UC-NRLF UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE BULLETIN No. 753 Contribution from the Forest Service HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester Washington, D. C. March 10, 1919 THE USE OF WOOD FOR FUEL Compiled by the Office of Forest Investigations CONTENTS Introduction 1 Wood Instead of Coal for Fuel .... 2 What to Use for Wood Fuel 6 Supply of Fuel Wood 8 Producing and Marketing Wood Fuel . 9 How to Use Wood Fuel ....... 24 Efficiency of Wood Fuel. 27 Page Wood Fuel for the Future 33 Promoting Use of Wood for Fuel . . 35 Summary ...... 38 Appendix 39 Publications on Wood Fuel .... 39 Recent Publications on Wood Fuel . 39 Bibliography 40 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1919 \ UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE BULLETIN No. 753 Contribution from the Forest Service. HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester. Washington, D. C. March 10, 1919 THE USE OF WOOD FOR FUEL. Compiled by the Office of Forest Investigations. CONTENTS. Page. 1 2 6 8 9 24 Efficiency of wood fuel ...................... 27 Introduction Wood instead of coal for fuel What to use for wood fuel Supply offuelwood Producing and marketing wood fuel How to use wood fuel Page. Wood fuel for the future 33 Promoting use of wood for fuel 35 Summary 33 Appendix ' 39 Publications on wood fuel 39 Recent publications on wood fuel 39 Bibliography. 40 INTRODUCTION. Wood has always been of considerable importance as fuel in this country, and the present emergency has greatly increased its com- parative value for this purpose. Wood is now being cut for fuel in places where for many years it had practically gone out of use. On farms where coal had become the ordinary fuel and was brought in from great distances while wood suitable for fuel went to waste in the neighborhood, wood is now coming into its own again. It is being more used in churches, schools, and homes, and even in fac- tories. The use of wood for fuel saves transportation, it utilizes wood that would otherwise go to waste, and it releases coal for ships and railroads and munitions plants. Heretofore wood has supplied between 10 and 15 per cent of the total amount of fuel used in the United States. The wide distribution of wood fuel supplies, and the fact that they are so located as to save transportation should, under present conditions, lead to a considerable increase in the proportion of wood in our fuel consumption. The purpose of this bulletin i is to aid in the conservation of the Nation's coal supply and in the full and proper use of our wood 1 As is readily apparent, the material used in this bulletin is largely compiled from many sources. Credit has been given as far as it has seemed practical, but in many instances the data are so adapted and changed that a specific reference would be mis- leading. Information has been obtained from State wood-fuel and Forest Service publi- cations mainly, but miscellaneous data and tables have been drawn from everywhere. This general statement is made in order to acknowledge help from sources not specifically mentioned. 477600 2 ,\*. J : B'PL&ETllSr 753, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. resources to prevent the recurrence of such a fuel shortage as occurred during the winter of 1917-18, by indicating the best and most eco- nomical methods of cutting, distributing, and using wood for fuel. Uneconomical methods of handling the wood increase the cost and waste the product, careless methods of cutting the trees may endanger the future supply, and the reckless use of shade or ornamental trees for fuel is an unjustifiable extravagance. In the utilization of the forests of the country, including farm woodlands, a great deal of wood material is produced which can not find a use other than as fuel wood. While some of it is used for acid wood, charcoal, etc., most of it is left for fuel or wasted. Since many of the trees in our forests are fit only for fuel, they will not be cut unless there is a demand for fuel wood. Improvement cuttings, which take the small, diseased, or defective trees, can not be profitably made in many cases unless there is such a demand. Thin- nings can frequently be made to pay for themselves if the material is used for fuel. Sometimes products of thinnings can be used for other purposes than fuel, but more often they can not. As proper thinnings and improvement cuttings are a great stimulus to increased production and at the same time improve the quality of the timber, a fuel wood demand opens up a great opportunity for forest im- provement and, if widespread and continued, will produce a vast total effect for the better in the character and quality of our forest re- sources. Wood waste occurs at every stage of the manufacture of wood products, from the lumber operations through the milling process and in the special processes necessary to shape the article into its final form. A wide use of wood fuel affords a market for this waste, which would otherwise be lost. Preparing wood for fuel involves slightly more labor than is required to produce coal. It is, however, usually widely scattered labor which is used in wood cutting and hauling, and no increased demand on labor is really made. On most farms there is plenty of time during the winter for both men and teams to work at getting out wood. WOOD INSTEAD OF COAL FOR FUEL. USE OF WOOD SHOULD BE LARGELY INCREASED IN RURAL DISTRICTS. Who can with the least hardship restrict his consumption of coal ? Certain classes of consumers require concentrated fuel, such as coal or crude oil ; others can use other fuels, but at a considerable disad- vantage. Most manufacturers are unable to substitute wood for coal to any great extent because of the character of their heating and power plants and because of their location, which involves railroad THE USE OF WOOD FOR FUEL. 3 haul for wood. For similar reasons domestic consumers in the cities can not well use wood to any great extent. Wholesale rail trans- portation of fuel wood is not desirable because of its bulk as com- pared with coal of the same heating value. The substitution can best be made in places where team-hauled wood will take the place of rail-hauled coal. Farmers who own woodlands and villagers who can buy wood from near-by farms can reduce their consumption of coal with least inconvenience to themselves and with the greatest benefit to the public interest. Because of the large proportion of wood normally used in the South and the long hauls involved in the West it is not likely that the use of wood for fuel can be greatly increased in those regions. In New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, In- diana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and the Lake States it ought to be entirely practicable in many cases to replace coal with wood. In these 17 States is a rural population of about 20,000,000, which is estimated to use annually 18,000,000 tons of coal. If by substituting wood one-quarter less coal could be burned on farms and one-tenth less in villages, the total saving would amount to nearly 3,000,000 tons, or between 65,000 and 70,000 carloads. For many uses, and particularly for summer-time use, wood is a more convenient and cheaper fuel than coal. Churches, halls, summer cottages, and other buildings where heat is wanted only occasionally, and then on short notice, find wood more satisfactory for this purpose. PRESENT USE OF WOOD FUEL. Up to the present time practically no systematic attempt has been made to take a census of the wood fuel cut or on hand each year. Wood seems to be the only form of fuel on which annual statistics of production are not available. In 1916 and 1917 the Bureau of Crop Estimates in the Department of Agriculture secured estimates of the number of cords used on the farms but not the total amount cut. It is understood that in 1918 the amount sold from the farm annually will be obtained also, thus showing the total cut. According to figures collected by the Bureau of Crop Estimates (see Table 1) about 83,000,000 cords of wood fuel were used in 1917 on the farms of the United States. Similar estimates made in December, 1916, indicated that about 82,000,000 cords were used. It is likely that the total amount consumed on farms and in villages and cities is upwards of 100,000,000 cords annually. In these esti- mates, and in all other references to " cord " in this bulletin, unless otherwise stated, a cord is reckoned as 128 stacked cubic feet i. e., a pile 8 by 4 by 4 feet. BULLETIN 753, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. The value of wood advanced more than 24 per cent from December, 1916, to December, 1917. On the basis of 1917 prices reported, the value of firewood used on farms of the United States is about $283,000,000, or $43.13 per farm. TABLE 1. Wood fuel used on farms. Number of farms 1917 (esti- mated). Cords per farm. Number of cords per State. Value per cord. Value of wood used on basis of Decem- ber, 1917, values. Decem- ber, 1917. Decem- ber, 1916. Value per farm. Total value. Maine 60,000 27,000 33,000 37,000 5.000 27,000 215,000 33,000 218,000 11.000 50,000 190,000 99,000 259,000 185,000 300,000 55,000 271,000 215,000 250,000 209,000 180,000 157,000 215,000 275,000 90,000 90,000 135,000 180,000 265,000 250,000 270,000 285,000 122,000 430,000 210,000 225,000 35,000 15,000 55,000 45,000 12,000 23,000 3,000 36,000 65,000 50,000 95,000 13 12 15 10 10 13 14 8 9 13 13 18 16 17 14 16 11 13 12 9 13 13 11 5 13 3 3 3 6 18 19 18 16 15 9 10 19 10 10 6 9 9 8 11 9 11 12 10 780,000 324,000 495,000 370, 000 50,000 351,000 3,010,000 264,000 1,962,000 143, 000 650,000 3,420,000 1,584,000 4,403,000 2, 590, 000 4,800,000 605,000 3,523,000 2,580,000 2,250,000 2,717,000 2,340,000 1,727,000 1,075,000 3,575,000 270,000 270,000 405,000 1,080,000 4,770,000 4,750,000 4,860,000 4,560,000 1,830,000 3,870,000 2,100,000 4,275,000 350,000 150,000 330,000 405,000 108,000 184,000 33,000 324,000 715,000 600,000 950,000 $6.40 6.40 6.00 6.35 5.80 6.00 4.60 5.10 3.50 4.20 4.15 3.20 2.90 2.75 3.00 2.50 3.10 3.60 3.70 4.60 5.25 5.50 5.40 4.70 3.20 7.50 6.20 4.25 4.25 2.20 2.20 2.00 2.30 2.50 3.40 3.10 2.35 4.80 4.50 4.50 4.20 5.75 5.00 7.00 5.00 5.20 4.70 7.40 $4.50 4.60 4.35 4.70 4.00 4.50 4.00 4.00 2.60 3.10 3.20 2.40 2.30 2.10 2.10 2.00 2.60 3.00 3.30 3.40 4.00 4.20 4.30 4.20 2.60 6.40 6.00 3.90 3.30 1.70 1.75 1.80 1.90 2.25 2.80 2.75 2.00 4.50 3.80 3.70 4.00 5.40 4.00 6.00 4.60 4.50 3.90 5.80 $83.20 76.80 90.00 63.50 58.00 78.00 64.40 40.80 31.50 54.60 53.95 57.60 46.40 46.75 42.00 40.00 34.10 46.80 44.40 41.40 68.25 71.50 59.40 23.50 41.60 22.50 18.60 12.75 25.50 39.60 41.80 36.00 36.80 37.50 30.60 31.00 44.65 48.00 45.00 27.00 37.80 51.75 40.00 77.00 45.00 57.20 56.40 74.00 14,992,000 2.074.000 2,970,000 2,350,000 290,000 2,106,000 13,846,000 1,346,000 6,867,000 601,000 2,698,000 10,944.000 4,594,000 12,108,000 7,770,000 12,000,000 1,876,000 12,683,000 9,546,000 10,350,000 14,264,000 12,870,000 9,326,000 5,052,000 11,440,000 2,025,000 1,674,000 1,721,000 4, 590, 000 10,494,000 10,450,000 9,720,000 10,488,000 4,575,000 13, 158, 000 6,510,000 10,046,000 1,680,000 675,000 1,485,000 1,701,000 621,000 920,000 231,000 1,620,000 3,718,000 2,820,000 7,030,000 New Hampshire Vermont Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut New York New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware Maryland Virginia West Virginia North Carolina South Carolina Georgia Florida Ohio Indiana Illinois Michigan . Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa Missouri North Dakota South Dakota Nebraska Kansas . ... Kentucky Tennessee Alabama Mississippi Louisiana Texas Oklahoma Arkansas Montana Wyoming Colorado New Mexico Arizona Utah Nevada Idaho Washington Oregon California United States 6,562,000 12.6 82,777,000 3.42 2.75 43.13 282,915,000 Bui. 753, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. PLATE I. FIG. I. SAWING EMERGENCY WOOD TO RELIEVE COAL SHORTAGE, GREENVILLE, TENN., JANUARY 18, 1918. FIG. 2.-A LOAD OF STOVE WOOD IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN (ONTONAGON COUNTY). THE USE OF WOOD FOR FUEL. A detailed survey of the use of wood and coal in selected localities in a number of States gave the following comparative data : TABLE 2. Average annual consumption of coal and icood per family on farms in eight States. 1 State and county. Coal, per family. Wood, per family. Tons. Value. Cords. Value. Vermont (Lamoille) 0.1 2.5 4.9 5.7 3.0 3.9 $1.01 16.00 26.90 23.70 20.70 29.57 14.3 12.2 6.2 12.0 7.5 4.8 14.0 17.8 $65.40 54.80 19.00 32.50 38.80 22.40 43.58 51.60 New York (Otsego) Pennsylvania ( Bucks) Ohio (Champaign) - ... Iowa ( Montgomery) North Carolina (Gaston) Georgia (Troup) 2.5 14.74 11.1 41.01 i From Farmers' Bulletin 635, " What the Farm Contributes Directly to the Farmer's Living," by W. C. Funk. See also Department of Agriculture Bulletin 410, "Value to Farm Families of Food, Fuel, and Use of House," by W. C. Funk. TABLE 3. Average annual consumption of wood per person in eight States, show- ing the per cent of wood bought and the per cent furnished by the farm. State and county. Per person. Per cent. Cords. Value. Bought. Furnished by farm. Vermont (Lamoille) 3.0 3.1 1.2 2,9 1.1 1.7 3.1 3.3 $13.62 13.70 3.65 7.93 5.34 8.82 9.68 9.56 3.0 1-8 5.8 6.2 7.7 97.0 98.2 94.2 93.8 92.3 100.0 96.1 100.0 New York (Otsego) Pennsylvania ( Bucks) Ohio (Champaign) . . . Wisconsin (Jefferson) Iowa (Montgomery) North Carolina (Gaston) 3.9 Georgia (Troup) Average. . 2.4 9.04 3.55 96.45 INDUSTRIAL USE OF WOOD FUEL. The use of wood fuel by factories reached its greatest development in New England during the acute coal shortage of the winter of 1917-18, because this section was practically shut off for a time from all supplies of bituminous coal, which is the factory fuel. Com- plete information is not available on the quantity of wood used by the factories or how extensive its use was throughout New England, but it is known that a great many factories were forced to use wood to keep in operation. One dealer reported that he had shipped 5,500 cords of wood to the factories in eastern Massachusetts. Such use of wood will come about only through necessity, as it costs at least three times as much as soft coal. The only reason for using it, therefore, is to keep the factories running. This points to the fact that in wood fuel the country has a reserve or substitute fuel which can be drawn upon in an emergency, not only to supply domes- 6 BULLETIN 753, TJ.' S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. tic consumption but to keep the factories running, although it may not be so efficient in the latter case as coal. Instead of waiting for emergency conditions to arrive, it would be well for both domestic and industrial users of fuel to plan on wood reserves in case the main reliance, coal, is not forthcoming. It has been reported that cotton mills in South Carolina and else- where throughout the South are laying in wood to supply the mills in case of shortage, in addition to their usual supplies of wood for the operatives. It is, of course, not desirable to use railroad transportation for wood fuel to factories unless there is no coal to haul. Then wood may be moved by rail to avoid shutting down. Many factories are so located at points away from large centers that wood can be used without shipping, and as in the aggregate they consume a large amount of fuel, a change to wood would be an appreciable help. WHAT TO USE FOR WOOD FUEL. THINNINGS ANI> IMPROVEMENT CUTTINGS. The great bulk of the wood-fuel supply in farming regions should come from thinnings and improvement cuttings on farm woodlands. Except under stress of emergency, trees which will produce lumber or other material of higher value than cordwood should not be cut for fuel. Trees which are better suited for fuel than for any other purpose, and whose removal will be of benefit to the remaining stand, are : 1. Sound standing and down dead trees. 2. Trees diseased or seriously injured by insect attacks, or those extremely liable to such injury, such as chestnut in the region subject to blight, or birch in the gypsy-moth area ; badly fire-scarred trees. 3. Crooked trees and large-crowned short-boled trees which will not make good lumber and which are crowding or overtopping others. 4. Trees which have been overtopped by others and their growth stunted. 5. Trees of the less valuable species where they are crowding more valuable ones, as beech, block oak, birch, hard maple, white oak, or white pine. 6. Slow-growing trees which are crowding fast-growing species of equal value. TREES ON OLD PASTURES. On many farms former pastures have become overgrown with red cedar, gray birch, aspen, pine, or other trees. The trees came in slowly and through neglect were allowed to steal much of the pasture. If fuel is to be cut somewhere on the farm, such land as this should be drawn upon first of all and redeemed by removing all the trees and THE USE OF WOOD FOR FUEL. 7 restoring the land to grass. Also, uncleared corners of fields or patches of agricultural land within the border of the wood lot may be cut clean, the wood used for fuel, and the land eventually farmed. The expense of clearing is thus largely or entirely met by the value of the. fuel produced. TOPS AND LOPS, Thousands of cords of wood from the tops and limbs of trees felled in lumbering operations rot annually or furnish fuel for forest fires. Ordinarily this waste can not be avoided, because lumbering is most important in the less thinly populated parts of the country, and long hauls to cordwood markets are too costly. Sometimes, however, farmers overlook near-by woods operations as sources of fuel. The material is already down and can be worked up easily into cordwood. Owners of cut-over land usually are glad to have such material re- moved. MILL WASTE. Mill waste is very widely used as fuel in the neighborhood of saw- mills and woodworking plants. Much of this refuse is burned to sup- ply power for the mills themselves, but considerable is used as fuel by individuals and in some regions by other manufacturers. In many instances there are still large amounts of this material going to waste which could be made available for fuel. SAWDUST BRIQUETS. There are now at least three firms on the Pacific coast engaged in the manufacture of sawdust briquetting machinery, and at least three plants for the manufacture of this fuel have been established there. The main market for briquets will probably be for domestic use where the cleanliness and easy kindling qualities of the briquet are a fine asset. For this use the briquet might be able to compete with coal at only $8.50 a ton, the housewife being willing to pay a little more for the same heat value on account of these desirable proper- ties. The almost total absence of ash, the absolute absence of clinker, and the lack of smoke are great advantages of briquets over coal. In competing with cordwood the briquet has certain advantages, such as requiring less labor in preparing for the fire, containing less moisture and more wood per pound, and obviating the need for kindling wood. The best chance for the success of the wood or sawdust briquet is in those regions where sawdust is abundant and coal is expensive. The region best fulfilling these conditions in this country is the Pacific coast, and it is a significant fact that the companies now establishing the industry in America are all, as far as the author knows, on the Pacific coast. 8 BULLETIN 753, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. CHARCOAL. In England it is said that the war has caused a revival of the dying charcoal industry. A great deal has been done with this fuel and there is a possibility of a like interest being aroused in this country as fuel conditions become acute. There are doubtless many places in the wooded districts of the East, especially near large cities, where charoal can be made to advantage in the next few years. Charcoal has a larger heating power per cubic foot than wood, a ton yielding about 2,000 horsepower, and it is cheaper to transport on account of its light weight. 1 Table 4 gives the production of charcoal in the United States in 1909. It is reported that Michigan and Wisconsin now lead in char- coal production. TABLE 4. Charcoal production in 1909* State. Quantity. Value. Michigan Bushels. 13,514,106 $868,003 New York : 5, 147, 160 287, 103 Pennsylvania . 16,357,598 936, 357 All other States 3,998,383 260, 181 Total ... 39,017,247 2,351,644 i Thirteenth Census, IT. S. 1910, vol. 10, p. 622. SUPPLY OF FUEL WOOD. With the increased use of wood fuel which is likely to continue for several years, it is important to know how much fuel wood there is in the country and its local distribution and availability. An estimate of the total amount of firewood has never been made. Ten- tative figures show the following cords per farm in certain selected regions : No. of cords Region. per farm. Northern Vermont 952 Southeastern Pennsylvania- 218 Southern Indiana 474 Central Indiana 167 Northern Indiana 344 Northern Wisconsin - 317 Southern Minnesota 256 Eastern Iowa Southeastern Nebraska Central North Carolina - 1> 231 Northeastern South Carolina - 1,978 Central Tennessee Northern Alabama ! 660 Northern Louisiana - 2, 315 Southern Missouri Average 739 1 " Logging and Lumbering," by C. A. Schenck. Bui. 753, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. PLATE 1 1 FIG. I. UNLOADING CORDWOOD FOR FUEL FROM SAILBOATS AT WHARVES, WASHINGTON, D. C. FIG. 2. VIEW OF TOP OF STACKS OF CORDWOOD IN ONE YARD AT WASHINGTON, D. C. Capacity of yard 5,000 cords. Bui. 753, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. PLATE 1 1 1 FIG. I. INDUSTRIAL USE OF WOOD FUEL. STORED WOOD FUEL RESERVE OF A NEW ENGLAND FACTORY. This supply was obtained in anticipation of a coal shortage. Photo by W. D. Clark, published in American Forestry, June, 1918. FIG. 2,-FiRiNG WITH WOOD FUEL; FURNACES IN A NEW ENGLAND FACTORY EQUIPPED WITH AUTOMATIC STOKERS FOR COAL. Photo by W. D. Clark, published in American Forestry, June, 1918. THE USE OF WOOD FOR FUEL. 9 On the farms alone the total area of woodland in the eastern United States is approximately 143,392,000 acres. The first tier of States just west of the Mississippi has a great deal of timber, espe- cially northern Minnesota, southern Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, southeastern Oklahoma, and eastern Texas. In the West the wooded areas are for the most part restricted to the mountains. An average of 10 cords per acre, which seems reasonable, would give one and one-half billions of cords for the region east of the Missis- sippi. At the average rate of consumption on the farm itself, 12.6 cords per year, 739 cords will last 58 years. On the average this would be ample time to replace the stands and thus continue the supply indefinitely. As a fact, however, the woodland area is in many re- gions constantly shrinking as a result of land clearing for agricul- tural use and grazing. Thus unless care is taken of that which remains the future supply of fuel wood will be materially reduced. The supply of wood fuel in any particular locality depends on more than the total amount of timber. Part of it will be on the land which is suitable for clearing for agriculture, and which will be cleared and improved in the near future. Obviously, the timber on such tracts can all be cut. More will be found on land which should be retained in woodland, and here the question is how much can be cut out safely. As a rule, only a certain percentage can be cut without jeopardizing the forest resources of the future. There is the further question of how much of the wood cut is available for fuel. The trees which are cut may be suitable for lumber, ties, telephone poles, and other higher uses. Therefore, it is essential to know not only the total amount of wood but the amount of fuel wood which can come out without injury to the forest. Only by means of a survey covering these points can a practical and compre- hensive plan be developed to coordinate the supply and use of wood fuel within a given region with other forms of fuel which may be available. PRODUCING AND MARKETING WOOD FUEL. STUMPAGE. The first item of cost in producing wood fuel is the price reckoned or paid for stumpage. Stumpage for this purpose ranges in price from nothing to $5 per cord, depending somewhat upon the region, the kind and quality of timber, and the ideas of the owner. In remote districts where land is being cleared the standing cordwood material is sometimes given away. Slash from lumbering operations is also frequently given away for the cutting or is sold at a nominal price. Timber of better quality than cordwood material may naturally be expected to sell for higher prices than seems justified when compared 89354 18 2 10 BULLETIN 753, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. with reasonable cordwood stumpage prices. Such material should, however, not be so used except in cases of emergency, when other stumpage can not be secured. It is reasonable that higher prices should be paid for stumpage when the area is to be cut clear than when only an improvement cutting is to be made, since the latter method increases the cost of cutting somewhat and besides takes material of the least value, the removal of which is a distinct benefit to the forest. In many cases an owner can well afford to give mate- rial from improvement cuttings or thinnings to anyone who will cut it. Average stumpage prices ordinarily range from 50 cents to $1.50 per cord. ESTIMATING STANDING CORDWOOD. While cordwood is generally sold on the basis of measurement after it is cut and corded up, it is frequently desirable, especially in case of buying entire tracts, to estimate the amount of wood while still standing. This can be done by methods similar to those used for saw timber. Table 5 1 shows roughly the number of trees of different diameters required to make a cord. TABLE 5. Number of trees required to yield 1 cord. Diameter of tree (breast high, outside bark). Hardwoods. Soft- woods. Northern (beech birch, maple, etc.). Southern (chestnut, oak, hick- ory, etc.). Inches. 2.. 170 90 50 25 17 13 9 7 6 5 4 3.4 3.0 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.5 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.0 .9 3 . 4 5.. 35 20 15 11 8 6 5 4 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.7 1.5 1.3 1.2 1.0 .9 .8 .7 6 7 20 13 10 8 7 6 4.5 3.7 3.0 2.5 2.1 1.9 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.2 1.1 1.0 8 . 9 10.. 11 . 12 13. . 14 15... 16.. 17. . 18 19. .. 20 21 22 23. . 24 The figures given are for trees of average height; allowances should be made in case of unusually short or tall timber. i" Measuring and Marketing Woodlot Products," Farmers' Bulletin 715, by W. B. Mattoon and W. B. Barrows. THE USE OF WOOD FOR FUEL. 11 FELLING. On the farms a time when labor can not be used at other work is the best time to cut wood; winter, late fall, and early spring are therefore generally the seasons when most wood fuel is cut. In the South, where the slack season comes at a different time, summer may prove the best season. However, there is no good reason why, if labor is available, fuel wood may not be cut at any time. In the case of hardwoods which reproduce readily from sprouts the time of cutting is of some importance. The sprouts will start immediately if the timber is cut in the summer or early fall but will not be strong enough to stand the winter, with the result that the reproduction will be winter-killed. On the other hand, if the timber is cut in the winter the sprouts will grow during the spring and summer to such a size and hardihood as to be immune from winter-killing. Winter cutting should therefore be practiced with species which sprout, if reproduction is desired. Cordwood is generally felled and cut into 4-foot or sled lengths with axes, or in some cases where larger trees are cut, with crosscut saws. Owing to the small size of the material generally cut this is the most economical method of felling the trees. A number of power-driven tree- felling machines have been devised, but none of them have proved practical, and even if they should become so their value would be in felling trees of large size. The cost of cutting cordwood varies with the prevailing wages of the region and with the kind of timber cut. Woodcutters' wages run from less than $2 to more than $4 per day, or where paid by the cord, as is general in some regions, from about $2 to $3.50 per cord. The quantity of wood which can be cut per day per man. is, of course, the real basis of the cutting cost and depends most on the skill of the workman and on the kind of wood. Inefficient labor will produce but one-half cord of hardwood or 1 cord of softwood per day, whereas good skilled workmen will cut from 1J to 2 cords of hardwood or from 3 to 4 cords of softwood per day. In one instance men inexperienced in timber work, such as business men from town, cut in hardwoods at the rate of two-thirds of a cord per day for the first day. These figures include both felling the trees and cutting them up into 4-foot lengths. If material is cut sled length, as is frequently done, more can be cut in a day. SKIDDING AND HAULING. In probably the majority of cases the practice is to cut wood into 4- foot lengths and pile it close to where the trees are cut, and to haul it direct from these piles to consumers. 12 BULLETIN 753, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. In many cases, however, the trees are merely trimmed or cut into sled lengths and hauled to the consumer to be sawed into stove lengths, or to central points in the woodlot or along a road to be cut up and piled for future hauling. It is possible that extension of this practice may in many instances considerably reduce the cost of producing wood fuel, both by reducing the amount of hand labor required in cutting up the material, in centralizing the work of cut- ting it up, and in increasing the amount which can be hauled by re- ducing its weight through seasoning. Skidding or hauling out to a roadway or central point should not cost over $1 per cord. SAWING AND SPLITTING. Stove wood is no longer " bucked up " by hand with a bucksaw, except in isolated cases. Few men can saw more than from 1^ to 2 cords of 4-foot wood into 16-inch lengths in a day, while with power saws of from 6 to 10 horsepower a three-man crew can saw up from 10 to 15 cords per day. For ordinary use a 24 or 26.-inch circular saw, driven by a 6 to 12 horsepower gasoline or kerosene engine, is used. The engine and saw frame are mounted on a truck so as to be readily moved from place to place. Long sticks can be cut up by such a saw as easily as 4- foot pieces, except that in case of larger wood one or more addi- tional men will be required to pass wood to the saw. At the present time complete sawing outfits cost from $200 to $500, depending on the horsepower and the size of the saw. Saw blades cost from $6 to $12, and saw frames from $30 to $40. Farmers who do not have this equipment and whose requirements will not warrant such an investment may hire such a saw and engine and exchange the necessary labor in its operation within the com- munity, as is frequently done in grain thrashing. Many have gaso- line or kerosene engines or tractors, and a small portable saw would therefore be a comparatively minor investment and would pay for itself in working up the average wood lot. It could be used every winter in cutting the yearly supply as well as a surplus which might be marketed. Good opportunities exist for operators of thrasher and silo-filling outfits to do custom sawing during the winter. For cutting large logs there are on the market several types of power-driven drag-saws, such as are in common use in lumber opera- tions in the Pacific Northwest. These machines, which are generally operated by a 4-horsepower gasoline engine, can be carried from log to log by two men, and cut logs up to 7 feet in diameter. It is claimed that they can cut from 10 to 30 cords of firewood (soft- woods) in 10 hours. Bui. 753, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. PLATE IV. F 51620 FIG. I. SAWING BLUE GUM (EUCALYPTUS) WOOD WITH GASOLINE ENGINE. Rate 1J to 2 cords per hour. Santa Fe Springs, Cal. FIG. 2. LOAD OF HACKBERRY POLES ON PUBLIC SQUARE FOR SALE AT $2.50 PER LOAD, GALLATIN, TENN. Bui. 753, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. PLATE V. FIG. I. Buzz SAW, POWER SPLITTER, AND CONVEYOR, SET UP AT DOVER, MASS. Photo by W. D. Clark. FIG. 2. TABLE SAW AND SPLITTER OPERATED IN A MASSACHUSETTS FARMER-S WOODSHED. Photo by W. D. Clark. THE USE OF WOOD FOR FUEL. 13 These machines weigh from 150 to 200 pounds, and cost from $170 to $200. They are probably not practical for ordinary cord- wood operations where the trees are of comparatively small size. The cost of sawing with power saws depends, of course, upon the kind and size of wood sawed and upon the prevailing rate of wages. With three or four-men crews, wages of 30 to 35 cents per hour, and a cut of 16 to 20 cords per day, the average is as follows : Cents per cord. Labor 50 Gasoline 9 Oil 1 Depreciation, interest, etc .! 10 Total 70 Charges for custom work were from 50 cents to $1 per cord, de- pending on the number of cuts and the kind of wood, but are now between 75 cents and $1.50. Splitting is still largely done by hand, often by the consumer in his spare time, so that its cost is not an item to be considered in the price he pays for wood. Although much larger amounts have been split by expert axmen, an average man will seldom split more than four cords of stove wood per day. The amount depends, of course, on the species of wood. Some woods, such as birch, maple, and most conifers, split very easily; others, such as elm, sycamore, gum, and apple, are very hard to split. Most woods split more readily when green or partly dry than when dry. Splitting machines are now coming into more general use around woodyards where considerable quantities of wood are handled. These machines are driven by the same engines which run the cutting-up saws, and sawing and split- ting are done at the same time. Two men with such a machine can split the wood as it comes from the saw. By installing an automatic carrier from saw to splitter one man can operate the latter. (See fig. 1.) Splitting by machine should not cost more than 75 cents per cord. By hand it costs around $1 per cord. SEASONING. The seasoning of wood for fuel is important, because dry wood has a somewhat greater heating value than green wood, is much more convenient to use, and is very much lighter in weight and therefore can be handled at less cost. In general it seasons more rapidly in the late spring and summer than during the remainder of the year, and most slowly when cut in late winter. The fact that checking is severe in summer does not matter, as this does not injure fuel wood. The method of stacking depends primarily upon the rapidity with which it is desired to have the wood seasoned. A common practice 14 BULLETIN 753, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Four foot wood Building is to pile the 4-foot lengths in compact piles resting on two bed pieces. This does very well when the wood is to season for six months or longer, but a different procedure must be adopted where more rapid seasoning is desired. The most open form of pile is the so-called "log- cabin " style. A pile which gives almost as good results without occu- pying nearly as much space has alternate tiers resting on single sticks at each end. There Yard is ample ventilation through the alter- nate open layers. It is very im- portant for rapid seasoning to place the piles so that the air will circulate readily through them. The ideal place for this pur- pose is an open field, preferably on a hill- top. The direction toward which the piles face is not very important if there is good air circulation. The best results will be obtained in season- ing if the piles are so constructed as to shed rain as much as possible. Cordwood of the ordinary species requires a period of from 9 to 12 months to season thor- oughly, although the moisture content will be reduced to about 35 per cent in three months' time, depending somewhat on the season of the year. Wood of three months' seasoning has from 85 to 95 per cent as much fuel value as wood of the same species thoroughly seasoned. Even green wood has a heating value of 80 per cent or more of that of dry wood. TRANSPORTATION. Ordinarily wood fuel is used within 5 to 10 miles of the locality where it is produced, because its great bulk makes it expensive to ship. _| FIG. 1. Plan of a retail wood dealer's and splitting cordwood. plant for sawing THE USE OF WOOD FOR FUEL. 15 It is commonly hauled from the woods to consumers or to dealers in towns by team or auto trucks. The cost of hauling is determined, of course, by the length of haul and by the amount that can be hauled per trip, which depends upon the condition of the roads and upon the species and dryness of the wood. The lowest cost for a given operation can be attained by letting the wood season thoroughly where it is cut and doing the hauling when the roads are best. Where much of the haul must be over woods roads or other roads which are normally in poor condition, winter hauling on sleds is favored, since larger loads can be taken in this way. The chief disad- vantage in depending on this method is the possibility of deep snow interfering with the hauling. Where the wood can be skidded out and piled beside good roads summer hauling by auto trucks is by far the most economical way to get wood to market. Costs for hauling wood by team may be put at about 50 to 75 cents per cord per mile. The following tables, 1 which show approximate costs of hauling northern hardwoods, may be taken as fairly typical of the northern and eastern States : TABLE 6. Team capacity per day for hauling various distances. Sizes. Number of cords per day per team. Imile. 2 miles. 3 miles. miles. 5 miles. 6 miles. 7 miles. 8 miles. 9 miles. 10 miles. Long wood 7 5 4 6 4 3 5 3 2* 3 ? 2 2 11 if il 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4-foot wood 16-inch, stove wood . . TABLE 7. Cost of team-hauling per short cord of 16-inch lengths, for different distances and at different wage rates, including charge of 26 cents for handling. Distance from town (miles). Trips per day. Cords hauled per day. Approximate cost per cord, with team wage of $4.50 per day. $5 per day. $6 per day. 5 and over 1 2 3 4 3-4 6-8 9-12 12-16 I1.40-J1.75 . 80- 1. 00 .65- .75 .55- .65 I1.50-J1.95 .90- 1.10 .65- .80 .55- .65 $1.75-J2.25 1.00-1.25 .75- .90 .65- .75 3 to 4. 2to3 Ito2.. Although wood fuel can not as a general thing be economically shipped to market, it is in certain instances practicable to do so, especially in districts remote from the coal regions. Since shipment by water is the cheapest method of transportation, towns on navi- gable rivers and inlets along which are supplies of fuel wood are in the best position to get wood at a reasonable cost. Washington, 1 " The Price of Fuel Wood,' Michigan, Mar. 1, 1918. by William K. Prudden, State fuel administrator of 16 BULLETIN 753, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. D. C., uses normally about 17,000 cords of wood fuel annually, most of which is brought up the Potomac by sailboats with an average capacity of 30 cords. Freight rates on cordwood vary in different sections of the country and on different railroads. At this time, on account of readjust- ments, it is not possible to give very definite information on freight rates. Recently the rate for distances of about 10 miles has averaged about 50 to 60 cents, and has sometimes reached $1. Around 100 miles the rate has averaged $1.50 per cord, but has in some cases been as low as $1 and in others as high as $2. CAE CAPACITIES. The minimum carload measurements on cordwood are as follows: Number of cords per car. Dry. Green. In box cars 34 feet 4 inches and less in length, inside measurement 12 12 In box cars over 34 feet 4 inches in length and 8 feet and over in height, inside measurement . * 17 * 16 In box cars over 34 feet 4 inches in length and under 8 feet in height, inside measurement 16 15 On flat or gondola cars 34 feet 4 inches and less in length 12 12 On flat or gondola cars between 36 and 34 feet 4 inches in length 18 16 WEIGHTS. The following estimates are used for cordwood in shipments by rail when actual weights can not be obtained : Degree of seasoning. Pounds per cord. Dry 3,650 Partly seasoned 4, 600 Green ^ 5,200 Mixed 4,600 Approximate weights per cord 2 of a number of the more important fuel wood species are : Green. Air dry. Pounds. Pounds. Ash, white '_ 4, 300 3, 800 Beech 5, 000 3, 900 Birch, yellow 5,100 4,000 Chestnut 4, 900 2, 700 Cottonwood 4,200 2, 500 Elm 4,400 3, 100 Hickory 5,700 4, 600 Maple, sugar 5, 000 3, 900 Maple, red 4, 700 3, 200 Oak, red 5,800 3,900 Oak, white 5,600 4,300 Willow 4, 600 2, 300 1 Where the wood is 16 inches or less in length, the capacities for these dimensions for dry 'and green wood are 16 and 15 cords, respectively. 2 TJ. S. Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin 715, " Measuring and Marketing Woodlot Products." THE USE OF WOOD FOR FUEL. 17 In loading and unloading from cars or boats one man can handle from 7 to 10 cords of 4-foot wood per day and from 6 to 8 cords of 16-inch wood. METHODS OF SELLING. In spite of the fact that fuel wood is not transported any great dis- tance or marketed on an extensive wholesale scale, some organiza- tion is needed for its marketing and local distribution. In com- munities where there are regular wood dealers the problem of bring- ing the producer and consumer together is simple. Such men have, of course, made a study of the problem and are better qualified than anyone else to perform this service. Unfortunately, however, in a great many communities the amount of cordwood sold has been so small in the past that it has not been worth anyone's while to go into the business of marketing firewood. In such communities the usual practice has been for the woodlot owners to make a house-to- house canvass with their loads. This is usually an expensive way of marketing wood, for the producer spends a large amount of time in finding a customer. A substitute for this canvass is the advertising of wood either in the papers or by posters at public places. The possibility of selling cordwood through coal or lumber dealers deserves attention in every locality. This would have the advantage of making possible a reduction in cost by using power saws at their yards to cut the wood into stove lengths* A still better plan is for communities to establish and control their own municipal wood yards, at which producers can deliver wood and receive pay for it according to a regular schedule of prices. MUNICIPAL WOOD YABDS. Municipal wood yards, war fuel companies, and similar organiza- tions have been tried with fair success. Their field of usefulness will doubtless be greatly increased as their need is more clearly appre- ciated and their effectiveness becomes more apparent. Some organi- zation is needed to keep alive the wood-fuel idea between seasons and to see that wood is cut, even though it does not seem immediately necessary. Every community should by means of a municipal wood yard or otherwise get in a reserve of wood for the winter, sufficient to insure its members against a fuel famine. One city in New Eng- land has made plans to purchase 100,000 cords of wood as a fuel reserve for the city. In one Southern State there are already some 30 municipal wood yards in operation, and plans are being made to have one in practically every community in the State. If this is necessary in the South it is much more urgent in the North, where 89354 18 3 18 BULLETIN 753, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. the winters are longer, and snow, especially in northern New Eng- land, makes it practically impossible to get out much wood in the depth of winter. A yard established in 1917 at Durham, N. C., purchased 1,260 cords of wood at an average cost at the yard of $5 a cord. Wood was delivered at an average cost to the consumer of $7. It came from two sources a sawmill about 14 miles distant from which slabs were shipped by rail, and a farmer's woodland from which cordwood in 8- foot lengths was secured. The slabs were mostly green pine of odd lengths, for which $2 per cord was charged f. o. b. cars. Freight charges amounted to about 75 cents per cord. The coal and wood yard is adjacent to the railroad tracks, and the wood was un- loaded from the cars exactly where needed by the sawyers. The wood from the farmers' woodlands near by was green pine and oak, cut in 8-foot lengths and split in halves or quarters. The price was $3.50 per cord piled in the woods. It was hauled from the woods to the roadside by six county teams and there piled in a long rick, from which it was loaded upon motor trucks. Three trucks were used, each making four trips a day and carrying about 1 cord per ton of rated capacity, so that the total daily Delivery was about 40 cords. The cost of hauling was about $1 per cord ; it would have been less if there had been better loading and unloading facilities. The dis- tance was 2J to 3 miles. (See fig. 2.) Cordwood was sold according to the cubic contents of the wagon boxes, most of the wood being sold at the yard. The estimated cost of sawing to stove length was 50 cents per cord on the yard. MEASURING WOOD FUEL. COEDS. A standard cord of firewood is a pile 8 by 4 by 4 feet, which con- tains 128 cubic feet of stacked wood. It is customary to pile green wood 2 or 3 inches higher than 4 feet to allow for shrinkage and set- tling as it dries. In measuring piles of wood the average dimensions are taken. A " running " cord or " face " cord, 8 feet long by 4 feet high and 12, 16, or 24 inches wide, according to the length to which it is cut for use, is frequently called a cord in the market. Though a cord contains 128 cubic feet the space occupied includes air as well as wood. The actual solid contents of a cord is only about 70 per cent of this amount, or 90 cubic feet for wood of average size. For small sticks, where the average diameter is 4 inches or less, there are less than 80 cubic feet per cord; in the case of larger sticks 10 inches or over in diameter there may be as much as 100 cubic feet per THE USE OF WOOD FOR FUEL. 19 cord. Crooked, rough sticks can not be piled as closely as straight, smooth sticks. Therefore there is less wood in a cord of crooked sticks than in a cord of straight sticks. STUM PAGE Actual cwt if pur- chased, otherwise market value. CUTTING-STACKING Includes such items a a, fllmg.bttckin. skidding to road. and staking. .Buct LD 21-95m-7,'37 \LIF., BERK. PAT. JAN. 21. 1998 477600 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY