ation of tlio Northeastern Forest Ex]>eriinent Station, U.S.D.A. The data 

 were eomj)i]ed at the New Hampshire Agrieuhiiral Experiment Station. 

 This report continues the previous two studies of the NEM-24 series 

 by describing another segment of the market structure for lumber. It is 

 intended to descril>e (1) the flow of lumber to retail lum])er yards, (2) 

 the lumber purchased by and services sought and offered to building 

 contractors, home owners, and other domestic consumers, and (3) the 

 factors influencing purchases of eastern and non-eastern lumber by do- 

 mestic consumers. 



RESEARCH PROCEDURE 



Direct interviews with owners and operators of retail kuuber yards 

 were recorded on prepared questionnaires. Samples of yards were taken 

 from BOASI^ lists. However, all states participating in this study report- 

 ed that the lists were not completely satisfactory as some building con- 

 tractors were included and known retail dealers were found listed as 

 lumber producers or not included at all. The exact size of the population 

 in some states was, therefore, uncertain. A total of 542 firms were used 

 for analysis from the total of 1,362 listed by BOASI for the participating 

 states. Over 600 firms were actually contacted. 



Table 1. Number of Firms by States — BOASI List and Number Sampled. 



BOASI No. Sampled 



1362 542 



Several large multi-yard firms have retail outlets in more than one 

 state so that state volumes of lumber are not representative of their 

 actual transactions. Thus, while strong differences between states are 

 stressed in this report, the effect of these multi-yard firms on a particular 

 state is not shown by the state figures. 



Description of the retail lumber yard businesses in the northeast is 

 derived from the yards studied and follows the format of the question- 

 naire. The latter was developed by a sub-committee, strengthened and 

 approved by the whole technical committee in a working session. 



1 Bureau of Old Age and Survivors Insurance. Standard Industrial Classification 

 No. 5211. 



