16 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
fanners thrive best where there are mills and fac- 
tories. We cummeud this successful effort of the 
Georgia planters to those in others of the Southern 
States. 
Hoop-Poles and Hoops. 
There are thousands of acres of rough or 
rocky land, -which might be profitably made to 
grow hoop-poles, if nothing else. Several years 
ago, in traveling through the billy and moun- 
tainous northern part of England, the writer 
saw many hundreds of acres planted with wil- 
lows, which were grown for the purpose of 
making spools for thread. Small matters of 
this kind are frequently more profitable than 
larger ones. An acre of hooii-poles is sooner 
grown than an acre of saw-logs, and there is as 
much money in the one as in the other. Sixty 
dollars' worth of hoop-poles have been taken 
from one acre of stony hill-side, which ten 
years before was a poor miserable pasture, and 
in five years more the sprouts will iurnish 
anotlier crop equal to the first in value. Many 
a field is now producing half a ton of hay per 
WmSmmi 
and hickory thrives. Tliere are many acres in 
the Western States interspersed amongst the 
rich praii-ies, as well 
as rough spots in the 
East, that might 
profitably be planted 
with these trees, if for 
no other object than 
hoop - poles. Sandy 
ridges and stony blufl's 
might be made to 
produce a crop of 
poles every four or 
five years, or indeed 
every year, by select- 
ing each time those 
of proper size, and 
fiu-nish .shelter at the 
same time. The 
shelter furnished by 
numerous groves of 
small timber is no 
small item, in con- 
sidering the value of these plantations. Then' 
culture is of the simplest character. Upon 
rough ground the 
nuts may be dropped 
four feet apart, and 
covered by the hoe. 
This may be done in 
the spring; if the 
nuts have been kept 
in dry sand, or buried 
under sods safe from 
vermin ; or in the fall 
when the nuts arc 
ripe. The thicker 
they are planted, the 
better is the growth 
at first. But hoops 
require to be tough, 
and the trees should 
not stand closer than 
four feet apart, to 
have a proper and 
solid growth. When 
they are ready to be 
cut, which is when 
they are from 8 feet 
high and 1+ inch 
thick up to 14 or 1(3 
feet high and 3 to 4 
inches thick ; they 
are simply cut off with a slanting blow of an 
axe or brush-book about 6 inches from the 
ground, as shown in 
fig. 1. When cut at 
this bight, the stumps 
will sprout again 
and produce another 
crop. The winter is 
the season for cut- 
ting. The shorter 
poles will make fir- 
kin-hoops, and the 
larger ones will serve 
for hoops to baiTels 
and liogsheads. The 
poles are trimmed of 
the branches and tied 
up In bundles of 100 
each, or of 25 or 50 
each of the larger 
ones. A box, simi- 
lar to that shown 
in fig. 4, is used in 
Fig. 3.— SPLITTINO HOOP-POLHS. bmdmg the bundles. 
Hoop-poles are a staple crop in some districts, I They are drawn together tightly with a 
•where the land is rough and where white oak I rope at first, and then bound with a small 
withe or the slender top of a pole. Some- 
times these poles are shipped to market 
Fig. 1.— CUTTING HOOP-POLES. 
acre, and with no more, or even less, profit, 
yearly, than this previously useless hill-side. 
SHAVING THE HOOPS. 
in this condition, when they are worth from 
50 to 75 cents a hundred for the smaller ones, 
up to |3 a hundred for the largest. More fre- 
quently the poles are made into hoops upon 
the ground, and not only a great amoimt of 
waste is removed, but a more valuable article 
produced. The hoops are split carefully, com- 
mencing at thc-butts with the t»ol, as shown in 
fig. 2. The split halves are then shaved in the 
BOX FOR UL'NDLIXG HOOPS. 
manner shown in fig. 3, and tied up in bundles 
for sale. They are then worth much more 
than in the unfinished state. There is a regular 
demand for hoops at all the seaports, for ship- 
ment to foreign countries. Every vessel, which 
brings a cargo of sugar from Cuba or Brazil, 
takes out on her return a cjuantity of hoops, 
together with staves and heading, of which to 
make sugar hogsheads. Hickory and white oak 
make the best hoop-poles, and it is not proba- 
A BUNDLE OF HOOPS. 
ble that one who should plant a few acres of 
rough laud with these, would lose his labor, 
even should he produce nothing but hoops, for 
this product has the merit of becoming salable 
earlier than almost any other planted treecrep. 
Clearing Land by Blasting. 
It may to many seem strange that we in 
America should be able to learn anything about 
clearing land from Great Britain, but recently 
some operations in clearing and improving land 
m the northern part of Scotland, have been 
performed in a manner that is instructive to us. 
The operations especially referred to are the 
breaking up and the removal of stumps, trees, 
large stones and rocks, by means of dynamite 
or giant powder. Tlas explosive is a prepara- 
tion of nitro-glycerinc, rendered perfectly 
safe in use by admixture with absorbing 
and diluting substances, and is many times 
more effective than gunpowder. This pow- 
