TIGHT COOPERAGE 147 



staves turned out for tight cooperage, there are also a large number of 

 other specialized products, such, for example, as beer barrels and special 

 barrels for the West Indian liquor trade, for claret, turpentine, molasses, 

 tank staves and other special sizes such as half beer barrels, quarter 

 barrels, sixth barrels, eighth barrels, ale hogsheads, etc. 



In order of quantity, oil and tierce staves come first. Next, in order, 

 are the " wines," then the " whiskies," the " porks," etc. With the 

 advent of prohibition, there has been a decrease in the production of 

 wines and whiskies and a great increase in the making of oil barrels. 



ANNUAL PRODUCTION 



It is estimated that at the present time between 450,000,000 and 

 500,000,000 staves are annually produced together with about 40,000,000 

 sets of heading for the tight-cooperage industry. 



According to the latest available government statistics 1 published for 

 the year 1911, there were over 357,000,000 staves produced during that 

 year and over 30,000,000 sets of heading. Although the production of 

 both staves and heading are distributed over 25 different states, nearly 

 one- third of all staves were produced in Arkansas where more than 

 twice as many were cut than in the state next in order of production. 

 Other important states producing staves are Tennessee, West Virginia, 

 Mississippi and Kentucky. New Hampshire is classified as an important 

 tight cooperage state, but this produces chiefly white pine stock for fish 

 and pickle buckets, mince-meat pails, etc. Sometimes these are classified 

 with the slack cooperage stock. 



Arkansas furnishes 40 per cent of the heading and nearly three times 

 more than Tennessee, its nearest competitor. Other important states 

 producing heading are Mississippi, Kentucky, Missouri and Louisiana. 



It is apparent, therefore, that the industry is centralized in Arkansas 

 and a few other states bordering on the Mississippi River south of the 

 mouth of the Ohio River. 



As contrasted with the production of 1911, in 1905 there were pro- 

 duced only about 241,000,000 staves and about 13,000,000 sets of head- 

 ing, nearly all of which was made up of white oak. 



About 25 per cent of our tight cooperage stock is exported under 

 normal conditions, New Orleans being the principal exporting center. 

 Hewed staves are manufactured almost entirely for the foreign market, 

 most of the work being done by expert foreign laborers. Most of the 

 exported material goes to Europe, and France is the leading nation which 



1 U. S. Bureau of the Census and U. S. Forest Service. 



