1922.] Crate-Kod and Barrel-Hoop Trades. 823 



and distributing firm, and the increasing organisation at the 

 market end of the trade should tend to make such a venture safer 

 than it could otherwise be. 



Stacking Barrel-Hoops and Crate-Rods. — Small consign- 

 ments of hazel barrel-hoops and crate-rods are wanted during the 

 winter months for current use while green. Workmen prefer to 

 use them green while they are easy to bend and twist. The bulk 

 of the wood, however, is sent off in the spring for stacking. If 

 properly stacked it is said to keep in good condition for two years. 

 The stacking is important, for if there should be a slump in the 

 pottery trade and consequently in crate-rods, a wood dealer may 

 incur very heavy losses through deterioration by keeping his 

 stock a whole year. A piece of bark is stripped off the whole 

 length of the wood for barrel-hoops to prevent rotting. Crate- 

 rods, which are finer, are merely stacked when dry, the butt 

 ends outwards, and protected from the wet with a thatch of twigs. 

 The larger wood for " crate heads." is " scotched," i.e., a patch 

 of bark removed. 



By April or May the wood has become dryer and lighter, and 

 consequently freights are lower. In January, 1921, when the 

 wood was wet and heavy, a load of crate-wood from Alton, 

 Hampshire, weighing 3 tons 13 cwt., cost as much as £7 4s. lOd. 

 in carriage, whereas in May two loads from Aldermaston in 

 Berkshire travelled for £5 18s. 8d. and £2 2s. 5d. respectively. 

 From Market Drayton in Staffordshire a load costing ^£5 was 

 procured at a cost of only 10s. in carnage. 



Crate-Making, Importance of Good Material. — Crate-making 

 has not even yet entirely died out as a rural industry in Stafford- 

 shire, though the bulk of the industry has come to the towns, 

 not only because made-up crates are bulky and inconvenient to 

 take in from the country, but for other reasons. A master 

 explained: — " It is education; the men found that they could 

 come into the towns and get the best material to work on, and 

 earn more money. They won't moil themselves over work when 

 they see others getting more pay for less work! " Crate-making 

 shares with other trades the reputation amongst its workers of 

 being the " m.ost down-trodden trade in existence." In the 

 country in Staffordshire the earnings were only about fifteen 

 shillings a week, and probably more precarious than the agri- 

 cultural wages. 



A master crate-maker who had In'mself been a workman laid 

 great stress on the importance of getting the exact sizes, shapes, 



