THE USE OF WOOD FOR FURL. 7 
restoring the land to grass. Also, uncleared corners of fields or 
patches of agricultural land within the border of the wood lot may be 
cut clean, the wood used for fuel, and the land eventually farmed. 
The expense of clearing is thus largely or entirely met by the value 
of the fuel produced. 
TOPS AND LOPS. 
Thousands of cords of wood from the tops and limbs of trees felled 
in lumbering operations rot annually or furnish fuel for forest fires. 
Ordinarily this waste can not be avoided, because lumbering is most 
important in the less thinly populated parts of the country, and long 
hauls to cordwood markets are too costly. Sometimes, however, 
farmers overlook near-by woods operations as sources of fuel. The 
material is already down and can be worked up easily into cordwood. 
Owners of cut-over land usually are glad to have such material re- 
moved. 
MILL WASTE. 
Mill waste is very widely used as fuel in the neighborhood of saw- 
mills and woodworking plants. Much of this refuse is burned to sup- 
ply power for the mills themselves, but considerable is used as fuel by 
individuals and in some regions by other manufacturers. In many 
instances there are still large amounts of this material going to waste 
which could be made available for fuel. 
SAWDUST BRIQUETS. 
There are now at least three firms on the Pacific coast engaged in 
the manufacture of sawdust briquetting machinery, and at least three 
plants for the manufacture of this fuel have been established there. 
The main market for briquets will probably be for domestic use 
where the cleanliness and easy kindling qualities of the briquet are. 
a fine asset. For this use the briquet might be able to compete with 
coal at only $8.50 a ton, the housewife being willing to pay a little 
more for the same heat value on account of these desirable proper- 
ties. The almost total absence of ash, the absolute absence of clinker, 
and the lack of smoke are great advantages of briquets over coal. 
In competing with cordwood the briquet has certain advantages, 
such as requiring less labor in preparing for the fire, containing less 
moisture and more wood per pound, and obviating the need for 
kindling wood. 
The best chance for the success of the wood or sawdust briquet 
is in those regions where sawdust is abundant and coal is expensive. 
The region best fulfilling these conditions in this country is the 
Pacific coast, and it is a significant fact that the companies now 
establishing the industry in America are all, as far as the author 
knows, on the Pacific coast. 
