820 



Ceate-Rod and Barrel-Hoop Trades. 



[Dec, 



iT.herefore the rods remained unsold. Another example is seen 

 in the statement made in Cornwall that French hazel hoops are 

 better than English, being more " suent." On inquiry in the 

 Pottery towns it was learnt that French hoops are cut at shorter 

 intervals, and are therefore more suitable than EngHsh ones for 

 small j&sh-barrels, but no use at all for the big pottery " tubs " 

 used in Staffordshire. Closer contact with the market would 

 enable estate agents or the estate woodmen to cut at the right 

 periods for the most convenient market, and would induce them 

 to devote more care to those wouds that are favoured by soil, 

 aspect and situation for producing what is required. If a manu- 

 facturer can save his labour costs by getting better material, it 

 is worth his while to give a better price. 



Casual Growth of Trade Connections. — The following story 

 will illustrate the casual way in which trade connections grow up, 

 and explains the tenacity with which they are kept up once they 

 are made, and the sudden collapse that may occur in a small 

 industry if a trade connection is broken through death or from 

 some other clause. 



A crate-maker in the Potteries who was setting up in business 

 applied to the local goods station for a list of firms from whom 

 crate-rods and barrel-hoops had been received. He wrote to the 

 man whose name happened to come at the head of the list, and 

 has dealt with him ever since. On getting an inquiry for crate- 

 rods, this man, who lived near Basingstoke, replied that he was 

 willing to send them but wanted to know how he would get the 

 money. Whereat the crate-maker promptly sent him a cheque 

 for £'50, and told him it would be " quite all right ; you have 

 only to take it to one of the local tradesmen and ask him to cash 

 it for you, and send along the stuff as soon as it is ready." This 

 confidence was not abused, the consignment of wood arrived in 

 due course and cheques and crate-rods continued to be exchanged 

 periodically. Curiosity at length caused the dealer to visit the 

 unknown but open-handed crate -maker who was making his for- 

 tune. He returned with much information concerning the trade 

 and general conditions in the Pottery Towns that could not fail 

 to be of use to him, and with the idea, quite new to the small- 

 holders and farmers of the Hampshire woodlands, that such 

 information could be freely passed about amongst rival crate - 

 makers and coopers. In the south," said the crate-maker, 

 ** the less you say the more they think of you. Here we are 

 very free." 



