aperture at the base of the cowl were matters of no calculation or consideration. In the modern kilns the hair-level is, at least, 13 feet from the fire, and in all these buildings, whether circular or square, the relative proportions, length, and width of the various parts, are carefully observed. It has been ascertained by scientific researches as to the weight, velocity, and desiccating power of heated atmospheric air, and confirmed by experience, that the height of a circular kiln above the hair should be one and a half times its diameter at the hair-level, and that the opening at the summit for the egress of air should be one-seventh of the same diameter. It is also calculated that, according to the present method of drying hops, apertures for the admission of atmospheric air should be judiciously arranged and carefully regulated in the lower part of the kiln under the hair, upon the following scale, viz.: 6 feet of aperture (superficial) for a 16-feet kiln, 8 feet of aperture (superficial) for an 18-feet kiln, and so on, in order that the greatest possible amount of moderately heated air may pass quickly through the hops. Hops were formerly stewed dry by concentrating stove-heat upon them. Now the great object is to desiccate them-to drive off their moisture-by a process as nearly resembling the action of the sun and wind as can be suited to the circumstances. Hops while stewing, according to the old receipt, give out a sweet odour, which may be smelled a long way to leeward of the oast. This escape of essential aroma, once hailed with delight as satisfactory evidence of the good qualities of the hop, is deprecated and avoided by growers of the present day. It is understood that the temperature to which hops should be subjected ought not to exceed 130°: beyond that point it is generally admitted that a serious loss of essential principles occurs. In the opinion of those who have studied the question, a mean temperature of 110° would be far better; but the brewers do not recognise the increased value of samples so treated by giving a corresponding increase of price, and the expenses of such management being nearly doubled, it follows that the practice of drying two loads in twenty-four hours, at or about a heat of 130°, is universal. The circular is the most usual form of kiln, as it occupies less room, while it affords more available space than any other shape. Air apertures may be more easily arranged, and there is not so much resistance to the circulation of air as in square kilns, which are preferred by some, because they may be converted into cottages or like useful buildings. Some prefer an inner circle or chamber; others hold that it is superfluous. According to the usual mode of drying at a high temperature, the inner chamber or circle has many advantages, as it diminishes the loss of heat by radiation, at the same time confining it and concentrating its action. For this reason illustrations of a ground plan and a section of a kiln with an inner chamber are here appended. Figs. 9 and 10.-Ground-plan and Section of a Kiln with an inner chamber. In the Farnham district many of the oasts are long narrow buildings, looking more like a row of cottages than anything else; in fact they are so built that they may be turned into dwellings, if occasion should require. The ends of the roofs are left open for the escape of air and reek. Mr. Collins, of Maidstone, a few years since patented a process for drying hops, by means of hot air passed through rows of pipes immediately under the hair. Mr. Sampson, of Wittersham, also took out a patent in 1867 for an invention, called an "atmospheric regulator for oasthouses." The principle of this consists of an air-tight kiln, with two iron doors to the furnace, fitted with louvres or sliding bars to admit draughts of air. There have been several other inventions of a somewhat similar * character, none of which have been adopted to any extent. Steam would be the best and most easily regulated medium for drying hops; but the application of it would be costly, as it would probably necessitate the reorganisation of existing buildings, and there always has been and always will be such an uncertainty as to the future of hop-growing, that no one has liked to incur extraordinary expenditure or to try experiments upon an important scale. With regard to the firing used for drying, there are different opinions. From experience, Welsh coal, with plenty of charcoal, produces the "softest" sample, most free from any smell of smoke. The usual practice, however, is to use coke and Welsh coal, in equal proportions, with charcoal for lighting up and making up the fires. Brimstone is not so lavishly applied as formerly to hops while drying. Mr. Rutley says of this that the burning of brimstone "should be begun soon after the hops are laid on, and continued gradually and slowly burning for from four or five hours."† A small quantity is now used just after evaporation of the moisture of the hops has commenced. It is burned off as quickly as possible, and very rarely used more than once. The effect of brimstone at this particular stage is to bleach the hop to a certain extent, and to make it generally brighter. Hops which have been brimstoned at several various times during the drying have been compared with others of the same kind in every way, only brimstoned once, and not the slightest difference in colour could be detected between them. It is believed that there is nothing else to chronicle as new with regard to the cultivation and management of hops; and it is hoped that the sketch of the improvements which have taken place within the last twenty years will serve to show that these are very important, and well worthy of honourable mention in the records of general agricultural progress. No doubt the progress in the next twenty years will be much greater, as the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of England have decided to offer special prizes for implements and machinery calculated to improve and cheapen the production of hops; and hop-growers themselves seem determined to use their utmost energy and skill to raise the standard of the English growth, and to drive the "foreigner" from the field. *It was suggested that a prize should be offered by the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society for the best and most economical adaptation of steam to existing buildings for drying hops. Mr. Rutley on the Culture of Hops, vol. ix. part 2, 'Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society." XIX.-An Account of an Embankment and Cutting in the Parishes of Standlake, Northmoor, Stanton Harcourt, and Eynsham, in the County of Oxford, made to protect the District from the Flood Waters of the River Thames. By S. B. L. DRUCE, Barristerat-Law. THE drainage of the Upper Thames Valley, and the confining within narrow boundaries the flood-waters of the river in the district above Oxford, have long since been a subject of controversy, and have even of late occupied the attention of the Legislature ; therefore a short account of an embankment and cutting which have lately been executed, for the purpose of keeping back the flood waters in a part of the above mentioned district, will probably find an appropriate place in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society,' more particularly on account of its proving to be, so far as it has gone at present, a very decided success. The district which is protected from floods by the works now being described commences about ten miles (following the course of the river) above Oxford, and is situate within the parishes of Eynsham, Stanton Harcourt, Northmoor, and Standlake. The whole of the valley of the Thames above Oxford, as is well known, is very subject to floods, particularly the low-lying lands in the above mentioned and bordering parishes. It was wellascertained that a great part of these floods was attributable to the fact that there was not sufficient outfall for the water of the river Windrush, a tributary of the Thames flowing into that river in the parish of Standlake, close to New Bridge. The waters of this stream, when very high, met the main body of the flood water of the Thames, and were forced, as it were,, by the greater strength of the latter, and driven out into the surrounding country. The first point to be considered, therefore, in protecting this district from flood, was to keep these flood waters of the Windrush within reasonable bounds, and prevent them from flowing unrestrained over the surrounding country. We may then, for the sake of convenience, consider the embankment and cutting, the subject of this paper, as divided into two distinct parts or sections. The first of these extends from a point on the Windrush rather more than a mile from New Bridge, where, as before mentioned, that river joins the Thames, as far as the latter river, and which point is 8 feet higher than the point at which the works end. The second part commences where the first ends, and runs alongside of the river bed through the parishes of Northmoor, Stanton Harcourt, and Eynsham, all in the county of Oxford, at a distance averaging 150 yards from the river, almost as far as Eynsham Bridge, a distance of about 5 miles and a quarter. The works, although called "an embankment" generally and throughout this paper, really consist of an embankment and cutting, the latter being the farther away from the river, and varying from 17 feet 6 inches in width at the top, in its widest place, to 14 feet in its narrowest, and from 5 feet 2 inches in depth in its deepest part to 4 feet 3 inches in the shallowest. The embankment also varies in height and width at the base, its greatest height being 5 feet, and its lowest 1 foot 9 inches, and the widest part of its base being 25 feet and the narrowest 8 feet. The following cut represents a section of the works; the figures in it show the actual dimensions of the embankment and cutting respectively at a particular point. Section of the Embankment and Cutting. The whole range of the country through which the embankment passes is very low indeed; on the Oxfordshire side there is no hill, or even rising ground, through the whole of this district less than a mile from the river; but on the Berkshire side there are places where the hills, on which are situate the villages of Cunnor, Eaton, and Besselsleigh, run down to within a very short distance of the river's bed. From this it will be easily perceived that the Oxfordshire side of the river was more subject to the floods, not only than the opposite side of the stream, but also than it would have been had the land on both sides of the river been equally level. So vexatious, indeed, were the floods over a part of this tract, and to such an extent were the farmers damaged thereby, that some years ago some of them, under the direction and guidance of Mr. Lord, of Stanton Harcourt, the largest tenant farmer in the district, carried out an embankment and cutting at a longer distance from the river than the one the subject of this paper, along some part of the same tract of country as is embraced by the embankment now under description. This small embankment was so great a success, and the country which was protected by it from being flooded so greatly increased in value, that, as soon as an opportunity occurred, the occupiers of the land contiguous to the river, who are chiefly tenants of the Rev. W. V. Harcourt, of Nuneham Park, near Oxford, bestirred themselves to have an embankment and cutting, similar to the |