20 BULLETIiSr 55, U. S. DEPARTMENT 0¥ AGRICULTURE. 



to find the number of cords in a stack of other dunensions the length 

 of the stack is multiplied by its width and height, and the result 

 divided by 128. Thus, a stack 4 feet high and 8 feet long made of 

 12-fo6t logs contains 3 cords, the same as a stack 4 feet high and 24 

 feet long made of 4-foot slicks. 



CONDITIONS AFFECTING THE SOLID CONTENTS OF WOOD IN A CORD. 



Though the number of cubic feet in both stacks is the same, the 

 actual contents of solid wood is not. Logs are never entirely straight 

 and smooth, and between them in the pile are cracks which increase 

 in size with the length of the sticks. Thus, if 3 cords of 12-foot logs 

 were resawed mto 6-foot lengths there would not be enough wood to 

 measure 3 cords, or a stack 4 feet high and 16 feet long. The stack 

 would be smaller and the shrinkage even greater were the 12-foot 

 logs resawed into 4-foot lengths. Thus, the shorter the stick the 

 more wood is required to make a given number of cords. Careful 

 investigation abroad showed that the difference m the solid contents 

 of a cord made of 12-foot logs and one of 4-foot sticks amounts to 

 at least 6 per cent. .Pulpwood in the Adirondacks is cut mostly 

 into 4, 12, and 14 foot lengths. It ought, therefore, to be of great 

 practical interest to the owner of a forest tract, as well as to the 

 buyer of pulpwood, whether the wood is cut and stacked into 4 or 

 12 foot lengths. Twenty thousand cords are frequently cut from 

 a single tract during one year, and the choice of 4 or 12 foot lengths 

 means a difference of 1,200 cords, or, in money (at stumpage price of 

 •52.50 per cord), of $3,000. 



DIAMETER. 



The diameter of the logs also has a decided influence upon the 

 volume of solid wood in the stack. The smaller the logs the less the 

 amount of wood, for the more sticks in the cord the greater is the 

 number of cracks. The difference in solid volume of two stacks, one 

 composed of sticks twice as large as those m the othei', may amount 

 to 13 per cent, and if of sticks four times as large to even 25 per cent. 

 From 6.26 cords of pure balsam fir pulpwood, cut into 4-foot lengths, 

 all sticks 7 inches and below in diameter at the upper end were 

 selected and piled separately from the sticks with a diameter of more 

 than 7 inches. To find the volume of solid wood in the two stacks 

 the volume of each 4-foot stick was determmed. The stack made 

 of logs 7 inches and less in diameter averaged 116 sticks and 91.4 

 cubic feet of solid wood per cord. The stack made of logs above 7 

 inches in diameter averaged 56 sticks and 95.75 cubic feet, or 5 per 

 cent, more of solid wood per cord. In another case 8.68 cords of 

 balsam, piled and measured in the same way, gave lolatively similar 

 results. 



