be boxed or crated for shipment, thus necessitating a tremen- 

 dous quantity of wooden boxing material. The freight situation 

 has until recently practically closed all outside sources of 

 supply. The high price of paper has lessened the substitution 

 of paper for wooden boxes. Under this great demand and lack 

 of competition the price of box boards has nearly doubled. 

 Production has greatly increased, but the demand still remains. 

 Round edge box lumber has been sold as high as $40 a thousand 

 feet delivered, and square edge, $5 or $6 higher. At this time 

 a slight reaction is on, and it is the general opinion that prices 

 will not go much higher. Some box shops favorably situated 

 to a steady local supply of lumber are buying box boards at 

 considerably less than the prices quoted. Some are paying less 

 than $30 per M and claim to be getting all they need at that 

 price. As always happens when prices rise rapidly, the in- 

 crease is not the same in all sections. The seller should seek 

 more distant markets if the local buyers are unwilling to pay 

 the market price. The thicknesses most in demand have been 

 1 inch and 2J inches, which make the heavier material for ex- 

 port shipments. 



While the price of box boards has soared, the demand for 

 the better grades, such as are used in sash and blind manu- 

 facture, construction, etc., has remained stationary, or almost 

 ceased. The very highest grades which are used in making 

 patterns, or directly by the army or navy, have commanded 

 high prices. The intermediate grades are not being sorted, but 

 are turned into box boards with the rest. There is practically 

 no market for them at present except as box boards. The 21- 

 inch pine for match blocks is in good demand, and also the pine 

 for toys, pails, etc. 



A slight demand for white pine piling has arisen, due to the 

 difficulty in getting spruce. 



Hemlock and Spruce. 



Hemlock is an important species in Massachusetts, while 

 spruce is not found except in a limited area. The usual way of 

 utilizing these species was to cut them into square edge or 

 small dimension material. The demand for this has greatly 

 diminished, and the price has not risen in proportion to that of 



