"It is a square box, on runners, like those of a sleigh.

The farmers have them to haul their produce to market." "Why do they call it a lumber-box ?" asked Marco.
[Illustration: THE LUMBER-BOX.] "Why, when the country was first settled, they used to carry lumber to market principally; that is, bundles of shingles and clapboards, which they made from timber cut in the woods.

It requires some time for a new farm, made in the forests, to get into a condition to produce much grass for cattle.

I suppose that it was in this way that these vehicles got the name of lumber-boxes.

You will see a great many of them, in the winter season, coming down from every part of the country, toward the large towns on the rivers, filled with produce." "What else do the farmers turn their grass into, besides wool ?" asked Marco.
"Into beef," said Forester.