THE CULTIVATOR. 
123 
tors of considerable interest to the farmer and the consumer. Hick¬ 
ory wood cut green, and made absolutely dry, experienced a dimi 
nution in its weight of 37 J per cent* white oak jost 41 per cent, and 
soft maple 48 per cent, or very near one-half. Both wood and char¬ 
coal, after being made perfectly dry, absorbed in twelve months-, un¬ 
der cover, from 8 to 12 per cent of moisture. 
If we assume, says Mr. B. the mean quantity of moisture in the 
woods, when green, at 42 per cent, the great disadvantage of at¬ 
tempting to burn wood in this state, [or to transport it a distance,] 
must be obvious, as in every 100 lbs. of this compound of wood and 
water, 42 pounds of aqueous matter must be expelled from the 
wood, [or transported ;] and as the capacity of water for absorbing 
heat is as 4 to 1, when compared with air, and probably greater 
during its conversion into vapor, which must be effected before it 
can escape, the loss of heat must consequently be great. 
GENERAL TABLE. 
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i O GO CD 
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05050505®a>ai05CR05<350505050S0i350505K 
o 
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p 
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£L w 
Specific gravity of 
dry wood. 
Avoirdupois lbs. of 
dry wood in a cord. 
Product ofcharcoa] 
from 100 parts of 
dry wood by w’t. 
Specific gravities 
of dry coal. 
Pounds of dry coal 
in one bushel. 
Pounds of charcoal 
from one cord dry 
wood. 
Bushels of charcoal 
from one cord dry 
wood. 
Time 10° of heat 
were maintained 
in the room by the 
combustion of 1 
lb. of each article 
Value of specified 
quantities of each 
article, compared 
with shell bark 
hickory as the 
standard. 
The above is merely an abstract of Mr. Bull’s table, comprising 
merely the woods in most common use among us. The last column 
exhibits the relative value of a cord, according to the heat which 
each affords. Thus, if hickory is worth one dollar, pig nut hickory 
is worth 95 cents, hard maple 60 cents, white oak 81 cents, white 
pine 42 cents, pitch pine 43 cents, &c. 
We will now exhibit, in tabular form, the relative value of coals, 
by the same standard, merely remarking, that a ton of anthracite 
coal is considered about equal to a cord of shag bark hickory. 
COALS. 
Specific gravity of 
dry coal. 
Pounds of dry coal in 
one bushel. 
Time 10 deg. of beat 
were maintained in 
the room by the com¬ 
bustion of 1 lb. of 
each article. 
Value of specified 
quantities of each ar¬ 
ticle, compared with 
shell bark hickory as 
the standard. 
Lehigh,. 
1.494 
78.61 
H. M. 
13 10 
Tons. 
99 
Lackawana, .. 
1.460 
73.67 
13 10 
99 
Rhode-Island,... 
1.438 
75.67 
9 30 
71 
Schuylkill, .... 
1.453 
76.46 
13 40 
103 
Susquehanna,... 
1.373 
72.25 
13 10 
99 
Worcester,.. 
2.104 
110.71 
7 50 
59 
Liverpool,. 
1.240 
65.25 
10 30 
100 bushels 
230 
Richmond,. 
1.246 
65.56 
9 20 
205 
Hickory charcoal,. 
.625 
32.89 
15 
166 
Maple do . 
.431 
22.68 
15 
114 
Oak do . 
.401 
21.10 
15 
106 
Pine do . 
.285 
15. 
15 
75 
Coke,. 
.557 
29.31 
12 50 
126 
ECONOMY OF BURNING. 
Mr. Bulls experiments were made in a sheet iron stove, with 42 
feet of two inch pipe, having about 20 elbows. A thermometer 
placed at the mouth of this pipe indicated the same temperature as 
another hung against the wall of the room, which showed that all 
the heat given off by the combustion of the fuel, was retained in the 
room. On the supposition that 100 lbs. of fuel, consumed in this 
stove, would maintain a temperature of 60 degrees tor 12 hours, he 
found, that to maintain the like temperature for the same time, by 
other apparatus, the fuel must be increased as follows: 
In the experiment stove it required ,.,.lbs. 100 
In the sheet iron cylinder stove, the interior surface coated 
with clay lute, with nine elbow joints, and 131 feet of two 
inch pipe,.. 105 
In a like stove and pipe, with 3 elbow joints,. 122 
In a like stove, and similar pipe and joints, but the pipe placed 
more vertical than the preceding,. 128 
In a like stove, with 5 feet of pipe and one elbow,. 149 
In a like stove, without clay lute, one elbow, and five feet of 
four inch pipe,. 222 
In an open Franklin, with one elbow, and five feet of six inch 
pipe,. 270 
In an open ordinary parlor grate,. 555 
In an open chimney fire-place,.... 1,000 
It would seem from these experiments, that nine-tenths of the heat 
given off by fuel burnt in an ordinary fire-place, are carried off in the 
draft, without benefitting the room; that nearly one-half is wasted 
when the fuel is consumed in an open parlor grate; and that lining 
a stove with fire brick, or clay lute, produces a great economy in 
fuel. 
These experiments afford important suggestions to the housekeep¬ 
er. Assuming as data, that four cords of dry shell-bark hickory, 
burnt in a sheet iron cylinder stove, with five feet of pipe and one 
elbow, will warm an ordinary room during the winter months, it will 
require to keep up the like temperature, in a similar stove, the fol¬ 
lowing quantities of other materials : 
Hickory, as stated.. 4 cords, 
White oak,. 4 3-4 
Hard maple,. 6 2-3 
Soft maple,. 7 1-5 
Pitch pine,... 9 1-7 
White pine, . 9 1-5 
Anthracite coal,. 4 tons. 
I. H. J. inquires of us, in the Maine Farmer , if the culture of 
wheat has not declined in the old counties of this state, and the cause 
of this declension. It has declined materially; and there are seve¬ 
ral reasons for it. One cause is, that we cannot compete in its cul¬ 
ture with the great west, on account of the latter growing double 
the crop, and with less labor and expense in its production, than we 
do. The west is emphatically a wheat soil, a secondary formation, 
