The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-04-17
THE USEFUL BARREL.

portant part it plays in many Amerl-
can industries. He never stops to
think how seriously trade would be
handicapped if the barrel supply were
suddenly to give out, or if some indi-
vidual or corporation succeeded in cor
nering the barrel market. Neither of
these things is likely, but moments
thought on either will serve to con-
vince one that the homely barrel is a
more important factor in industry
than it is popularity thought to be.
This is particularly true of the
"slack" barrel. In the cooperage
trade barrels are commonly classified
as tight" and slack. The slack
barrel is used to hold commodities
which are not liquid, such as lime,
salt, cement, flour, sugar, fruit, vege-
tables and great many other articles.
In many respects the slack barrel is
an ideal container for such material.
1t is strong, durable and easily han
died. The articles which it contains
are thoroughly protected, and after
being once used the barrel may be
used again and reused for many diff
terent purposes, and, after having
served its time as container, it has a
final va1ue as frewood.
The ordinary slack barrel consists
of some sixteen or seventeen slaves,
two heads of three pieces each, and
half a dozen hoops. No complete
statistics are available upon the
amount of timber annually used in
the manufacture of slack cooperage,
but reports indicate that last year
there were produced over billion
slaves, over two hundred million sets
of heading and more than three hun
dred million of hoops. Many wire
hoops are also used. 1t is probably
safe to say that, altogether, more than
eight hundred million board feet of
timber are used annually in the man.
facture of slack barrels in the United
States, and that if the barrels which
are made in a single year were stood
on end, side by side, they would cover
an area of over eighty thousand acres.
Because of its great strength and
toughness elm has long been the prin-
cipal wood used for slaves for high
class barrels and for hoops, and it will
be the favorite until the supply is ex-
hausted. There has been a great in
crease in the use of gum wood for
slaves within the last few years.
Eastwood has always been the pre-
ferred wood for heading because Of
its soft, even grain, but it, too, is be-
ing gradually replaced by gum.
The production of elm lumber in
the United States has decreased over
Fifty per cent. in the last seven years.
Elm is cut most largely in the North
ern States, and particularly in Wis
consin, Indiana and Michigan, and
the exhaustion of the supply in those
States has had most serious effect
upon the slack cooperage industry.
One of the prominent manufactur-
ers estimates that there are not half
the slaves made in Michigan now that
there were ten years ago. Saginaw,
which used to be the principal home
of the industry, is now producing stock
only in a small way, and, as matter
of fact, most of the cooperage stock
made in Michigan now comes from
the Northern Peninsula, instead Of
from the Southern Peninsula, as was
formerly the case. 1t is the opinion
of one of the best informed and most
prominent manufacturers in Ohio that
today there are not 900 slaves pro-
duced in that State, where there were
10, 900 slaves made ten years ago.
Red gum grows most abundantly
in Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi and
Tennessee, and with the increased use
of this and other Southern woods in
the manufacture of slack cooperage,
the industry is shifting southwark at
a rapid rate. 1t is said that there are
now score of first-class plants, max
ing slaves and heading in Louisiana,
where there was only one of any large
capacity ten years ago. 1t will be
only few years, however, until the
maximum output of these States will
be reached, and there, too, the manu-
facturers will be compelled by the
scarcity of material to hunt vigorous
ly for a supply of timber.
So far, forest utilization in the Uni
ted States has been of the most waste
full kind, and only a relatively small
percentage of the actual wood coutent
of trees has fiually reached the con-
sumer in the form of some useful
article, whether that be board or stave
or shingle. Studies made by the for
est service of the Department of Ag-
riculture indicate that in the manu-
facture of slaves and hoops only fifty
to sixty per cent. of the contents OF
log which goes to the mill finally
emerges in the manufactured form,
and that, with heading, perhaps no
more than twenty-five per cent. OF
the actual volume of the log finally
goes into the barrel heads.
Much of this lack of utilization cam
not be prevented, yet there are posi-
bilities of greater economy than IS
commonly practiced.
1t is equally important to utilize the
waste which unavoidably occurs.
Every part of tree may serve some
useful purpose, and officers of the
forest service say that the time when
it will do so is rapidly approaching
Manufacturers of slack cooperage
stock are confronted by the same
problems, which are now meeting al.
most every user of wood in the United
States, an increasing scarcity and a
correspondingly higher price. The
farm wood lot has frequently furnish,
ed timber for the maker of hoops anc
slaves and heading, and it is the opin
ion of some who are best informed
upon conditions in the slack cooper
age industry that if properly managed
these wood lots could be made thu
source of supply for a large proper
ton of the timber required for barrels
A pPIES'r was describing heaven Il