But the match of to-day has a story more interesting than that of the
old-fashioned match. As we have said, much of the timber used in the
manufacture comes from the immense tracts of forest in the Hudson Bay
Territory. It is floated down the water-courses to the lakes, through
which it is towed in great log-rafts. These rafts are divided; some
parts are pulled through the canals, and some by other means are taken
to market. When well through the seasoning process, which occupies from
one to two years, the pine is cut up into blocks twice as long as a
match, and about eight inches wide by two inches thick. These blocks
are passed through a machine which cuts them up into "splints," round
or square, of just the thickness of a match, but twice its length. This
machine is capable, as we are told, of making about 2,000,000 splints
in a day. This number seems immense when compared with the most that
could be made in the old way--by hand. The splints are then taken to
the "setting" machine, and this rolls them into bundles about eighteen
inches in diameter, every splint separated from its neighbors by little
spaces, so that there may be no sticking together after the "dipping."
In the operation of "setting," a ribbon of coarse stuff about an inch
and a half wide, and an eighth of an inch thick, is rolled up, the
splints being laid across the ribbon between each two courses, leaving
about a quarter of an inch between adjoining splints. From the
"setting" machine the bundles go to the "dipping" room.

After the ends of the splints have been pounded down to make them even,
the bundles are dipped--both ends---into the molten sulphur and then
into the phosphorus solution, which is spread over a large iron plate.
Next they are hung in a frame to dry. When dried they are placed in a
machine which, as it unrolls the ribbon, cuts the sticks in two across
the middle, thus making two complete matches of each splint.