836 



GLEANINGS IN REE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



nailed together so as to have the grain cross, to 

 prevent spiiltiug. But before the wheels are 

 thus uaiied, ihe basket spliuts must be put in 

 place. These wheels have a half- inch hole 

 through ihe center. This hole permits them lo 

 slip over ihe steel rod or standard that slicks 

 up out of the form. Then the nut or burr is 

 screwed down so as to hold them at ju^t such a 

 distance apart, while the ends of ihe splints 

 fortuiiig the basket are pushed between the 

 board wheels. 



Before we go any further, however, we must 

 provide ourselves with splints. These spliiiis 

 are made of red oak. 1 notice by the basket 

 which 1 have in my hand that the splints are 

 aboui 3 inches wide — may be a little le.-s. The 

 thickness of each stave is only a plutnp ,V incli. 

 In each basket there are aboui 30 staves, and 

 these Slaves must be gotten out some wav with- 

 out much expense. AJy good friend Roberts 

 goes lo the woods and cuts down a suitable 

 large red-oak tree. With a crosscut saw he 

 cuts it up into lengths of about 3 feet; and 

 after he gets home these lengths are once more 

 cut in two, making J8 inch blocks for staves. 

 These blocks are then split up with a frow 

 (such as people used for making shingles years 

 ago), so that we shall have planks split out 

 about 3 inches thick, the width of the staves, 

 said pieces of plank being 18 inches long. 



Now, the staves of our basket must be taper- 

 ing; in fact, each one must be tapered pretty 

 nearly lo a point where it comes between the 

 wheels that make the bottom of the basket; 

 therefore these 3 inch planks must be tapered 

 80 as to look like a very wide wooden wedge. 

 He tapers them with a drawknife. similar to 

 what coopers use. It takes a good deal of hard 

 work to do this tapering by hand; but he says 

 he can taper a good many while he would be 

 carrying a load to some wood- working factory 

 to have it done by appropriate macliinery. 



After he has got out a lot of these huge 

 wooden wedges they are deposited in his wife's 

 wash boiler, and boiled on the cook-stove. 

 They require boiling about an hour to make 

 the wood soft enough so he can shave It up into 

 staves. After boiling, the wedge-shaped block 

 Is screwed into a vise, and then he takes a 

 home-made drawknife or splitting-gauge set so 

 as to take off a shaving a little more than ^ 

 inch thick. With his stout muscular arms our 

 friend will slice off staves or big shavings, you 

 might call them, about as fast as one can pick 

 them up. It made me think of the cooper shav- 

 ings we schoolboys used to carry home from 

 the cooper-shop across the road from the school- 

 house, in olden time. Now, although these 

 looked like the old fashioned cooper shavings, 

 they are all of an exact size, length, and thick- 

 ness. From their shape they made me think 

 of great big cucumber seeds. __ 



You will remember we left the wheel stand- 

 ing on the form in the middle of the room. 

 Now our friend picks up the big cucumber 

 seeds and sticks them point first in between the 

 two wooden wheels forming the bottom. When 

 he gets clear around we lind it takes just 15 to 

 reach; then he slides in 1.5 more on top of the 

 first lot so as to break joints. The whole thing 

 now looks like a mammoth ox-eye daisy with 

 its white petals sticking out like the rays of a 

 star from a white basswood wheel. The nut 

 on that central steel rod is now pressed down so 

 as to hold every thing solid, A big washer is 

 placed under the nut so that said nut shall not 

 sink into the soft basswood. 



We are now ready to nail the bottom fast to 

 the splints. The right sort of wire nails are 

 driven down through the staves, and clinched 

 against the heavy iron form underneath the 



bottom. If the oak were dry and seasoned it 

 might be hard to get the nails ihrough; but 

 you remember they have just been steamed, 

 and the action of the dampness in the wood on 

 the nails soon rusts them so tight and solid they 

 can never budge. This wooden bottom liolds 

 ihe splints up from the floor so thai ihey do not 

 get wurn through by sliding the basket around. 



After the boitom is naikd fast, a big stout 

 hoop like that used by coopers is laid on top of 

 the pi'ojecting staves and ciowaed down. '1 his 

 makes uur big star into the form of a basket, fn 

 a twinkling. A hoop made something like an 

 ordinary barrel hoop is now placed on the 

 Slaves about half way between the lop and 

 bottom of the basket, and nailed to every stave. 

 A similar but lighter hoop is placed inside, and 

 the nails go through boili hoops and the staves 

 between liiem. In the same way a pair of 

 heavier hoops are put around the top edge of 

 the staves, one hoop inside and one outside. 

 When these are done the basket is all finished 

 except the handles. These are made of steam- 

 ed oak or other suitable wood, being notched in 

 with a sharp knile where they strike the upper 

 hoop, and are then stapled fast to the upper 

 edge of the basket, with appropr.ate iron 

 staples. These staples are driven through and 

 clinched. 



The basket is now ready to be handed over 

 to the farmer, for corn, potatoes, or any other 

 crops. It is pretty close business making such 

 a basket, and furnishing material, so that it 

 can be retailed for 12}4 cents, is it not, friends? 

 Friend Roberts told uie he used to gel $2.50 a 

 dozen for these baskets. They were then re- 

 tailed for 25 cts. apiece, For several yi-ars the 

 price has been gradually coming down. You 

 see he Is obliged to compete wiih inferior work 

 — the gift baskets that are not expected to much 

 more than hang together until you get home 

 with your produce. He not only works all day, 

 but he saws out the wheels for the bottoms eve- 

 nings, by lamplight, makes the handles, and 

 dops other nigiiiwork. ; 



The hoops are made by taking a log to the 

 sawmill, and having It sawed into 3-inch 

 planks. Then with a buzz-saw they rip off 

 strips from this plank, about ^^ inch thick, or 

 less. The logs are cut of such length as to 

 make an even number of hoops, without waste; 

 then friend Roberts splits up the long thin 

 lath with a splitting gauge, so as to make 

 dirrerent width pieces. The lower hoop is ^g 

 inch wide, the upper one a plump inch. 



iNow, friends, here is a valuable object-lesson 

 in the little story I have been telling you. 

 Rather than be out of work and do nothing at 

 all, our good friend has decided to work thus 

 cheaply; in fact, lie told me the only outlet for 

 him to pay his rent and educate his children, 

 keeping them decently clothed, was to make 

 baskets at this low price. Are you doing as 

 much In your own home and neighborhood to 

 help things along? You see he is not only 

 helping himself, but he is giving the farmers, 

 who are obliged lo sell their crops so cheaply, 

 a good serviceable oak basket at a price corres- 

 pondingly low compared with what they get 

 for the sttrflf they sell. Sometimes it seems 

 hard. I know, to be obliged to work hard and 

 get only small pay at that; hut when we come 

 right down to business, and decide to make the 

 best of everything just as we find It in this 

 world of ours, we are pretty sure to find a good 

 deal to be thankful for after all. 



After visiting the basket-maker I made a 

 call on Mr. Job Green, the Medina Co. nursery- 

 man. When I came near ihe place I judged 

 the family were busy cleaning house, for the 

 lounges, easy-chairs, and other furniture stood 



