16 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
farmers thrive best where there are mills and fac¬ 
tories. We commend 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 hilly 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 hoop-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 furnish 
another crop equal to the first in value. Many 
a field is now producing half a ton of liay per 
acre, and with no more, or even less, profit, 
yearly, than this previously useless hill-side. 
and hickory thrives. There are many acres in 
the Western States interspersed amongst the 
rich prairies, 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 bluffs 
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 
furnish 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. Their 
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 fail 
wdisn the nuts are 
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 14 inch 
thick up to 14 or 10 
feet high and 3 to 4 
inches thick; they 
are simply cut off with a slanting blow of an 
axe or brush-hook about 6 inches from the 
ground, as shown in 
fig. 1. When cut at 
this liight, 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 barrels 
and hogsheads. 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 
binding the bundles. 
They are drawn together tightly with a 
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 
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 amount of 
waste is removed, but a more valuable article 
produced. The hoops are split carefully, com¬ 
mencing at the butts with the tool, as shown in 
fig. 2. The split halves are then shaved in the 
Fig. 4.—BOX BOR BUNDLING 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 quantity 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¬ 
Fig. 5.— A BUNDLE OF HOOPS. 
ble that one who should plant a few acres of 
rough land 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 tree crop. 
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 
in 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. This explosive is a prepara¬ 
tion of nitro-glycerine, rendered perfectly 
safe in use by admixture with absorbing 
and diluting substances, and is many times 
more effective than gunpowder. This pow- 
Fig. 2 .—-splitting hoop-poles. 
Iloop-poles are a staple crop in some districts, 
where the land is rough and where white oak 
Fig. 1.—CUTTING HOOP-POLES. 
