MALT-HOUSES, KILNS, HOP-OASTS, ETC. 5;>7 stairs to the drying-floor j t, the roof of the cooling-loft ; and u, collar beams for supporting the spindle of the cowl. Fig. 1150 is a longitudinal section on the line C D, in which I' V show the situation of the movable steps from the common floor of the passage loft, and cooling-room, to the double doors, w, of the drying-floor ; x, bottom boards of the doors, eighteen inches deep, which fit into grooves, and have two holes in each for Lifting them up every time the drying-floor is to be emptied. While this operation is going on, the step-ladders are removed, and the hops are swept through the door, and faU down into the passage loft, whence they are swept along to the cooling-chamber ; z is the ridge of the roof from the cooling-chamber and passage loft. Fig. 1151 is a cross section of one of the larger kilns on the line E F, for the purpose of showing the returns of the flues, from the centre to the sides in the lower part of the dunge, and from the sides to the chimney shaft in the upper part of the dunge. Fig. 1152 is a dissected plan of the drying-floOr, in which a a are the iron girders, the strength of which may cither be such as to require no supports between the ends ; or they may be so slight as to require one or more pillars as props between the extremities ; when they are of cast iron, they may be in two lengths, four inches deep in the middle, and half an inch thick, each length of sixteen feet, supported by two iron colunms : 6 & are
