38 OUR VANISHING FORESTS 



heating and cooking? It is not because coal itself is 

 less expensive, for it is a fact that the amount of 

 heat derived from one ton of coal costing fourteen 

 dollars and one cord of hardwood costing ten dol- 

 lars is about equal. No, it is really only a matter 

 of convenience. Anyone who, during a coal short- 

 age, has attempted to keep his furnace going with 

 wood will testify that he does not care to repeat the 

 experience. Central heating and constant stoking 

 necessary to maintain a wood fire do not go 

 together. Wood is too bulky and burns too quickly. 



The unit of fuel wood is the cord, but this is in 

 reality a rather indefinite quantity. It represents a 

 pile of four foot lengths, four feet high and eight 

 feet long, or 128 cubic feet, but there are usually 

 so many rounded surfaces that the solid content 

 varies widely. A crooked stick takes up more room 

 than a straight stick, a few large projecting knots 

 will cheat you out of a dozen billets. Indeed, the 

 actual content of such a pile is usually estimated at 

 about sixty to ninety cubic feet. 



In this country fuel wood as it is found in the 

 forest brings a small price. The six to thirteen 

 dollars per cord paid by the ultimate consumer in 

 our northeastern states is at least fifty to seventy- 

 five per cent, labor charge. There is a tremendous 

 amount of hand labor involved in tree felling, saw- 



