Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1859-01-29
Mtstelloneous.
From the New York Evening Poet.
SOMETHING ABOUT KINDLING.WO0D

definite idea of the immensity Of the city, it is
necessary for him to mount up to the dome OF st.
Paul's, and his labor will be in vain even then un.
Tess he has selected for his tedious ascent the
earliest hours Of daylight for when the sun is but
n short distance above the horizon, London awakes
and begins to get its breakfast ready. From in
Vulnerable chimneys are belched forth cloads Of
vopory smoke, soon hiding the city beneath with a
semi transparent veil tba. hangs low down over
the house.tops till dispersed by the fresh night
breezes.
in New York this nuisance is not 80 ~palpable,
but still we create a great deal OF smoke here every
winter morning, for in every one of the thousands
Of dwelling.houses in this city at least one fire is
daily lighted. But few Of our readers have any
idea of the enormous amount Of kindling wood
daily consumed, and very few people are aware of
the amount Of labor and capital invested almost
literally in smOke-consumed in the preparation
Of the individually Insignificant bundles OF kin.
ding wood with which our fires are kindled. OF
late years, especially, the business has assumed an
importance that fairly entities it to some attention.
The necessity of some kindling material in a
city where authrachite coal is in general use is at
once obvious, and it is equally obvious that the
city itself cannot supply the requisite demand
For a long time charcoal was used and the heavy
covered wagons that numbered noisily through the
city, with o sable gentleman crying aloud and
sparing not, we all remember. But now these We
hicular mammoths-these peripatetic coal'beds-
have disappeared, and the sonorous cry of
"C-h-a-r-c-o-a-l" no longer echoes through
our streets. The charcoal wagon has effectually
disappeared, and is now as much q ichthyosarus
or the mastodon.
Some enterprising individuals have endoavored.
by compounds made of saw'dust, tar, pitch, and
o Their combustibls materials, to provide a k%indling
substance that should supersede the use of ordina'
ry wood or CHARCOAL but these compounds have
failed to come into general use, and the good old
fashioned kindling wood still reigns supreme in
the kitchen arrangements.
It is estimated that 5000, 900 per anum is spent
ia this city for this article, and that about fifty diff
erent firms are engaged in the business. These
are all Wholesale dealers, and supply the corner
groceries and wood pedlers. Most of the wood is
sold in small bundles, tied with tarred rope, some
of the firms employing forty or fifty boys in the
work of bundling, 1t is also contained in boxes
Of ire sular sizes. containing no specific quantity.
Most of the kindling wood sold in the city comes
from Virginia, though a considerable quantity is
of New Jersey growth. The Virginia pine, how
ever. being more resinous, is vastly superior. 10
show the extent Of the business, and the way in
which the wood is prepared, we ask our readers to
glance with US at the operations Of the ClearmoDt
Kindliug Wood Company, which probably does
the most extensive business in this line Of any
firm or company existing. This association has
ths oontroI of q !ract af land hftu miles in extent.
situated in Surrey county, Virginia, on the james
river. The trees are all of primitive growth, and
q railroad ten miles in length has been built to
facilitate the transport Of the wood to the wharf
which is large enough to afford accommodation
forIoading six vessels at once. The laborers ire.
Enforced by q gang of forty Germans just sent on
from this city, have the arduous task of telling
the huge forest trees, and the trunks and larger
branches are conveyed by the rail cars to the
wharf. Here they are placed upon what is tech'
niually termed a "bed'-a species Of moving plat
form--and on it are subjected to the sharp teeth OF
. series of huge saws, which are but six inches
apart, and consequently cut each log into portions
six inches in length. The ''bed" is kept supplied
with logs, and as soon as the saws have done their
work spon one pile another is ready for them
After being thus sawn. the pieces IRE placed up
on a wide bolt, which also moves slowly, bringing
each piece direstly under a falling axe, which with
its ingeniously-arranged blades, splits each piece
into small sticks of about an inch broad. The
belt moving on, carries with it the split fragments
until it precipitates them into u long trough, which
conveys them directly into the hold of the vesse
without any further labor. Three men can, witt
this machinery, saw, split and load fifty cords pei
day.
This vessel. generally a schooner, can carr,
from one hundred to a hundred and fifty cords 0
wood split up in this manner, the voyage to New
York occupying from five to six days. The carg
on arrival is speedily taken up by the smaller oeaI
ers, and thus it is that the little unnoticed frae
ments of wood, with whose humble yet inva.uabl
assistance we build our Kitchen fires, have oite
come to US from their distant aboriginal home
amid tho pine forests of Virginia.
The business in kindling wood, large as it i
must become still more extensive, and almost m
pcpolize the trade in wood as a fuel. Even no
coal is driving wood fuel entirely out of the ma
ket: scarcely a family uses ii latter except
kidding, and our manufactures, where steam pov
is used, as well as our steamboats,, fill their fur
aces with coal. The railroad companies are ha
ing many of their locomotives altered SO as to ava
themselves Of the mineral fuel, and reduce the
consumption of wood. For instance, the Ne
York and New Haven road consumed last year e
teen thousand cords. while this year they expe
20 consume but six thousand. The Erie, Hudso
River and Harlem Rail roads expect to use but b
tween Eve thousand and six thousand cords.
But coal, while thus driving the log wood out
the market, actually creates an increased demar
Tor, kidding wood-a demand which, from Il
very necessities Of the case, cannot but increa
a. long as tae use Of coal shall increase, Kindlil
wood is 40 absolute necessity 10 the present sta
of our domestic arrangement. and must co
tipue 80. rt
Kindling wood can now be bought at me
grocery shops by the bundle. and these bundl
costing but q trihe each. they End purchase
among the poorer classes, who do not have eong We