20 BULLETIN 55, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
to find the number of cords in a stack of other dimensions 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-foot logs contains 3 cords, the same as a stack 4 feet high and 24 
feet long made of 4-foot sticks. 
CONDITIONS AFFECTING THE SOLID CONTENTS OF WOOD IN A CORD. 
LENGTH. 
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 into 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 in the solid contents 
of a cord made of 12-foot logs and one of 4-foot sticks amounts to 
at least 6 per cent. Pulp wood 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 
$2.50 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 in the other, 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 determined. 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 relatively similar 
results. 
