88 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



become cheaper, and is commonly used, but having no coal 

 veins in this State, wood must always be the farmer's fuel. 



Careful experiments have shown that the amounts of dry 

 wood necessary to throw out a given heat were as follows : 

 Hickory, 4 cords ; White Oak, 4f ; Hard Maple, Gf ; Soft 

 Maple, 74 ; Pine, 9^ — each equal to 4 tons Anthracite coal. 

 If the heat were all saved, one pound of good dry seasoned 

 wood would raise 27 pounds of water from' freezing to the 

 boiling point. The loss is in not saving the heat and in burning 

 green wood. 



It has been found that the most thoroughly seasoned wood at 

 common temperature contains about -^^^ of water. But green 

 wood contains about 35 per cent, of water, and the farmer who 

 hauls in 20 cords of green wood draws 20 tons or 125 barrels 

 of water, and in burning it green loses heat enough in evapo- 

 rating the sap to boil about 12,000 gallons of water. 



Wood will season best under cover and well ventilated ; if 

 wood is hauled up green in the winter, it should be prepared so 

 that the winds of March and April and May may season it 

 before it is piled away ; and every farmer ought to have a wood- 

 shed large enough to hold a year's supply of dry wood, and 

 never allow green wood to be burned. Not only the economy 

 of the farm requires this, but especially is it demanded for 

 the comfort and convenience of the women of the farmer's 

 household. 



We asked a few weeks since an intelligent young farmer to 

 name a principal waste in farming ; he replied that to one 

 riding through the country he thought the waste in fences 

 would be one of the most prominent. This is undoubtedly 

 true, not only in appearance to the casual observer but also to 

 the critical, close examiner. The amount of loss by expense of 

 making and maintaining unnecessary fence is enormous, besides 

 the amount of waste land under and directly adjoining them. 



We have no exact data by which to estimate the amount of 

 fencing in this State, or the expense. We have, however, made 

 calculations in two ways. Careful estimates have been made 

 of the fencing in Pennsylvania and in Maine. Pennsylvania 

 had, in 1850, one hundred and twenty-eight thousand farms, 

 and the cost of the fencing in the State was S105,600,000 ; the 

 interest of which is ^$6, 336,000. Maine had forty-seven thou- 



