Ninety-nine sawmill owners were interviewed in Maine and New Hamp- 

 shire (Table 1). Addresses of their major white pine lumber purchasers 

 were obtained. These customers - — wholesalers, retailers, and industries 

 scattered throughout New England — were interviewed in order to esti- 

 mate the quantity and quality of white pine lumber consumed by the manu- 

 facturing and construction industries. The consumption of white pine lum- 

 ber for particular end products must be left for possible future investigation. 



II. The Sample Statistics 



The total 1956 production of white pine lumber in Maine and New Hamp- 

 shire was 437 million board feet. The 99 sawmill owners interviewed pro- 

 duced 166 million board feet or 38 percent of the total production during 

 1956. The sample at the sawmill level in New Hampshire covered 94 million 

 feet, or 53 percent of the state's total production; in Maine, the sample 

 covered 72 million feet or 27 percent of Maine's white pine production. 

 So although the data discussed in this bulletin are strictly applicable to the 

 99 sample owners only, this relatively large random sample contains ag- 

 gregate relationships characteristic of the white pine lumber industry in 

 Maine and New Hampshire. 



Table 1. Structure of the Sawmill Owner Sample 



1 Includes lumber from contracted sawmills. Custom-sawn lumber production is not 

 included. 



2 Only square-edge lumber was purchased. 



Of the total volume of 166 million board feet handled by the sawmill 

 owners, over 90 percent was produced by their own or contracted saw- 

 mills. The remaining amount was lumber purchased from other sawmill 

 owners. Those sawmill ownerships in the two largest classes, which ac- 

 counted for almost half of the white pine lumber produced by the sample 

 owners, also handled 90 percent of the volume purchased from other saw- 

 mill owners. Thus the largest mill ownerships undertook the function of 

 assembling other producer's lumber — in effect acting as wholesalers as 

 well as lumber producers. Only the more valuable square-edge lumber was 

 assembled; round-edge lumber went directly to the manufacturing consumers. 



The study showed that round-edge lumber is still a major product of 



