SORTING AND STACKING. 267 



(b) Dimensions. 

 Logs, butts, and poles will be classified according to their 

 dimensions. As the value of a log or butt is not always directly- 

 proportional to its cubic contents, but to its length or thickness, 

 and in the case of coniferous wood to the thickness of its smaller 

 end, the pieces will be classified accordingly. 



Such classes are formed according to differences of about 

 6 feet in length, and 2 — 4 inches in thickness. In the case 

 of valuable timber, the classification according to thickness may 

 go down to one centimeter. [Thus, in France, oak-timber in- 

 creases in value at about one franc per cubic meter, for every 

 additional centimeter in diameter over fifty centimeters. — Tr.] 

 The less valuable the pieces, the rougher the classification. 



Large billets always increase the solid contents of a pile of 

 stacked firewood, so that firewood should also be classified accord- 

 ing to dimensions. 



(c) Shape. 

 Curved timber should be classed according to the degree of 

 curvature for a certain length, or in kneed-timber for the angle 

 at which the branch leaves the main piece- 

 In classifying other timbers, the chief points to which atten- 

 tion should be paid are ; — whether they are straight, bent in one 

 plane, quite crooked, or contain burrs ; also, whether they are 

 clean-grained, or have been merely trimmed free from many 

 branches and are knotty. 



In the case of firewood, also, straight billets of split or round 

 stem-wood should be piled separately from crooked and knotty 

 branch-wood. 



(d) Quality. 



Independently of its soundness, which is always presupposed 

 in the case of timber, there is a great difi"erence in quality 

 depending on its grain. Thus, we have coarse-grained and 

 fine-grained timber, timber with broad or narrow annual zones, 

 with straight, twisted, or wavy fibre. Some stems are 

 naturally smooth on the surface, others lumpy owing to occluded 

 knots. All these circumstances affect the value of the pieces, 

 and should be considered in sorting them. 



In the case of firewood any unsound and broken pieces should 

 be piled apart from the better wood, and as the age of the tree 



