The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-05-07


try or seaside home; to the paper man
ufactmer buying pulpwood and to the
proprietor of the ordinary city wood
yard, to all of these men this ques
ton has an important dollar and-cents
meaning.
Queer to say, and contrary to the
belief of most people, there are many
times when a cord is less than cord,
and many conditions when it is more.
School arithmetics say that a cord of
wood is 1913 cubic feet, or the con-
tents of a pile eight feet long, four
feet high and four feet wide. Wood is
marketed on this basis. A pile whose
length, breadth, and height multiplied
together gives this number of cubic
feet fills this requirement, no matter
whether the sticks are long or short,
straight or crooked, round or split, I'M
less there is an understanding to the
contrary. Nevertheless, cord, though
it comes up to legal measurements, is
an uncertain quantity, even when the
seller is honest and the buyer salts
fed
A lumberman may have tract of
pulpwood which he sells to a paper mill
at 5 per cord, for as many cords as it
will make. 1t is in the contract that
he shall cut and stack it. He cuts
it in l2-foot lengths, and when the
job is complete, it measures POO cords,
and he receives $1,000 for it, Would
he have made or lost by cutting A.
foot lengths instead of II?
He would have lost in the first
place from the additional labor re-
quired to cut 4foot wood, but his
a greatly diminished number of cubic
feet, due to the fact that short sticks
lie closer together than large
Measurements and experimental tests
have been made to ascertain exactly
how much actual wood is in cords of
different lengths, sizes, shapes, and
species.
Had the 200 cords of l2-foot wood
been cut in 4foot lengths, there would
have been only l76 cords, and the own
er would have received for it $3.50 in
stead of $1,000. 1t was, therefore,
clearly to his advantage to cut l2-foot
lengths, but it would have been to
the buyers advantage to have it
cut in 4-foot lengths. He would have
received the same actual quantity of
wood for $l20 less.
1t also makes considerable difference
to the seller whether wood is chopped
or sawed. If chopped, the chips are
lost. Where the logs are large this
loss amounts to no small total. In a
cord of 4foot wood with sticks
inches in diameter, the chip loss is
from six to eight per cent; and of
course, the shorter the sticks are cut
the greater the loss. If the wood is
sawed the sawdust loss is scarcely the
half of one per cent.
The difference due to spaces between
the sticks of course depends very
much on the shape and size of the
sticks. Straight. smooth sticks lie
close together, and cord contains
more wood and less air. For given
lengths, sticks of softwoods are usu.
ally straighter and smoother, and when
stacked lie closer together. But what.
ever the kind, cords of long sticks are
pretty sure to contain more empty
space than cords made of short pieces.
Likewise, cords of split wood contain
less than cords of round sticks The
finer the wood is split, the more it
makes. Hence wood dealers are often
willing to sell kindlings, all sawed and
split, for the same price per cord as
unsplt wood. They get back the
cost of labor in the increased bulk.
A cord Q2S cubic feet) of 4-foot
hardwood usually contains about SO
cubic feet of solid wood: a cord of
3foot wood averages SO 70 cubic feet !;
of 2foot wood, "a feet. and of l-foot
wood 50 feet. The conifers. softwoods,
contain 90 to % cubic feet. Thus
the purchaser receives on an average
about two-t thirds of cord of real wood
and one third of cord of spaces.
In some countries wood it bought by
weight, and the buyer comes more
nearly getting what he bargains for ;;
but even then he may miss it if he
receives green wood when he wants
dry. According to timber testing en-
gineers of United States Forest SER
vice, wood may lose half or more its
green weight in seasoning. Cedar for
lead pencils is bought by weight
| in this country. The pieces are
so small and of such irregula size
that they can not conveniently be
stacked and measured as cordwood
The bulk of nearly all woods de-
creases as seasoning goes on. A hun.
dred cords green will make from eighty.
nine to ninety-three cords when dry
| This is factor of no small importance
to dealers who handle large quanti-
ties.
Woodlot owners and farmers who
have small forest tracts from which
they expect to sell cordwood, are nc
less interested than contractors who
buy and sell large qualities. 1t will
stand them in hand to know how much
difference it makes whether wood is
cut long or short, chopped or sawed
whether the sticks are round or split
whether large or small, and whether