The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-05-07
A CORD OF WOOD IS
A VARIABLE QUANTITY
When is a cord not a cord?

To the farmer harvesting his small
woodlot and to the man laying in logs
for the large fireplace of his country
or seaside home; to the paper manu-
facturer buying pulwood and to the
proprietor of the ordinary city wood
yard, to all of these men this ques-
tion has an important collar and
cents meaning.
Queer to say, and contrary to the
belief of most people, there are many
times when a cord is less than a
cord, and many conditions when it
is more. School arithmetics say that
a cord Of wood is .128 cubic feet: or
the contents 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 re-
quirement, no matter whether the
sticks are long Or short, straight or
crooked, round or split, unless there
is an understanding to the contrary.
Nevertheless, cord, though it comes
to legal measurements, is an uncertain
quantity, even when the seller is hon.
est and the buyer satisfied.
A lumberman may have a tract OF
pulpwood which he sells to paper
mill at $5 a cord, for as many cords
as it Will make. It 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 200
cords, and he ceives $1,000 for it.
Would he have made or lost by cut
ting 4-foot lengths instead Of l2?
He would have lost in the first
place from the additional labor re-
uired to cut 4-foot wood, but his
principal loss would have resulted
from 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 ex-
actly how much actual wood is IN
cords Of different lengths, sizes,
shapes, and species.
How the 200 cords of l2-foot wood
been cut in 4foot lengths, there
would have been only 176 cords, and
the owner would have received for it
$3.50 instead of $1,000. It was, there
fore, 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 Sl2O less.
It also makes considerable differ
ence to the seller whether the wood
is chopped or sawed. If chopped, the
chops are lost. When the logs are
large this loss amounts to no small
total. In a cord of 4-foot wood,
WIN SUCKS y llCuCS LII O1oA1CeN@3 oAAN
chop loss is from six to eight per
cent; and Of course, the shorter the
sticks are cut the greater the loss. 1t
the wood is sawed, the sawdust; loss
is scarcely the half of one per cent.
The difference due to spaces be-
tween 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 lengths,
sticks of softwood are usually
straighter and smoother, and when
stacked lie closer together. But what
ever the kind, cords Of long sticks
are pretty sure to contain more emp
tv space than cords made OF shoT'
pieces. Likewise, cords Of split wood
contain less than cords OF ToanA
sticks. The finer the wood IS split:
the more it makes. Hence wood deal