The San Mateo item. (San Mateo City, Putnam County, Fla) 189?-19??, 1909-07-17

cd, round or split. unless there IL m
understanding TO the contrary. Never
theless cord. though II comes al
to legal measurements, Is an uncer
tain quantity even when the selleI
Is honest and the buyer satisfied.
A lumberman may have a tract oil
pulp wood which he sells 70 a paper
mill at So n cord for as many cords
as II will make. II Is I'm the contract
that he shall cut and stack II. He
cuts II In ~ foot lengths and when
the lob is complete II measures 200
cords and he receives $1,000 for Il
Would he have made or lost by cut
ting four foot lengths instead OF
twelve? He would have lost In the
first place from the additional labor
required 10 cut 4 foot wood, but his
principal loss would have resulted
from a greatly diminished number Of
cubic feet. due 10 the fact that short
sticks lie closer together than large.
Had the 200 cords OF IL foot wood
been cut In 4 foot lengths there would
have been only IL cords and the
owner would have received for II
$3.50 instead OF $1,000. It was there.
fore clearly TO his advantage to cut
~ foot lengths. but II would have
been TO the buyers advantage to have
Il cut in 4 foot lengths. He would
have received the same actual guam
tity OF wood for 1920 less.
aAnuaAnRohIn IffFaW-
ence to the seller whether wood is
chopped or sawed. II chopped the
chips are lost. Where the logs are
large this loss amounts to no small
total. In a cord OF four foot wood
with sticks six inches In diameter the
chip loss Is from to per cent,
and of course the shorter the sticks
are cut the greater the loss. II the
wood Is sawed the sawdust loss is
scarcely the half OF / per cent.
Cords OF split wood contain less
than cords Of round sticks. The finer
the wood is split the more II makes.
Hence wood dealers are often willing
to sell kindlings all sawed and split
for the same price cord as unsplit
wood They get back the cost OF
labor in the increased bulk.
A cord (12S cubic feet) OF 4 foot
hard wood usually contains about SO
cubic feet of solid wood; cord of
3 foot wood averages S31a cubic
feet, OF foot wood "a feet and OF
] foot wood, IS feet. The conifers (soft
woods contain 90 to SO cubic feet.
Thus the purchaser receives on an
average about two-thirds of a cord OF
real wood and one.third of a cord OF
spaces.
In some countries wood Is bought
by weight and the buyer comes more
nearly getting what he bargains for,
nut even then he may miss II II he
receives green wood when he wants
Try. According to timber testing en-
gineers OF the United States Forest
Service wood may lose half or more
Is green weight in seasoning. From
he Forester.
Birds Of the Night.
Have you ever stopped 10 consider
how many birds there are abroad af-
ter nightfall? Writing in Suburban
Life b. S. Bowdish, the well-known
describes many such birds.
The screech-owl." he says, lis prob
ably the best-known member OF the
owl famlly-the one most apt To come
about barns and houses and even into
he villages. yet It's habits are not so
we'll known but that Il is much
naligned bird. It's food consists, In
1 very large degree. OF rats and mice.
and II Is the quest OF such yermin
which brings II about human habitz-
ions, where the pestiferous rodents
,ften swarm. True this little ow
takes small birds. but they
ire frequently English sparrows. for
which he is entitled to almost as