White Oaks eagle. (White Oaks, N.M.) 189?-190?, 1897-07-08
a BARREL-HOOP MAGNATE.
Some Revelations by nm OLD Farmer
About His Queer business.


On the night boat from Kingston to
New York few nights ago, Il little knot
of young people were discussing the
various methods of earning Il living and
the invasion of mems professions by fe-
male workers, when weli-dressed and
prosperous-lool,ing old man, who had
been an interested listener, chuckled
audibly and said:
81 calculate there'll never be any
women get inside of my line of bust
ness" Then he continued: Now, I'll
bet that none Of you young folks can
guess how l get my living OF why | am
going to New York so early in the
SPRING"
Every guess was Gs good a m.- as a
mile would have been, and after laugh
ing heartily, he seated himself in the
party and said
"Well, it's Just barrel hoops. I'm an
operator and specuiator in haved bar
rel hoops, hoops for tubs, and wood
straps for packing boxes; and I've beer
in the business since l was a young
man.
"It's a queer business to city people.
Yet, to cut hoop poles, shave hoops,
ard to speculate in hoops shaved by
other people is about all | do, and !
lave a neat income from the profits of
my business of fully $1,000 year.
bave done this kind Of work for more
than 80 years, and have acq@ired com
pctence at it. carry or my operations
ir two or three states, and own sevcra!
hundred acres of land in Pennsylvania,
which pays for itself every four or five
years in the hickory and oak hoop poles
that are taken off it,"
The old man then gave a description
as to how hoops were prepared for the
market. Winter-cut hoop poles are the
easiest worked, as they were filed with
frost ard split easy. Everything in the
way of hard wood saplings, principally
white, rock, red and white oak, pignut
hickory, ash and other fibrous woods
from seven feet to 30 feet tall, are suit
able for hoops,
Soft woods, such as chestnut ard but
ternut, are also suitable for hoops, espe-
cially for powder kegs and butter fir
kins, but not for barrels, The poles
after being cut, are taken - the shops
where they are split into lengths.
Every pole furnishes two hoops, and
generally the longer poles two lcne
straps, which are used in the packing
box trade, and two short barrel hoops
The outfit of the men consists of an adj
to split the poles, common draWknife
and a horse having a treadlc worked by
the foot, and having a head which act:
as a clamp on the platform Of the horse
The hoop, when ready for shaving, is
laid fiat on the horse, and held fast by
the pressure of the foot on the head, ant
shaved fiat as it is pushed under the
head until the entire length is shaved
They are then bound in bunch2s Of 10(
each, and they are ready for the market
The long straps are used solely Tor the
binding of packing boxes, and are solo
entirely to the paching-boX trade.
The old man said that most Of tht
loops used in New York and in the
Hudson river towns came from along
the Delaware & Hudson canal, in Ut
ctcr county. The trade had been inter
fcrcd with somewhat by the using 0.
stcambent hoops of sawed ash and by
band iron.
In the hay-press.ng business wire
binders had driver the use Of sh1vec
hoops out altogether, yet the business
in spite of these losses, is good, and il
busy years, when trade in general mer
chandsc and building materials is brisk
there is demand for all the hoops TIA
can be produced.-N Y. Times.