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Door of a hop drying kiln of the Vltavský Rakovník company, Saaz hop growing equipment of agricultural farms producing hops. The
region, beginning of the 20 century
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main source of energy for the operation of tools and
machinery, as well as the transport of materials in hop
growing, had been manpower and the pulling power
of horses and cattle. Combustion engines started to be
increasingly used in agriculture, to run the stationary
machines and drive the working machines in the fields
and in the hop fields, and for the transportation of the
fertilisers, harvest, and products.

The necessary hop growing tools were mostly manufactured
and supplied by local smiths and some smaller production
plants and factories, such as Hans Schuldes. A wide range
of special equipment for hanging strings and wires on
the hop field trellis constructions, little wolves, irons,
squirrels, and cuckoos, were developed by the local
craftsmen and businessmen. As well as these, there were
aids to anchor the wires, tools for hop field construction
assembly, devices for dusting and spraying against pests
and diseases, water vessels and tankers, and sprays and
suds. All these stages of innovation, in the development of
2. Description captured by the extensive collections of authentic objects
hop fields and economic procedures, have been faithfully

and technological elements within the exhibitions of the
Hop Museum in Žatec.

There was a great ongoing need for workers during
the main harvest season. With new social and labour
conditions, new situations and problems occurred during
130 the hiring of pickers and the signing of work contracts. It
was necessary to organise the remuneration of mediators,
accommodation, transport, and boarding, amongst
other things. Associated services were developed in the
total, 2,500 tonnes of hops were bought up and destroyed. town, including accommodation capacities at different
A similar solution was introduced in neighbouring Germany. standards, and monetary services of the new banking
institutions. All this took place during the economic crisis
In the interwar period, Žatec further specialised in and in the subsequent period that followed.
monitoring the quality of its hops and trade activities; in
the second half of the 1920s, a new hop marking centre After the beginning of the 20 century, hop drying in hop
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was constructed, with storerooms, in Žatec. The building drying kilns became commonly used. The most frequent
on Chmelařské Square (in component part 02) was were Linhart’s and Vltavský’s drying kilns, especially in the
ceremoniously opened on the 5 of October, 1929. From Rakovník, Žatec, and Podbořany regions. In some regions,
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1930 to 1931, an administrative building was added for the Löschner’s drying kilns were used. These were soon
hop growing institutions. In 1932, thanks to the initiative of modernised according to the Linhart system. In 1942, the
the German hop growers, a monument with reliefs of three number of drying kilns in the region was estimated at two
significant German hop growers, who were organisers of the thousand.
hop growing and agricultural societies in Žatec, at the turn of
the 20 century, was erected on the premises of the marking A drying technology, called Saazia that was produced
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centre. They were Hans Damm (1860–1917), Theodor in Bílina, was partially used. Kreisl’s drying kilns, from
Zuleger (1858–1929), and Josef Fischer (1852–1941). Kněževes, or Václav Kurka’s drying kilns, from Louny, were
also common, and drying kilns with trays were used for
Further progress was made in the field of hop cultivation hop drying for quite a long time.
when new specialised ploughing blades were developed
for the new wire trellis hop fields. In the 1920s, pest- Manufacturers produced drying kilns of various power
spraying was introduced; it was first animal-drawn and then and sizes to meet the needs of the growers, and they were
motorised. later equipped with newer technical accessories. Such
modernisation took place in the hop warehouses and
As well as innovations in hop drying, there was rapid hop packaging houses in Žatec as well. Hop sulphuring
improvement in the technical and the motorised chambers were newly added and embedded, and they