THE USE OF WOOD FOR FUEL. 17 
In loading and unloading from cars or boats one man can handle 
from 7 to 10 cords of 4-foot wood per day and from 6 to 8 cords of 
16-inch wood. 
METHODS OF SELLING. 
In spite of the fact that fuel wood is not transported any great dis- 
tance or marketed on an extensive wholesale scale, some organiza- 
tion is needed for its marketing and local distribution. In com- 
munities where there are regular wood dealers the problem of bring- 
ing the producer and consumer together is simple. Such men have, 
of course, made a study of the problem and are better qualified | 
than anyone else to perform this service. Unfortunately, however, in 
a great many communities the amount of cordwood sold has been 
so small in the past that it has not been worth anyone’s while to go 
into the business of marketing firewood. In such communities the 
usual practice has been for the woodlot owners to make a house-to- 
house canvass with their loads. This is usually an expensive way of 
marketing wood, for the producer spends a large amount of time in 
finding a customer. <A substitute for this canvass is the advertising 
of wood either in the papers or by posters at public places. 
The possibility of selling cordwood through coal or lumber dealers 
deserves attention in every locality. This would have the advantage 
of making possible a reduction in cost by using power saws at their 
yards to cut the wood into stove lengths: A still better plan is for 
communities to establish and control their own municipal wood yards, 
at which producers can deliver wood and receive pay for it according 
to a regular schedule of prices. 
MUNICIPAL WOOD YARDS. 
Municipal wood yards, war fuel companies, and similar organiza- 
tions have been tried with fair success. Their field of usefulness 
will doubtless be greatly increased as their need is more clearly appre- 
ciated and their effectiveness becomes more apparent. Some organi- 
zation is needed to keep alive the wood-fuel idea between seasons 
and to see that wood is cut, even though it does not seem immediately 
necessary. Every community should by means of a municipal wood 
yard or otherwise get in a reserve of wood for the winter, sufficient 
to insure its members against a fuel famine. One city in New Eng- 
land has made plans to purchase 100,000 cords of wood as a fuel 
reserve for the city. In one Southern State there are already some 
30 municipal wood yards in operation, and plans are being made to 
have one in practically every community in the State. If this is 
necessary in the South it is much more urgent in the North, where 
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