2 BULLETIN 753, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
resources to prevent the recurrence of such a fuel shortage as occurred 
during the winter of 1917-18, by indicating the best and most eco- 
nomical methods of cutting, distributing, and using wood for fuel. 
Uneconomical methods of handling the wood increase the cost and 
waste the product, careless methods of cutting the trees may endanger 
the future supply, and the reckless use of shade or ornamental trees 
for fuel is an unjustifiable extravagance. 
In the utilization of the forests of the country, including farm 
woodlands, a great deal of wood material is produced which can not 
find a use other than as fuel wood. While some of it is used for 
acid wood, charcoal, etc., most of it is left for fuel or wasted. 
Since many of the trees in our forests are fit only for fuel, they will 
not be cut unless there is a demand for fuel wood. Improvement 
cuttings, which take the small, diseased, or defective trees, can not be 
profitably made in many cases unless there is such a demand. Thin- 
nings can frequently be made to pay for themselves if the material 
is used for fuel. Sometimes products of thinnings can be used for 
other purposes than fuel, but more often they can not. As proper 
thinnings and improvement cuttings are a great stimulus to increased 
production and at the same time improve the quality of the timber, 
a fuel wood demand opens up a great opportunity for forest im- 
provement and, if widespread and continued, will produce a vast total 
effect for the better in the character and quality of our forest re- 
sources. 
Wood waste occurs at every stage of the manufacture of wood 
products, from the lumber operations through the milling process 
and in the special processes necessary to shape the article into its 
final form. A wide use of wood fuel affords a market for this waste, 
which would otherwise be lost. 
Preparing wood for fuel involves slightly more labor than is 
_ required to produce coal. It is, however, usually widely scattered 
labor which is used in wood cutting and hauling, and no increased 
demand on labor is really made. On most farms there is plenty of 
time during the winter for both men and teams to work at getting 
out wood. | 
WOOD INSTEAD OF COAL FOR FUEL. 
USE OF WOOD SHOULD BE LARGELY INCREASED IN RURAL DISTRICTS. 
Who can with the least hardship restrict his consumption of coal? 
Certain classes of consumers require concentrated fuel, such as coal 
or crude oil; others can use other fuels, but at a considerable disad- 
vantage. Most manufacturers are unable to substitute wood for coal 
to any great extent because of the character of their heating and 
power plants and because of their location, which involves railroad 
