THE WHITE PINE REGION 



331 



boards, and later resawn in the box shops. The custom prevails 

 in some localities in Massachusetts of cutting logs into very 

 short lengths (often under four feet), and sawing the boards 

 at the portable mills into thicknesses of a fraction of an inch, 

 five-eighths inch being a common thickness. The contents, in 

 feet, board measure, of such boards is figured as though they 

 were of full inch thickness, which is somewhat confusing to the 

 uninitiated. Each box shop employs a buyer, who purchases 



Fig. 



Plant of the Diamond Match Co., at Athol, Mass., where white 1 

 resawed into match blocks and shipped to the match factories. 



logs or sawn box boards. Very few shops own the necessary 

 amount of standing timber to supply their plant. 



In some sections, especially around Athol, Massachusetts, a 

 good deal of the white pine cut goes into the manufacture of 

 matches. Material for matches has to be of a little larger size 

 than for boxes and staves. Logs under six inches at the top 

 are ordinarily disposed of to box shops or stave factories. 



Beside the timber cut for lumber there are large quantities of 

 material taken out in the New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Con- 

 necticut, and Rhode Island sections for railroad ties, telegraph, 

 telephone, and trolley poles, and cordwood. Chestnut is the 



