Factors Influencing the Vohime of Solid Wood in the Cord. 129 



The results of experiments upon the relation between the form 

 of sticks and the solid contents of the cord are given in the fol- 

 lowing table :* 



Solid Cubic Feet per Cord of 

 Number Mixed 



Class. of Sticks Hardwoods. Softwoods. Hardwoods and 



per cord. Softwoods. 



T f Smooth 104 97.28 96.00 96.00 



^'''^S'' I Knotty loi 85.76 90.88 88.32 



Small i |°^«°tl^ ^62 92-^6 92.16 92.16 



(Knotty 155 83.20 87.04 84.48 



5. Species. 



The preceding tables show that softwoods furnish more solid 

 wood per given space than do hardwoods. This is undoubtedly- 

 due to the smaller taper, greater clear length, and smoother bark 

 of conifers. 



A cord of softwoods contain on an average about 3 per cent, 

 more of solid wood than a similar cord of hardwoods. The 

 species of the tree from which the cordwood is derived, therefore, 

 must have some effect upon the solid contents of the cord, inas- 

 much as some species taper more or less than others. This effect 

 is, to be sure, not very great, and since the taper and the general 

 habit of trees vary with the locality and conditions under which 

 they grow, no accurate arrangement of species in the order of 

 their greater or le.ss yield of solid wood to the cord is possible. 



6. Green Wood and Dry Wood. 



Sound, freshly-cut wood dries in the air, and the stack, there- 

 fore, shrinks, resulting in an increase of solid wood per given 

 space. In drying, it is true, the wood cracks and the bark be- 

 comes detached, which tends to counteract the shrinkage of the 

 stack, but not enough to neutralize it entirely. It makes, there- 

 fore, a difference how soon after felling timber the stack is meas- 

 ured. Hardwoods dry in the air more and shrink, therefore, 

 more than do softwoods. Green hardwood completely air-dry 

 shrinks from 9 per cent, to 14 per cent, according to species, 

 while softwood only 9 per cent, to 10 per cent. t Consequently, 

 stacks of dry hardwood have 9 per cent, to 14 per cent., and dry 

 softwood 9 per cent, to 10 per cent, more, respectively, of solid 

 volume than similar stacks of green wood. 



* Franz Baur, " Untersuchungen iiber den Festgehalt und das Gewicht 

 des Schichtholzes und der Rinde." 



t Franz Baur. " Untersuchungen iiber den Festgehalt." 



