New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-10-08
FOOD As FUEL.

Bulletins issued by the Census Office is one in
which the relative fuel value of ffty-fve of
the more important woods of the United States
is given. This selection has been made from
the entire list of American trees so as to include
woods from every section of the country. The
calculations have been made with the greatest
care. The specimens were first roughly
dressed, then dried for a week IN an oven
heated to 1902 Centigrnde, and finally dressed
into equal blocks by process in which possible
errors of measurement of dimensions were
reduced below one-ffth of a milimetre.
Chemical analysis of these blocks was then
made, their specific gravity ascertained, and the
fuel values determined by processes explained
in the Bulletin. In 1926 Marcus Bull published
the results of some nice experiments in which
he determined the fuel value of about fifty
native woods by ingeniously registering the
results of actual combustion. These tables
compared the various woods with she'll
hickory as the standard, and have always been
held in high estimation. They were limited in
range, however, as compared with the exhaustive
work of Mr.. S. 2. Sharpes, who has had charge
of the chemical and physical work in the
Forestry Division of the Census Bureau. They
were not accurately determined DECENTRALIZATION
example 1t is not known what woods were tested
under the names of "red-heart hickory ("
and 4" shell-bark white oak" There is q
striking agreement in few instances between
the values of the woods rs determined in the
early tables and the new ones, but in many
cases there is wide variation. The pitch pine
of this region was estimated by Mr.. Ball as
worth 43 on a scale where shell-ba
hickory stands at 100, while chemical analy-
sis proves that this pine, owing to the amount
of resinous matter it con tans, lacks only 10 per
cent of being as valuable as hickory.
In this Bulletin the trees are arranged in the
order of their value by equal volumes, and the
mountain mahogany heads the list. This is a
small, sl0w-grOwng tree with evergreen
leaves, which has been compared in appear
ance to a stunted apple-tree 1t occurs in the
Central Pacific region, and at high attitudes,
where some very old specimens remain. This
Is the region referred to in Professor Sargent's
paper in the current number of The North
American Rcuiew where the trees have survived
from some period when the climate was not so
dry as it now il. Some OF these mountain
mahogany trees which are not more than
twenty feet high are probably 1000 years of
age 1t is the only American tree heavier than
water, and it is not equalled in specific gray
ity except by a few tropical species like lig-
mum vitae for example. Following this tree
In order of value are ranged the Southern
long-leavcd pine, shell-bark hickory, chest
nut oak, pitch-pine, pignut hickory, white
hickory (carya tomentOsa), Southern pitch pine,
mesquit Overcup oak, white elm and white
oak. 1t is interesting to compare the different
species of the same genus. Chestnut oak
stands fourth on the list, and is worth nearly
80 per cent more than black oak, which stands
No. 2S, while shel-bark hickory is worth
onc-thrd more than butternut hickory. Com
pairing No. 1 with No. 50, it appears that
mountain mahogany has almost exactly
three times the value of the white cedar
of the North Atlantic region. OF the more
common woods, cord of hickory is worth for
fuel rs much as two and three-fourths cords
of the wood of the tulip tree, or more than two
cords of chestnut. The Bulletin contains
other tables giving amount of ash, hydrogen
carbon and oxygen in the different species, as
well as their spe ciGc GRANTEES and weight in
pounds per cubic foot. From the column In
which the woods are arranged to show the
order of relative value by weights, 1t appears
that the first ten are coniferous trees.
1t Is believed that no such comprehensive
work as that of which this Bulletin gives ex.
amples has ever been undertaken, and the great
number of tree species here as compared with
those of European countries gives special in
terest to these researches. Taken together
with the elaborate experiments which have
been already made TO test the strength of the
various American woods, these completed
Census tables will give more accurate idea
of the economic value of our forests than it has
hitherto been possible to obtain. No doubt il
is a matter of capital importance that the
country should know what is the present worth