160 FIELD MEETING AT BOXFORD. 



merit was for a grist mill. The operation by which a log 

 comes into the mill in a rough state, and goes out cut up 

 into many thousand cards of matches, is a very interest- 

 ing one. First the log (nothing but white pine is used) 

 is hauled into the mill and cut up by two large circular 

 saws into various lengths, care being taken to remove 

 the knotty and defective portions of the logs. These 

 sections are then passed through other saws which cut 

 them up into pieces a little thicker than a card of 

 matches, and trim off the rough edges. These boards are 

 then put into iron tanks, where they are steamed for two 

 hours, for the purpose of taking out the pitch, and facili- 

 tating the cutting. After taking the wood out of the 

 tanks it is cut up into strips having the same thickness as 

 a match, by a rapidly working knife, driven by power. 

 The wood is now cut into strips of various lengths but 

 having the width and thickness of a card of matches. 

 The wood is then pressed together in racks and put into 

 drying rooms, where the temperature is constantly kept 

 up to 160 or 170 degrees day and night, through the dry- 

 ing process, which lasts about a week. When the wood 

 has become sufficiently seasoned it is taken into the 

 "gauging room," where workmen thrust a bunch of the 

 strips into a box containing a number of revolving saws 

 which cut the slits between the matches. Then by the aid 

 of another saw and gausfe the cards are cut off from the 

 strips and the operation is completed. 



The wood used by the mill is all obtained within a 

 radius of three or four miles, and notwithstanding some 

 2,000 tons of timber are sawed up annually, it seems as 

 though Boxford might stand the drain for many years to 

 come. Much of the rough timber which conies to the mill 

 is used in the manufacture of boxes in which the matches 

 are packed and shipped. When this factory was first 

 started it was believed that the water-power would be suffi- 



