box boards. Both species can be sold as box lumber for about 

 $2 to $3 under the price of pine, so that is the best way of 

 utilization at present. There is a good market for both spruce 

 and hemlock for pulp cut 4 feet long and peeled, but most of 

 the pulp mills are in the north, and our local operators and 

 labor are unaccustomed to that form of utilization, so little 

 pulp is cut in Massachusetts. 



Hemlock bark has again come into demand at about $15 a 

 cord on the cars. At this price it certainly will pay to peel the 

 larger hemlock. 



Chestnut. 



The market for chestnut is our most important consideration 

 at this time. The chestnut blight has spread rapidly, and there 

 seems to be no hope that it will cease as suddenly as it came. 

 There is also no known practicable cure or preventive for it. 

 Within a few years, or a decade at best, our second most 

 important species will be gone. In the meantime we must have 

 a market for it, or most of the dead material will be a total 

 loss. Fortunately, there is at present a good sale for all chest- 

 nut large enough for lumber, although this market is different 

 from that of several years ago. The prices have not gone up in 

 proportion with the pine price. The present uses of chestnut 

 may be classified as follows: 



1. Poles, Posts, and Piling. There is practically no sale for 

 posts, except local. The demand for poles is fair, but not as 

 good as formerly. When the cantonments were in construction 

 there was a very heavy demand. Since then, due to the policy 

 of the telephone and light companies in doing as little new 

 construction as possible, the demand has slackened, but there 

 are bound to be a good many used for replacement and up- 

 keep. The price of poles does not seem to have risen in pro- 

 portion to the increase in lumber. The specifications and 

 prices of the Western Electric Company, the largest single 

 buyer of poles in New England, are appended herewith. They 

 state that they will continue buying all the larger poles offered. 

 Some chestnut piling has been bought lately by the railroads 

 and also for fish weirs. That is a market worth looking into, 

 as the sticks do not have to be peeled. 



2. Cross Ties. New prices and specifications have been 



