Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-02-15
Dry VS.. Green Wood.

1t is hard to make some people un-
derstand reasonable things. For
example, it i, hard to make some
farmers understand that it does not
pay expenses to haul green wood to
market. And it is equally hard to
convince many consumers that there
is an absolute loss in dollars and
cents in burning green wood or wet
bark. 1t is easily shown by expert
ment that, on an average, the woods
of our forests lose one third of their
weight in seasoning. A cubic foot of
water weighs one thousand ounces,
or sixty-two and one half pounds:
there are one hundred and twenty
eight cubic feet in a cord; hence, a
quantity of water, equivalent in vol
ume to cord, weighs eight thous-
and pounds, or four tons. The speci-
fic GRANTEES of the various kinds of soft
and hard woods vary all the way
from six-tenths to that of water itself
and often more; since many kinds of
timber, even with the bark on will.
sink in water, when green. It is easy
to conceive how q piece of timber,
full of sap, can sink in water, when
it is remembered that, rs in the case
of sugar-producing trees, tue weak
est solution of the saccharine prin-
ciple possesses greater specific
gravity than water. Assuming the
specific gravity of green wood to be
six-tenths, a cord of such material
would weigh four thousand eight
hundred pounds. One third of this,
or sixteen hundred pounds, repre-
sented by fluid good deal heavier
than distilled water, is what deal
er worse than uselessly hauls to
market with q cord of such wood.
But, furthermore, the same cord of
wood will bring much higher price
when we'll seasoned than when newly
cut and split. Think, then, of the
double absurdity of a dealer haul
ing about two hundred gallons of
water several miles over a rough
road to market for the sake of selling
a cord of wood with it, and then be
upbraided by the purchaser, who
never takes circumstances into due
consideration. The combustion Of
one cord of green wood absorbs as
much caloric in evaporating this OK
ira amount of water as would be re-
quired to raise seven hundred and
eighty gallons of water from the
freezing to the boiling point. If
this be true, and anybody quick at
figures can test the statement, then
it follows that seven cords of dry
wood must contain as much heating
power as eight cords of green wood
of the same kind. The wood dealer
who hauls fifty cords of green wood to
town, hauls twenty tons of water in.
the bargain. One other fact should
not be overlooked by those who cut
their own fuel. Wood that has been
cut and seasoned during the drought
of Summer, is worth twice as much,
measure for measure, as that which
is cut in the Autumn and left 70 be
drenched by the rains of Winter.
All woods that are valuable as fuel,
possess, in a greater or less degree,
o resinous principle most essential
as heat-producing agent. Wood
intended for the purposes of fuel,
should be seasoned with its original
quota of this principle intact. There
is very little waste of this principle if
the wood is cut and split during the
heated term of Summer; butif cut and>
split in the Winter, and left to be
drenched and washed by the rains
and melting SHOWS, fully one-half of
the rich sappy and resinols principle
is washed away, never to be re-
claimed. It is a mistake to suppose
that the drying process simply ex-
pels from the pores OF wood the sap
that originally filed them. On the
contrary, while a large part Of the
sap is driven away in the form of
vapor, much is solidifed and remains
in the ligneous substance, ard con-
stitutes its chief value as fuel. Let
farmers preserve these observations
for future reference.
Mr.. John O'Keane, Of Vancouver,
who was appointed, some time ago,