being considered a fair yield. Since then, owing partly to a lack of care in culture, caused by a decline in price for a few years below the cost of production, and the presence in the fields of the hop-leaf louse (Aphis humulus), the average has fallen; this insect appears on the lower leaves of the vine about the middle or end of June. When the weather is favourable (warm, muggy weather especially), they increase so rapidly that they weaken the vine by sapping the juice; they do not do much damage usually until the hop is fully formed and a few days before picking, when, if the weather is hot and close, two or three days are sufficient to almost destroy the whole crop. They penetrate the hop after it is formed and suck the juice from the tender bracts, and this piercing causes the juice to exude, which, in dry or bright weather, evaporates and does no damage; but in damp, muggy weather the eva

poration is so retarded that it produces decay at the point of puncture, the effect of which is a black spot, known as mould; and, when the lice are in sufficient numbers, the strobiles will be found to be almost entirely black inside, and are then nearly worthless. This and other causes have lessened the vitality of the vine to such an extent, that 1200 to 1500 lbs. per acre is now a large yield, and the average yield will not exceed 600 to 800 lbs. per acre. The crop of the entire State of Wisconsin for 1874 was from 17,000 to 20,000 bales, not over about one-half what it was in 1868. The cultivation of hops is, however, allowed to be more remunerative than any other class of farming, when followed for a succession of years.

CANADA. Before 1852 Canada did not grow enough hops for her own consumption, for she imported 37,653 lbs. in 1850, and 16,694 lbs. in 1851. The growth in 1852 was but 224,222 lbs. The frosts there frequently kill the plants. It was only in 1848 that hops began to be exported, 42,978 lbs. having been shipped in that year.

In 1849 the shipments were 24,687 lbs. and nine packs, valued at 3871. The following have been the shipments from Canada for some few other years:

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BRAZIL.-Until a few years ago all the hops consumed in Brazil were imported; but on account of the increase of home-made ale, the colony of San Leopoldo, in the province of Rio Grande de Sud, commenced its cultivation about ten years ago, and, favoured by the climate and the nature of the soil, it promises to succeed and to make progress, for the imported hops are not only injured by the sea voyage, but fetch a high price. Samples of the Brazilian hops were shown at the Paris International Exhibition in 1867.

CHAPTER VIII.

HOP CULTURE IN AUSTRALASIA.

TASMANIA.-New Norfolk and the adjacent districts are well known as the principal hop-growing portions of Tasmania. In the immediate vicinity of the town are numerous grounds, located on strips and flats of rich alluvial ground, both on the banks of the Derwent and those of the Lachlan. On the latter dams are made, and the soil irrigated by gravitation. On the Derwent it is generally necessary to pump the water from the river, and this is effected by steamengines; for though windmills have been tried, they have been given up, owing to the caprice of the winds, which frequently fail to blow, when water is indispensable. In the town and its immediate vicinity Mr. Riddoch cultivates about 14 acres of hops; Mr. Turnbull, 15 acres; Mr. Allwright has about 16 acres on the Lachlan Creek; Mr. Terry, of Lachlan Mills, 13 acres; Mr. Sharland, 12 acres, in different patches; Mr. Downie, near the bridge, about 9 acres ; Sir Robert Officer, about 6 acres. Mr. William Davis has about 5 acres on the Lachlan Creek; Mr. W. E. Shoobridge, 20 acres; at a greater distance, Mr. E. Shoobridge, the largest grower in the island, has upwards of 90 acres planted, 78 acres in full bearing; Mr. R. C. Read, of Redland, the second largest grower, has 24 acres in bearing, and 16 more planted. The area occupied by smaller growers is estimated to amount to

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