The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-01-02
Weishiug FirewOOd,

At the council meeting on Tuesday week,
Aid. Holland gave notice of motion, $40
consider the expediency of amending the by
law regulating the sale of firewood, so as to
permit dealers selling it by weight" The
proposed change in selling wood by weight
instead of by measure as heretofore, has
many things that can be advanced ia its IA
vor, as well as some things which can be said
against it !; and as fuel is one of the prime ne
cessities of the general public, any action of
the council in this matter should receive due
attention from the citizens. The following
are the chief benefits to be derived from the
sale of firewood by weight. There are about
100000 cords of wood brought annually to the
city; if this wood was weighed. and ten cents
per cord charged for weighing, it would
amount to $4,000, and as two, or at most
three, additional scales would be all that
would be needed, the gain to the city would
be over $4,000 annually. This would be no
additional burden, as it costs at least that
much to cord the wood that is consumed in
the city. Weighing would do away with the
numerous and well-tounded complaints of
short measure in the quantity delivered. 1t
would also be an inducement to those cutting
the wood in the forests to cut it longer, or,
better still, to saw it, thus causing a great
saving in the amount of "chips' that are an
nually left to rot in the bush. At present,
as a cord of wood is cord whether it be cut
long or short, there is a premium on short
wood, causing a waste in chips ofabout Ii per
cent. or $1,000 cords out of the 100000 cords
consumed annually in the city, and which
nearly all be saved to the country, if wood was
sawn instead OF being CHOPPED in the bush.
People in the city are very frequently imposed
on by the woodsawyers who sometimes charge
over two dollars per cord for awing two cuts in
each stick and splitting it. If wood was sold
by weight wood dealers could keep men en-
gagged continually saving and splitting the
wood at the woodyards, or on the wharves,
and as it is an easy days work for man to
saw two cuts in each stick in cord of wood,
and also split them, it would not cost more
than dollar if done at the dealers yard !;
besides when wood is sawn and split fine, the
buyer has a much better opportunity of
knowing the true quality of the wood he is
getting. Wood grown on rocky land is much
better and much heavier. when dry, then wood
grown on swampy soil; consequently the
seller of rock maple would get the additional
sum over the seller of swamp grown wood
which the quantity CT the wood entities him
to.
The only "weighty" argument which can be
urged against the selling of freWood by
weight is that it is premium to wet wood,
consequently people would have to pay higher
prices for an inferior article "a cold of wood
grown on swampy soil, cut three and half
feet long would weigh about $4,000 lbs. If
the'same wood was properly dried, it might
not weight 10000 lbs. This weighty object
ions might be greatly weakened if not entirely
removed, by establishing different grades of
wood such as green, half dry, and dry. Let
several cords Of say ninety cubic feet each,
be weighed of all kinds of wood sold, and at
the different states Of drying, and the results
used for asertaining the quantity of all the
wood that is weighed.-MontreDl Witness.