360 PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 
HICKORY. 
Reports from the Government Statistics place the number of barrels made 
in the United States at 300 million, by far the larger majority being “slack bar- 
rels,’ that is not for holding liquids. 
In recent years the manufactured hoops have grown in favor and have taken 
precedence over the split hickory poles, largely on account of the difficulty in 
: EUCALYPTUS TREE 
At the Home of Mrs. Rodgers, Watsonville, California; 135 Feet High; 17 Feet Girth Three Feet from 
Ground; 38 Years from Seed. 
procuring young hickory sprouts. At the same time iron hoops have become 
the standard for oil and other tight barrels where salt is not used in the contents. 
Pork and meat barrels, having a brine or salt solution would soon corrode and 
destroy metal hoops. 
It is but a few years since the entire output of cooperage was bound with 
hickory hoops until the young hickory forests were almost annihilated. As it is 
now, there are probably one hundred million barrels still made where hickory 
poles are used for hooping. 
