1922.] Crate-Rod and Barrel-Hoop Trades. 821 



Barrel-Hoop and Crate-Rod Making in Hampshire. — The 



woodland industries of Hampshire and Berkshire, with the local 

 system of ownership, cultivation and dealing, have been 

 described elsewhere.* Barrel-hoop shaving and crate-rod cutting 

 are branches of the woodman's art, rather than separate trades. 

 Crate-rods are of several sizes and are sold in bundles known as 

 * * seventy-fives , " * ' forties , ' ' and ' ' twenties . " f For barrel-hoops 

 rather stouter hazel wands are split with a blunt tool to two or 

 three or four bands and shaved on the inner surface so that they 

 lie flat against the barrel. The bark forms the rounded outer 

 surface. The wood is cut to the various lengths required by 

 means of a simple measuring apparatus, consisting of a row of 

 stakes driven into the ground at the correct intervals. Barrel- 

 hoops differ from 2J ft. to 15 ft. in length. The Hampshire 

 names for the hoops are daughters," 2^r ft.; short pink," 

 5 ft.; long pink," 6 ft.; " firkin," 7 ft.; " kiliken," 8 ft. 

 Nine feet, ten feet, and all the intermediate half-sizes have no 

 other name, but eleven feet is short pipe " ; twelve feet " long 

 pipe"; thirteen feet "middling," and fourteen feet "swinger." 

 It is said to take about a month to learn the work so as to do it 

 at a remunerative pace, and it would be a valuable occupation 

 for a woodman which might keep him busy the whole winter. 



It is not surprising that potters and coopers prefer to trade with 

 some known dealer rather than with the " little farmers," as they 

 call the rural wood dealers, who are sometimes uneducated and 

 illiterate. Talking of unreliable deliveries, a crate-maker said, "I 

 am not particular if there's a bundle or two short, but if it goes 

 on every time, I get up against something." The unreliability 

 is not only on the side of the woodlanders. Fluctuations which 

 have made the trade so risky for the woodlanders and local 

 dealers have sometimes been due to bankruptcy or to dishonour- 

 able practices amongst crate-makers. Consignments have been 

 ordered in advance and when the time has come for payment, 

 excuses have been made that the material was faulty; or the 

 vendor has been recommended to sell his stock to some other 

 crate-maker because the man who ordered it no longer requires 

 it ; or the purchaser, having resold the consignment at a profit, 

 has disappeared without paying for it. Even if such cases are 

 rare, there have been enough to shake the confidence of men 

 far away with no knowledge of business, who could get no 



* The Rural Industries Round Oxford, pp. 79-102. 



f The prices quoted in the spring of 1921 were 2s., Is, 9d. and Is. 6d. 

 respectively. 



