The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1909-04-17
Built by Thousands, But Few
People Posted.
Croatians Work Arkansas Timber
For shipment Abroad 20 Cask
Country's Wine.
U. S. SLAVES ARE IN DEMAND

anu III point Oh time tue cOOptIdbc
industry is venerable. The. Good
Book" mentions slack barrel work
and nearly 1000 years ago Pliny,
the special writer of his time. de-
voted an article to the subject With
all his research he could locate the
origin of the industry in place only;
even in his time it was so ancient
that the beginning was hidden in
the maze OF years.
The perfection OF barrel is only
the laying on of many hands to the
imperial white oak. or course. bar
rels are made OF many other kinds
of timber. but il is the white oak
that makes the best and the highest
priced says the 81. Louis Globe
Democfat, A fine white oak whose
Symmetrical branches and vertical
lined bark showed the men who
read wood lore as an open book that
IL would rive well. attracted the
attention of two men that were look
ing for stave trees. One OF them
voiced his satisfaction at the pros
pect in the vernacular of the trade:
Il say. Bill. that is good for two
cuts of queens pipe five cuts OF
WHISTLES and short 'splayed stock
clear to the limbs"
The queens pipe" meant that IL
would make the very best of slaves
sixty-six inches long. In the days
of Good Queen Bess" a special cask
of royal size WAS called a queens
pipe" WHISTLES" are the slaves for
a whisky barrel. "Splayed short
stock" is for the coDical vessels that
are used for an infinite variety OF
purposes.
The two men are not stayemak-
ers; they are known as boilers: their
mission is to get the tree felled and
divided into bolts. leaving TO others
the work of subdividing them into
slaves.
The necessity for saving time and
material has led TO notifications OF
the tools used. Wedges are made so
wide in proportion to length as 10
look like axes without handles. With
deft strokes the different cuts OF
the tree trunk are changed into the
bolts" that look like firewood split
in very uniform size and tended
up" along the remainder of the log
and round the stump. The work
of the boilers Is ended for this tree
Except for the greater care exer-
cised there is nothing different in
irving slaves from irving the old
time elapboards. The riven boards
are piled in alternate layers and
weighted down to prevent warping
while they dry out. In spite OF the
vigilance OF the boilers and rivers
defective pieces will get into the
piles and reduce the number that
will pass inspection when the slaves
are shipping dry.
The efforts put forth and expense
incurred to get American slaves are
almost incredible. There is a crew
of men now in Van Buren, county,
that came from Croatia in
search of slaves OF an odd size, not
made by American manufactures.
They trough out" the stock. half dry
1t. haul ii sixty-five miles on wagons.
hew it to dimension to reduce
weight, send II to Mobile by rail,
whence II is carried to Adriatic
ports, again transferred to railroad !
and taken to Agram, where IL is
finally made into casks for the
Croahian wines.
The WHISTLES" that our men
bolted out and rove are the best of
the tree. II is a case of give a dog |
a bad name" for while for convent
ence they still retain the title. not
20 per cent of the barrels made with
whisky slaves ever hold whisky
Russia. with its great wealth OF
forest that its inhabitants have not
the skill to utilize, puts its kero-
sene in American barrels. The 4
South American countries are great
users of United States cooperage.
The Frenchman, the Italian. the
Spaniard, the Turk and the Arab
store wines TO ripen IN American
barrels and the Englianman's ale can
attain perfection only in " oggs'eads
Eof Hamerican hoax"
u is a singular fact that while
mere are no products OF the oak
that are agreeable to the taste. oak
barrels seem to give a fine flavor TO
yrei IinIpdtataupW 12345 121212
beverages. The perfection OF whis-
kies are those that have ripened in
0ak barrels.
What becomes OF the old barrels?
Like human beings they must trust
much to fate and hayeoii ttle control
over destiny. Some through no ef-
Tort OF their own will reach a
high plane of existence. so monoton-
BUS as to be often mistaken for stag
nation; others will rapidly rise to
of career and then grad
lally descend to oblivion. The bar
rel whose fate Il was to cross the
ocean comes back filed with chcioe
lfouor ana xuhffa A lasted Qnfova,l III