60 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



BURNING GREEN WOOD. 



We have in earlier volnnies of this journal so often 

 called public attention to the losses incurred by burn- 

 ing green firewood, that, did we not know the value 

 of repetitions to many new subscribers, the subject 

 might be considered as exhausted. The following 

 remarks of the J\''eiv England Farmer present the 

 matter in a new light, as disturbing the good temper 

 and harmony of the family circle, and therefore worthy 

 of consideration: 



It is to be hoped that there are not many New Enu^land 

 farmers who are in the practice of using green wood for 

 their cooking stoves, or for warming tlieir rooms. The 

 wood-house is generally as important an appendage to a 

 New England home as a barn, and is usually filled with 

 seasoned wood suffident for a year's supply. But there are 

 5ome, we observe, who still use wood in its green state for 

 fuel, hauling a load now and then, when the demand be- 

 comes imperative, and chopping just enough to appease 

 the clamor in the kitchen. 



There are several objections to such a course ; just the 

 moral effect is decidedly bad, as it is a requisition upon the 

 women much like that imposed on the Israelites of old ; 

 they were required to make bricks without straw, and you 

 require the women to cook and warm the children without 

 Fuel, or at least with wood that contains in every KM) lbs. 

 Soj D5s. of cold water. Now it requires time and patience, 

 ind a great stock of good humor, to putf and encourage 

 into steam and vapor 35^ lbs. of cold water, in a frosty 

 morning, when the children are to be got to school in sea- 

 son, and the men are to be started for the woods. If this 

 trial occurred only once a week, it might be supported with 

 some degree of complacency ; but it comes every day, and 

 nany times in the day, and often when care and over-labor 

 have fatigued the body and weakened the will. The mind 

 8 thus brought into an easily excited state, and gives way 

 "/O words and actions unnatural to itself when not thus un- 

 justly tried. Green firewood should be rejected as the 

 lemon of discord in the family ; while it smokes, and steams, 

 ind sputters, and refuses to toast or roast, or bake or boil, 

 t makes the children sulky and tart, the husband gloomy 

 md severe, and the poor wife anxious and disheartened. 

 \Iany a scene of domestic felicity has been smoked and 

 izzled out of existence by the use of green firewood! 



In the next place it is bad ecoiiomy to burn green fire- 

 vood, and to show this conclusively, we give below a state- 

 oent made by Dr. Lee, in the Genesee Farmer, several 

 -ears ago (184G). He says : 



" We have been burning, for the last month, green Black 

 ,nd White Oak wood, cut from small trees. Our students 

 ind on analysis that 100 lbs. of wood contain 35.^ lbs. of 

 vatcr, and less than 1 lb. of ash. We demonstrated in an 

 irticle published in the last Farmer, that 1000 degrees of 

 leat are taken up in converting water into steam, which 

 jccupies a space 1G9G times larger than that filled by wa- 

 er. Although the quantity of latent heat contained in a 

 >ord of green wood is not increased by seasoning, and 

 lence the latter can evolve no more sensible heat than the 

 brmer ; still, in burning green wood, or wet wood, it is 

 ilmost impossible to avoid the loss of one-fourth of the 

 leat generated, in combination with water, in steam and 

 >apor. Most of the heat rendered latent in these gaseous 

 jodies passes up chimney, where they are condensed, and 

 ji^e out their heat to warm all out doors. 



" We are anxious to give the most unscientific reader a 

 jlear idea of this subject, for it is really one of great prac- 

 dcal importance. Look at it then, in this light : You have 

 ilivided your 100 lbs. of green Oak, Beech or Maple wood 

 nto 65 Bis. of dry combustible matter, and 35 fi>s. of cold 

 jvater. Every pound of this water you evaporate in green 

 ft-ood, and throw the heat away by the consumption of a 

 jart of your 65 Rs. of fuel, and then take the heat evolved 

 )y the balance of your fuel to warm your room. How 

 nany ounces of perfectly dry wood are required to trans- 

 brm a pound of water into steam, we can not at this mo- 

 neat say j nor can we determine what portion of the heat 



taken up by steam in the combustion of green wood in 

 again evolved by condensing in the room where the fire is 

 made. We believe, however, that the usual loss is about 

 equal to one-third of all the heat contained in C5 ftis. of 

 kiln-dried wood ; and that the gain in seasoning wood 

 under cover is at least 25 per cent." 



AVheat-Culture IX Massachusetts. — We are 

 pleased to see the farmers of the old Bay State turn- 

 ing their attention to the culture of wheat. At the 

 last United States census their entire crop was Icj^s 

 than half the product of single towns in Western 

 New York. That the production of this important 

 staple may be advantageously practiced by the agri- 

 culturists of Massachusetts, the following letter, writ- 

 ten to the editor of the JVew England Farmer, 

 abundantly proves : 



Friend Brown: — The question has been asked, " Why 

 do not the farmers of New England raise their own wheat V" 

 A\'e answer, because they do not try. We believe that the 

 farmers of New England can raise their own wlieat as well 

 as their corn, rye and potatoes. We are not disposed to 

 tax the readers of the Farmer with a long fine spun theorv, 

 and ground our belief and assertion upon that, but simjilv 

 to stiite a few plain facts comprising our own experieiicf 

 and that of some of our neighbors in raising wheat tin 

 past season. The 10th of 9th month, 1852, we sowed tv. o 

 bushels of White Flint wheat on two acres of warm, loamy 

 land, from which a crop of grass had been cut. We gave 

 it a common dressing of stable and compost manure before 

 plowing, and sowed on the furrows. About the middle 

 of 7th month we harvested the crop, which yielded ("5 

 bushels, or 32j bushels to the acre, weighing 63 lbs. to the 

 bushel. 



James Comstock, of our town, harvested the past sum- 

 mer from IJ acres, 61 bushels, or 3-t bushels to the acre. 



Henry Wheelock, of Mendon, purchased of us last 

 fall 3 peckSrof wheat, which he sowed on three-quarters 

 of an acre, from which he obtained 23 bushels. Another, 

 in oiu" town, by way of experiment, sowed 4 quarts on 

 an eighth of an acre, which yielded 4J bushels. Another, 

 in Sutton, from 2 quarts, sowed on a sixteenth of an acre, 

 obtained nearly 2 bushels. 



Although some of these experiments are on a small scale, 

 yet they are all attended with the same satisfactory results, 

 and go to prove that the farmers of New England can raise 

 good crops of whiter wheat, if they can be niduced to try. 

 We have sowed 4 acres this fall, which look finely at 

 present ; the result next year. Several of our neighbors 

 have sowed wheat this fall, an account of which will also 

 be forwarded. We hope other farmers of Massachusetts 

 will give publicity to their experiments in raising winter 

 wheat. Battey & Aldrich. 



Mr. Editor: — Tour correspondent on page 371 

 of the last volume of the Farmer, over the signature 

 of "y. W.," asserts: "It is susceptible of proof, 

 that the cooked slop of the distillery will fatten aa 

 many animals as the new corn would have done be- 

 fore it was ground and passed through the still." 

 The fact is not readily credited by the farmers in this 

 section, and \nll not be, unless accompanied by com- 

 parative statements, and figures, showing the precise 

 quantity of nutriment in the grain, and the quantity 

 of animal flesh it will produce if fed in the raw state, 

 or in meal properly prepared, with the same quantity 

 of grain after it has " passed through the still." And 

 while he is making out his statements, he will confer 

 a favor on some farmers by giving an analysis of 

 corn and rye, and showing the parts that pass by dis- 

 tillation into alcohol. I expect your correspondent 

 will, through the Farmer, clear up this matter, and 

 not leave it in the dark. — M. W. — Somers, Conn. 



