59 



OXFORD. 



Most of the forest land is found on the hills, those to the 

 west being more generally forested than those on the east side. 

 The largest individual types are the gray birch and maple, but 

 the most prominent trees are chestnut and pine. There is a 

 rather unusual amount of forest land, with a growth of com- 

 mercial, or nearly commercial, size. In the non-forest type one 

 is struck by the small amount of open and brush pasture as 

 compared with tillage. 



The principal wood-using industry of Oxford is the box 

 factory of Chaffee Brothers. In addition to boxes they manu- 

 facture rough building lumber and planing mill products. They 

 operate two or three portable mills, cutting lots in southern 

 Worcester County and northern Connecticut, although oc- 

 casionally they have operated wood lots as far away as New 

 Hampshire and Maine. They handle more or less chestnut, 

 which is either put into building lumber or ties. Their annual 

 consumption of lumber is about 5,000,000 feet. 



Turner Brothers make a specialty of dealing in chestnut, 

 especially for ties. 



Land Types. 



1 Hardwoods are principally chestnut and oak. 



2 Gray biroh and red maple in smaller classes, and chestnut and oak in the larger sizes. 



