[ Hops, the best method of cultivating and raising them. ]
A rich, deep soil, rather inclining to moisture, is, on the whole, the best adapted for the cultivation of hops; but it is observable that any soil (stiff clay only excepted) will suit the growing of hops when properly prepared; and in many parts of Great Britain they use the bog-land, which is fit for little else. The ground on which hops are to be planted should be made rich with that kind of manure best suited to the soil, and rendered fine and mellow by being ploughed deep, and harrowed several times. The hills should be at the distance of six or eight feet apart from each other, according to the richness of the ground. On lands that are rich, the vines will run the most; the hills must therefore be the further apart.
At the first opening of the spring, when the frosts are over, and vegetation begins, sets, or small pieces of the roots of hops, must be obtained from hops that are esteemed the best.[5] ] Cut off from the main stalk or root, six inches in length, branches or suckers, most healthy, and of the last year's growth, if possible to be procured; if not, they should be wrapped in a cloth, kept in a moist place, excluded from the air. A hole should then be made large and deep, and filled with rich mellow earth. The sprouts should be set in this earth with the bud upwards, and the ground pressed close about them. If the buds have begun to open, the uppermost must be left just out of the ground, otherwise cover it with the earth an inch. Two or three sets to a pole is sufficient, and three poles to a hill will be found most productive; place one of the poles towards the north, the other two at equal distances, about two feet apart. The sets are to be placed in the same manner as the poles, that they may the easier climb. The length of the poles may be from fourteen to eighteen feet, according as the soil is rich or poor. The poles should be placed so as to incline to each other, meet at their tops, and there be tied. This is contrary to the European method, but will be found best in America. In this way they will strengthen and support each other, and form so great a defence against the violent gusts of wind, to which our climate is frequently subject in the months of July and August, as to prevent their being blown down. They will, likewise, form a three-sided pyramid, which will have the greatest possible advantage from the sun. It is suggested by experience, that hops which grow near the ground are the best. Too long poles, therefore, are not good, and care should be taken that the vines do not run beyond the poles, twisting off their tops will prevent it. The best kinds of wood for poles are alder, ash, birch, elm, chestnut, and cedar, their durability is directly the reverse of the order in which they stand; charring, or burning the end put into the ground, will preserve them. Hops should not be poled till the spring of the second year, and then not till they have been dressed. All that is necessary for the first year, is to keep the hops free from weeds, and the ground light and mellow by hoeing and ploughing often, if the yard be large enough to admit of it. The vines, when run to the length of four or five feet, should be twisted together, to prevent their bearing the first year, for that would injure them. In the months of March or April, of the second year, the hills must be opened, and all the sprouts or suckers cut off, within one inch of the old root, but that must be left entire with the roots that run down;[6] ] then cover the hills with fine earth and manure. The hops must be kept free from weeds and the ground mellow by hoeing often through the season, and hills of earth gradually raised around the vines during the summer. The vines must be assisted in running on the poles with woolen yarn, suffering them to run with the sun. By the last of August, or the first of September, the hops will be ripe, and fit to gather. This may be easily known by their colour changing, and having a fragrant smell; their seed grows brown and hard. As soon as ripe, they must be gathered without delay, for a storm or frost will injure them materially. The most expeditious method of picking hops, is to cut the vines three feet from the ground, pull up the poles and lay them on crotches, horizontally, at a height that may be conveniently reached, put under them a bin of equal length, and four may stand on each side to pick at the same time. Fair weather should always be chosen to gather hops and they should never be gathered when dew or moisture is on them, as it subjects them to mould. They should be dried as soon as possible after they are gathered; if not immediately, they must be spread on a floor to prevent their changing colour. The best mode of drying them is with a fire of charcoal and kiln, covered with hair cloth in the manner of a malt-kiln.[7] ] The fire should be steady and equal, and the hops gently stirred from time to time. Great attention is necessary in this part of the business, that the hops be uniformly and sufficiently dried; if too much dried they will look brown, and, of course, be materially injured in their quality, and proportionably reduced in their price. If too little dried, they will lose their natural colour and flavour. They should be on the hair cloth about six inches thick after it had been moderately warmed, then a steady fire kept up till the hops are nearly dry, lest the moisture or sweat the fire has raised should fall back and change their colour. After the hops have been in this situation seven, eight, or nine hours, and have got through sweating, and when struck with a stick will leap up; then throw them into a heap, mix them well, and spread them again, and let them remain till they are all equally dry. While they are in a sweat, it will be best not to move them for fear of burning, slacken the fire, when the hops are to be turned, and increase it afterwards. Hops are sufficiently dried, when their inner stalks break short, and their leaves become crisp, and fall off easily. They will crackle a little when their seed is bursting, and then they should be removed from the kiln. Hops that are dried in the sun lose their rich flavour, and, if under cover, they are apt to ferment and change with the weather, and lose their strength; moderate fire preserves the colour and flavour of the hops, by evaporating the water, and retaining the oil of the hop. After the hops are taken from the kiln, they should be laid in a heap, to acquire a little moisture to fit them for bagging. It would be well to exclude them from air by covering them with blankets. Three or four days will be sufficient for them to be in that state. When the hops are so moist that they may be pressed together without breaking, they are fit for bagging. Bags made of coarse linen cloth, eleven feet in length, and seven in circumference, which hold about two hundred pounds weight, are most commonly used in Europe: but any size that best suits may be made use of. To bag hops, a hole is made through the floor of a loft, large enough for a man to pass through with ease. The bag must be fastened to a hoop, larger than the hole, that the floor may serve to support the bag; for the convenience of handling the bags, some hops should be tied up in each corner of the bag, to serve as handles. The hops should be gradually thrown into the bag, and trod down continually, till the bag is filled. The mouth of the bag must then be sown up, and the hops are then fit for market. The closer and harder hops are packed, the longer and better they will keep; but they should be kept dry. In most parts of Great Britain where hops are cultivated, they estimate the charge of cultivating one acre of hops at forty-two dollars, for manuring and tilling, exclusive of poles and rent of land; poles they estimate at sixteen dollars per annum, but in this country they would not amount to half that sum; one acre is computed to require three thousand poles, which will last from eight to twelve years, according to the quality of the wood used. The English growers of hops think they have a very indifferent crop if the produce of one acre does not amount to one hundred and thirty-three dollars, but, much more frequently, it amounts to two hundred dollars, and sometimes so high as four hundred dollars per acre. In this country, experiments have been equally flattering. A gentleman in Massachusetts, in the summer of 1791, raised hops, from one acre of ground that sold for three hundred dollars; it is allowed, that land in this state is equally favourable to the growth of hops. Upon a low estimate, we may fairly compute the nett profit of one acre of hops to be eighty dollars, over and above poles, manure, and labour; and in a good year a great deal more might be expected. There is one circumstance further we think has weight, and ought to be mentioned: in the English estimate the expense put down is what they can hire the labour done for by those who make it their business to perform the different parts of the cultivation. A great saving may, therefore, be made by our farmers in the article of labour, for much of it may be performed by women and children. Added to this, we have another advantage of no small moment in this country: the hop harvest will come between our two great harvests, the small grain and Indian corn, without interfering with either but in England the case is otherwise: the small grain and hop harvest come in together, and create a great scarcity of hands, it being then the most busy season of the year. It is found, by experience, that the soil and climate of the eastern states are more favourable to the growth of hops than Great Britain; they not being so subject to moist, foggy weather of long continuance, which is most injurious to hops; and the southern and middle states are still more favourable to the growth of hops than the eastern states, in point of flavour and strength. The State of New-York unites some advantages from either extreme of the union. The cultivators of land in this state have every inducement, which policy or interest can offer, to enter with spirit into the cultivation of hops; as we shall thereby be able to supply our own demand, which is now every year increasing, instead of sending to our neighbours for every bag we consume; a circumstance the more unaccountable, as hops, are on all hands, allowed to be one of the most profitable crops that can be raised; the culture requires but little land, the labour may be performed at intervals, so as not to interfere with other business of the farm, and be generally performed by women and children. There is hardly a farmer in this state but may, with ease, raise from one quarter of an acre, to as much as three or four acres, the advantage of which would, in a few years, be most sensibly felt both by the individual concerned, and the state at large. In the city of New-York there are, at present, a number of large and respectable breweries, and new ones, from time to time, may reasonably be expected to be added to their number. All these establishments are now supplied with hops from Massachusetts and Connecticut; these considerations should certainly stimulate a few spirited cultivators to lead the way, and raise hops; their laudable example would soon be followed by others; so that in a few years we should have prime hops of our own in abundance, for home consumption or exportation. This subject will, I hope, appear sufficiently important to recommend itself; to say more is therefore unnecessary.
However unconnected this subject may appear with a treatise on brewing, I cannot help thinking that, in this country, it is much more intimately connected with it than one would, at a first view, incline to suppose, and for the following reasons; first, Because the proper cultivation of barley is not generally known, save in the eastern states, and but very little raised in any of the others; secondly, Without good barley it is impossible to make good malt, consequently, good beer—and it must be acknowledged, that a great proportion of the barley that is raised, even in the eastern states, is but very imperfectly suited to the purposes of the brewery, being what is termed winter barley, and generally a poor, thin, lank grain, by no means qualified to make good malt. This is so well known in England, that it is very rarely met with in the barley markets, and seldom, or ever, purchased by a brewer. The summer, or spring barley, always getting the preference, being the largest bodied grain, and, of course, the best suited to the purposes of making prime malt, the want of which, is frequently severely felt by the brewers of this country, from the impossibility they often find themselves in of procuring good barley, being obliged to use such as they can get, which, for the most part, is very ill suited to their purpose. It will be, then, their interest to give every encouragement to the farmer to raise spring barley in preference to the winter, to procure the best seed, of that description, that he can find, to clean it well, to steep it in well or spring water for twelve hours, stirring it frequently from the bottom of the tub or vessel all around; and previous to each stirring, all the floating grains, seed weeds, &c., should be carefully skimmed off: thus nothing will remain for seed but sound and perfect grain. The first water should be drawn off at the end of six hours, and immediately replaced by fresh; this again drawn off at the end of six hours more; it should be sown, broad cast, the following day, being first previously mixed with a sufficient quantity of wood ashes to dry it as much as will be necessary for the purpose of sowing. Thus managed, if the ground be in proper tilth, and fitly prepared, this grain will make its appearance the fifth or sixth day after sowing; whereas, if the seed be sown dry, it will probably be three weeks or more before it comes up, particularly if the season be dry. I cannot more forcibly recommend this practice than by giving a brief sketch of an experiment made in England, and taken from the Bath and West of England Society's reports. A farmer selected four acres of the same field, treated and prepared it for seeding exactly in the same way, he then divided it into two equal parts; he sowed one part with dry seed, in the common way, the other with steeped seed, as here recommended, and the consequence was, that the latter produced a double crop, although the seed in both cases was the same, save the difference of treatment. The superior quality and condition of the crop seemed to keep pace with the increased quantity. The beginning or middle of March, if the weather be dry, is the best time to sow spring or summer barley. This mode of preparing seed wheat, is highly recommended as an assured preservative against the smut, fly, &c., insuring a sound good crop of grain. Barley should be always cut in dry weather, yet not suffered to be too ripe before cutting; stacking it in the field for a few weeks before removing it to the barn, helps and prepares it for malting, by sweating and drying it. Barley, immediately brought to the malt house from the field, rarely makes good malt, as a great proportion of it becomes staggy, and will not grow. Those who can corroborate the truth of these remarks, and sufficiently appreciate them, will readily justify and excuse this seeming departure from the original plan of this little work.
There is no production of the brewery more important to society than good table beer, whether it be considered as a diluent to animal food, or a diet drink in fever cases, even of the most malignant kind, where, to my knowledge, it has been preferred to all others, and that with the greatest success, sanctioned by the advice of some of the most eminent physicians. This justifies my recommending it, and giving several processes for making this useful liquor.