62 



BULLETIN" 285, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



CORDWOOD VOLUMES. 



So many factors affect the compactness of piled wood that it is impracticable to 

 include volume tables showing the contents in stacked cords x of northern hardwood 

 trees of different sizes. Experiments performed in the course of this study showed 

 that the solid contents per cord varied a great deal more with the amount of branch- 

 wood and the straightness of the split and round bodywood sections than with the size 

 of the trees alone. The solid contents per cord averaged about 71 cubic feet, but 

 ranged from less than 60 cubic feet for large, spiral-grained, branchy trees, to over 90 

 cubic feet for small, well-formed trees with few branches. 



For use in average old-growth stands of northern hardwoods the following converting 

 factors will give fairly reliable results when applied to the cubic volumes in the pre- 

 ceding tables: 90 cubic feet per cord for tall, slender, straight trees with few large 

 branches; 60 cubic feet per cord for large, spiral-grained, branchy trees; and 75 cubic 

 feet per cord for trees which fall between these extremes. This is for the closeness 

 of utilization described in the footnotes to Tables 31-37. 



Cordwood cut from small trees is apt to lie straighter and pile more compactly than 

 that from large timber. Consequently, cordwood tables are more practicable for 

 small than for large trees. Table 38 gives cordwood volumes for red maple on the 

 Harvard Forest, Petersham Mass. 2 They are based on the cubic-foot volumes for red 

 maple given in Table 37 and on the same number of trees, except for those of the 

 2-inch class, omitted in these tables. Red maples of good height for their diameters 

 should run about as follows: 



Diameter, 

 breast- 

 high. 



Number of 



trees per 



cord. 



Diameter, 

 breast- 

 high. 



Number of 



trees per 



cord. 



Inches. 

 4 

 6 



8 



50 



20 



9 



Inches. 

 10 

 12 

 14 



6 

 4 

 3 



Table 38. — Volume of red maple in standard cords of 128 cubic feet, Harvard Forest 



Petersham, Mass., 1910-11. 

 [Revised and enlarged in 1915.] 



Diameter, 



breast- 

 high. 



Total height of tree — feet. 



20 30 



40 



50 



60 



70 



80 



Merchantable volume— cords. 



Inches. 

 3 

 4 

 5 

 6 

 7 

 8 

 9 



10 

 11 

 12 

 13 

 14 

 15 

 16 

 17 



0.009 

 .015 



0.011 

 .019 

 .031 



0.015 

 .024 

 .034 

 .048 

 .063 

 .078 

 .095 



0.018 

 .029 

 .043 

 .060 

 .079 

 .101 

 .125 

 .151 

 .179 

 .210 

 .246 

 .286 

 .332 

 .383 















0.051 

 .072 

 .095 

 .122 

 .149 

 .179 

 .212 

 .251 

 .292 

 .338 

 .390 

 .451 









0.081 

 .113 

 .140 

 .168 

 .199 

 .235 

 .276 

 .324 

 .374 

 .430 

 .491 















0.153 

 .184 

 .217 

 .252 

 .294 

 .343 

 .392 

 .450 

 .565 

 .607 

































































i A standard cord is a pile 8 feet long by 4 feet high and 4 feet broad. Contractors usually require about 

 3 inches additional height to allow for settling. Where wood is intended for distillation a length of 50 

 inches is commonly specified. This influences the converting factor but little, compared with the other 

 variables. 



2 See "A volume Table for Red Maple on the Harvard Forest," by E. E. Carter; Bulletin of the Harvard 

 Forestry Club, Vol. II, 1913, pp. 1-8. 



