Canadian Forestri] Journal, February, 1918 



1527 



information rei>arding one of these, 

 that of Durham, N.C., may be of 

 interest. The management of the 

 fuehvood situation lies in the hands 

 of a committee of three one from the 

 city government, one from the county 

 commisvsioners, and the secretary of 

 the Chaml)er of Commerce. A wood 

 yard, adjacent to the raih'oad tracks, 

 was purchased by the city, and the 

 former owner was retained as manager 

 at SI 00 per month. The yard is 

 equipped with two electrically-driven 

 circular cut-off saws and a splitting 

 machine. About 60 cords of wood can 

 be reduced from 8 ft. lengths to 

 stovewood per day. The wood comes 

 largely from farmers' w^oodlands 

 nearby and is green pine and oak, cut 

 in 8 ft. lengths, and split in halves 

 or cjuarters. The price piled in the 

 woods is $3.50 per cord. It is hauled 

 from the woods to the roadside by 

 six county teams driven by convicts, 

 and there is piled in a long rick, from 

 which it is loaded on to motor trucks. 

 Three trucks are in use, two three- 

 ton trucks belonging to the county, 

 and a 5-ton truck belonging to the 

 city. The trucks make four trips a 

 day, the distance being 23^ to 3 miles, 

 and carry about one cord per ton of 

 rated capacity; making a total daily 

 delivery of all of them about 40 

 cords. The cost of hauling is about 

 $1 per cord. The estimated cost of 

 sawing to stove length is 50 cents to 

 75 cents per cord. It is sold at $6 

 per cord on the yard, or $7 delivered. 

 It is intended to run the yard at cost, 

 and the prices may be reduced later. 

 The city plans to buy 6,000 cords of 

 standing timber at 50 cents per cord 

 to be cut and hauled by convict and 

 city labor. The estimated cost of 

 this wood "fitted" for delivery 

 is as follows: 



Stumpage % .50 



Cutting and splitting 1.00 



Hauling !^ 1.00 



Sawing to stove lengths 75 



Cost on yard $ 3.25 



Why a Municipal Yard'^. 

 There are two sound arguments for 

 the establishment of municipal wood 

 vards. The first is that it offers the 



best way of guaranteeing a market 

 for a large amount of wood at a uni- 

 form price and thus stimulates pro- 

 duction. The second is that when 

 properly handled it furnishes an in- 

 surance against a serious coal short- 

 age. Such a wood yard should not 

 be handled as an ordinary business 

 with the idea of keeping the minimum 

 allowable stock on hand. There 



should be a definite plan of main- 

 taining a sufficient supply of wood to 

 relieve any unforeseen coal shortage. 

 This amount will naturally vary with 

 local conditions. It has been sug- 

 gested that this reserve should equal 

 10 per cent, of the fuel ordinarily 

 used in the town or city. On this 

 basis a town which uses 10 000 tons 

 of coal would need a wood reserve 

 equivalent to 1.000 tons, or about 

 1,500 cords of wood. To supply this 

 at $8 per cord would require a work- 

 ing capital of $12,000. 



The question has been raised 

 whether the possession of such a wood 

 fuel reserve would not mitigate 

 against a community in the eyes of 

 the Federal Administrator and in- 

 vite an embargo on coal to that 

 community. This can be answered 

 in the negative. The fact is that the 

 Administrators in certain States, 

 notably Indiana and Missouri, are 

 already discriminating against well- 

 wooded regions, and this may be done 

 more widely next winter. Such a 

 community which has a wood fuel 

 reserve will therefore have a great 

 advantage over one similarly situated 

 but without one. 



Organizing Idle Labor 



The methods described above are 

 aimed to bring about an increased 

 sale of wood. Much wood can un- 

 doubtedly also be produced by the 

 consumers themselves and con- 

 siderable has been done toward bring- 

 ing this about. 



Professional and business men 

 have already been mobilized in some 

 sections to work Saturday afternoons 

 and holidays cutting wood. In 



Massachusetts a movement has been 

 organized to form "Cut-A-Cord 

 Clubs." Various colleges encouraged 

 their faculty and students to do work 



