82 HISTORY OP FARM 



standing, needing cutting. Fire was the cutting agent first 

 employed. Trees were burned down by building fires about 

 their bases, and then by similar process they were cut in 

 sections. It was only for long-keeping fires that such fuel 

 was needed: there was always excess of kindling-stuffs 

 available for making qtiick fires. 



All wood will btun and give forth heat, but one who knows 

 woods will not use all kinds: it is only the degenerate 



Fig. 43. Western yellow pine dismantled and ignited by lightning (U. S. 

 Bureau of Forestry.) 



modem, who will do that: who will go to the telephone and 

 order a cord of wood without further specifications. Heavy, 

 close grained, hard woods as a rule bum more slowly and 

 yield more heat than the lighter more open-textured soft 

 woods. Combustible resins vary the rate of burning, and the 

 am.ount of heat produced: but the greatest differences in 

 burning quaKties are due to the amount of water present. A 

 punky old log that when dry will bum like tinder will soak up 

 water like a sponge and, becoming "water logged," will not 



