Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1897-06-03
A eARRel.AooP MAenATE.
Some Revelations by m Old Farmer
About HIS Queer business.

Some Revelations by m Ola Farmer
About HIS Queer business.
On the night boat from Kingston to
New York few nights ago, u little knot
of young people were discussing the
various methods of earning living and
the invasion of mems professions by fe-
male workers, when a-well-dressed and
prosperous-looking 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 continues: snow, I'll
bet that none of you young folks can
guess how get my living or why am
going to New York so early in the
spring."
Every guess was as good miss as
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 Spectator in: shaved bar
rel hoops, hoops for tubs, and wood
straps for packing boxes; and I've been
in the business since I was a yNung
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
have a neat income from the profits of
my business of fully $4,000 year.
have done this kind Of work for more
than 30 years, and have acquired COM
petence at it. lcarry OF my operations
If two or three states, and own several
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 n description
as to how hoops were prepared for the
market. Winter-cut hoop poles are the
easiest worked, as they were filled with
frost and 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 and 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 to the shops,
where they are split into lengths. r..
Every pole furnishes two hoops, and
generally the longer poles two long
| straps, which are used in the packing
box trade, and two short barrel hoops.
I 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 acts
| as 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, and
shaved fat as 1T is pushed under the
| head until the entire length is shaved.
They are then bound in punches of 100
each, and they are ready for the market.
The long straps are used solely for the
| binding of packing boxes, and are sold
entirely to the pacldng-box trade.
The old man said that most of the
hoops used in New York and in the
, Hudson river towns came from along
the Delaware G., Hudson canal, in IN
Eter county: The trade had been inter
fercd with somewhat by the using of
steambent hoops Of sawed ash and by
band iron.
In the. hay-pressing business wire
binders had driven the use of shaved
hoops out altogether, yet the business,
in spite of these losses, is good, and in
busy years, when trade in'general p1er-
cbandise and building materials is brisk,
there is q demand for all the hoops that
can be produced.-N Y. Times.
| ~ .#.