88 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



February 



Ayres for use as fuel, as the fastest 

 growing" tree. 



Burch of all varieties burns quietly. 

 Black birch is the best, and will burn 

 well green. All species of birch should 

 be cut and split while green, that the 

 wood may season properly. Locust 

 burns quietly, but slowly, resisting the 

 fire and melting away with little blaze, 

 as does also the mulberry. White ash 

 and black ash burn quietly, but the 

 former is the best fuel, especially for 

 burning green. The wood choppers 

 of charcoalwood have their own fuel 

 free, persumably from the dead wood, 

 which is not suitable for charcoal, but 

 make free with any nice white ash or 

 hickory standing near their cabins. In 

 the days of the old ovens, white ash 

 was the favorite wood for heating 

 them, as it split readily and burned 

 freely with an abundant blaze. 



Elm, willow, and alder are rather 

 soft, spongy woods, that burn quietly, 

 but are not very lasting, nor do they 

 produce very much heat. Hornbeam 

 and blue birch I have never known to 

 snap, and are free burning hard 

 woods. Soft maple never snaps, and 

 when dry makes a very pleasant, still, 

 free-burning wood. The tulip-tree 

 or white-wood, is too valuable for 

 lumber to be consigned to the wood- 

 pile, yet the refuse is easily worked 

 up. and is a 

 quiet fire. 



Spruce, hemlock, fir, cedar, tama- 

 rack, and larch always snap; if well 

 seasoned and put in a close stove with 

 a good draft, as soon as the fire is 

 lighted, they give the sound of a pack 

 of exploding fire-crackers, and a sen- 

 sation of warmth before the cold iron 

 is heated through. All kinds of pine 

 are liable to snap, but the sparks from 

 all these soft woods will die before 

 they scorch the rug, or singe the floor. 



Chestnut and butternut are lively 

 snappers, and when dry burn freely, 

 and, being easily worked up, make sat- 

 isfactory fuel for close stoves. Hick- 

 < >r\ . the best of all woods for fuel, and 

 keeping tire in buried coals, ordina- 

 rily burns quietly, but sometimes it 

 throws live coals viciously across the 



free-burner, making a 



room. Hard maple, beech, and white 

 oak sometimes throw out hard coals 

 from the heart wood. When well 

 seasoned they are little inferior to 

 hickory in free and enduring burning 

 qualities. The other oaks rarely, if 

 ever snap, but do not burn as freely 

 as the white oak, nor make as firm 

 coals. The common poplar, though a 

 soft and spongy wood, will snap, and 

 when made into charcoal has the rep- 

 utation of holding fire in the inside 

 of the large pieces, unseen on the out- 

 side, and later starting fire in the coal 

 bank or wagon. 



Woods to burn green are : White 

 ash, hickory, black birch, hard maple, 

 and white oak. They are more en- 

 during than when dry and kindle al- 

 most as readily. To get the best value 

 of wood, it should be cut and split 

 when green and soon housed in a 

 shed or well ventilated wood house, 

 where it will dry without molding. 

 White pine allowed to lie with the 

 bark on the logs, or without splitting, 

 will be devoured by worms during 

 the first summer. They make such a 

 noise in their work that they can be 

 readily heard. 



All wood that is left without work- 

 ing up, suffers from worm and in- 

 cipient decay, mostly in the sap wood. 

 Live wood makes better fuel than 

 when it has died from fire, or other 

 causes. When the butt cut is sound, 

 it will make better charcoal, more 

 weight than the higher cuts, and has 

 relatively the same value as fuel. In 

 old timber, the butt has sometimes lost 

 its life and substance, and is inferior 

 to the rest of the trunk. In most 

 trees, but especially the evergreens, 

 the knots have more fuel value than 

 the straight grained wood. 



In the hickory and paper birch, the 

 outer bark has high fuel value, prized 

 for kindlings, otherwise the bark and 

 sap would have less value than the 

 heart. Slab wood as usually treated 

 in the slab pile makes poor fuel, but 

 worked up fresh and dried under 

 cover, the bark still adhering, it makes 

 a lively fire. 



Wood grown in the open will give 



