226 



ba^ed upon its use, or considered in connection with it, iintil its quality 

 and price, in this market, are both satisfactorily settled. But the im- 

 mense quantity of timber, of good quality for charcoal, within reach of 

 the city — the means of access to these forests in almost all directioiLS by 

 plank roads, and the level surface of the sunounding countiy — it is be- 

 lieved, afFoi'd facilities for long, abundant, and cheap supply of charcoal, 

 which it would be difficult to rival. It will be seen, however, that it is 

 only necessary to establish, that pig iron of this variety can be made 

 here as cheaply as elsewhere, to render the business a perfectly sstfe one. 

 The writer beUeves it to be true that there are, at least, one hundred 

 and fifty square miles of heavy timber, within reach of blast furnaces, 

 which might be constructed on the Detroit river, and which would yield 

 of coal timber,*'eighty cords to the acre. This, computing forty bushels 

 of coal to the cord of wood, would furnish fuel for the manufacture of 

 over two millions of tons of pig metal, at one hundred and fifty bush- 

 els to the ton. Estimating one-half of this amount, and the abundance 

 of fuel for practical use, is just as satisfactory. The general quality of 

 the wood in our forests has been stated as good for coal. The value of 

 wood for this purpose is measured by its weight ; and in order to show 

 the relative value of several kinds, more or less prevalent in the vicini- 

 ty of the city, the following table, taken from a valuable work upon the 

 subject, is submitted: Water, 1,000: 



Green. Air Dried. Kiln Dried. 



White Oak 1.0754 0.7075 0.6630 



Red Oak 1.0494 0.6777 0.6630 



Sugar Maple 0.9036 0.6440 0.6137 



Beech 0.9822 0.5907 0.5788 



Birch 0.9012 0.6274 0.5699 



Poplar 0.9859 0.4873 0.4464 



Red Pine 0.9121 0.5502 0.4205 



White Pine 0.8699 0.4716 0.3838 



The last column shows the real value of the wood. The water has 

 been expelled. Its weight is in proportion to its amount of carbon, hy- 

 drogen, and oxygen — the two former constituting fuel. It will there- 

 fore appear, that one cord by measure, of sugar maple, is worth nearly 

 as much as two cords of white pine, and that white oak (if of the qual- 

 ity used in the above experiment) is worth a shade more than maple. 



