The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-05-22
Has Changed from Nuisance
to Thing Of Value.
FRUIT AND TRUCK CRATES
These, Which We're Formerly Imported
from the North, Are Now Made
from the Despised Gum Logs.
Women Make the Baskets.
Especial From STAFF Correspondent


ago about the most worthless thing
log. such as could be found In gren
numbers In this section ana IN man.
parts OF the Carolinas. The only thing
fully equalling 1t In worthlessncss was
a gum tree growing In the forest. To-day
It is m acknowledged fact that the gun
tree has added enormously. directly anc
Indirectly to the profit Of truck raising
IN this section of Virginia and NORTH
Carolina, and incidentally. 1t is responsi
BILE for an industry which gives ample
payment to thousands of mon and womer
in the community
& Not many years ago. practically all tht
boxes crates, baskets and barrels, used
IN the shipment Of truck came from tn
North. They were manufactured chiefly
in the State of New York, and every
year the trucker had to send away q
large share OF his last years profits to
pay for receptaolcs In which to ship his
present years crop. Tho barrels ana
boxes came to Norfolk empty and were
sent back filled, but the money they cost
never came back.
WAS A HAPPY CONCEPTION.
One red letter day a man conceived
the Idea that the gum tree which grew
in profuson in the forests and swa1nps.
would make stnves and boards for truck
E barrels and crates, IL Souiu pe
found for splitting 1t. BE 1t known that
It Is MS hard to split gum log as 1t is to
make Theodore Roosevelt change his
mind. So he set about the devisinE Of mn
chinery with which the logs could be
4 worked up. Other men became interest
I'd, and the result of their united la
bors is seen In tho ponderous machinery
In the barrel factories In and near this
city to-day.
The factory. Of the Farmers Manufac-
turing Company in this city, which may
be taken as an average, used about 10000
leet Of gum logs every day for ten
months a year in the manufad lire OF
boxes barrels and baskets. The 4 mpany
.rrns out and soils right Mt the factory
door every year 100000 truck barrels.
Nobody knows how many berry baskets
holding quart each, are made at the
factory. was told at the office that the
figures wero certainly not under eight
million: that they might reach ten mill
lion.
The company manufactures from the
raw material oil these barrels and boxes,
and sells them to the truckers who re-
side almost In sight of the factory.
ARE SOLD VERY CHEAP.
A gentleman who has studied the sub
icct closely told me to-day that the cost
ITO the farmers Of the barrels and boxes
made here was only about one-ffth of
that of those made from more expensive
wood in the North and transported hither.
Where the trucker spent ten dollars for
barrels a decade or so ago, he now spends
two, and sends rs much truck to market
ut about as good prices.
And the owner Of the gum swamp, who
formerly thought the more of It he had
The poorer he was. now finds himself
growing rich off of the once despisod
sweet gum.
The factory alluded to above begins
/. work with the log, Indeed, 1t begins at
the swamp. for the company. owns many
ceres OF gum timber chiefly located In
North Carolina. Tho logs are delivered by
the railway company at the yard, and
they are then pulled by machinery to the
drag saw at tho end of the immense
building, where they are cut into four
foot lengths.
HOW BARRELS ARE MADE
But the redoubtabe gum Is not yet
ready to take kindly TO being worked.
It first has to undergo torture In the
i"sweatbox.:L In tho yard, near to tho
Z drag saw. sxe, i1timense wooden boxes,
capable OF holding many thousands Of
feet These are practically air tight. A
box Is filled with several hundred logs
and closed. after which steam, condu cted
from two immense boilers In the factory.
Is turned In. The impression made upon
pNe approaching these boxes for tho first
time is that charcoal Is being manufnc-
ner familiar to all the older readers OF
The 14mes-Dispatch who arc native to the
mountainous section Of Virginia. The
enect OF smoke Is produced by clouds of
SteaIn escaping from crevices between tho
boards which form tho boxes
I 1t requires from twenty-fo11r IN for+y-
sight hours to reduce the gum to sub
mission and put It into mood willing
10 be carved up by the hungry machines
waiting for 1t inside tho factory n few
Fards away When the timber has been
sufficiently steamed the doors OF tho no,
IRE opened and the logs are drawn forth
by means OF graphing hooks. for they
are as hot az boiling water While sfiil
Stenming they arc rolled up inside the
building and to the lnife-a ponderous
machine, whose chief feature is ponder
ous cylinder. presumably OF Steel about
feet long. with sharp knife or bit
cast into its side and running Its entire
length The log is firmly locked in n
machine somewhat resembling a turner's
lathe, which is set to cut board OF the
required thickness.
The machinery is started. the log re-
wolves rapidly against the sharp, rigid
knife. and shayings feet wide begin to
run out along the platform behind. 1t
keeps two men busy throwing tho hot
Bhavings to one side. where they are
.aken by others and borne to another
machine. to be cut into slaves tho de-
el' iit ioS 10 SIltNtu GDWn
antil there is left only core OF perhaps
foot in diameter This is sawed trans
rersely in thcknesses Of less than an
inch, and Inv pieces are used as heads
Tor the barrels The bark Is the only
portion Of the log not put to use In the
ma nufacture OF barrels,
The barrel IS set up on revolving
machine, which the cooper works with
his foot, II requires but few minutes
20 turn out finished barrel. as good az
The most careful trucker desires for his
cabbage.
WOMEN MAKE THE gASKETs.
The berry baskets arr made by ma
chinery on the second floor. Tho opera
,tives are women, They work at a long
z liable. each at machine The feature of
Which is a metal cube which lust ais
quart berry bnnket, The thin strlps
from which the baskets are made. cut to
exactly the proper width and length, are
piled on the table at the Operatives hand
arranged In pairs laid together. 80 as 10
form maltese cross She lays the cross
on the cube, presses down two ends OF The