The daily sentinel., 1909-05-08

4. small wood lot and 10 TUE aer :.
= laying in logs for the iarse saaide =.
+ place of his country or seas :.
4. home; to the paper man a. t,a :.
= er buying pulp wood, anu " sas
:. nronrietor of the ordinary city
/. wood yard--to all OF these men
= the ouestion has an important
= doIIar-and-cents meaning.
Z = =. = =. Z. + = = y
Queer to say. and contrary TO tne
belief of most people, there ar
many times when a cord is less tnan ~
a cord and many conditions Wnen
II is more. School arithmeucs sas
that a cord of wood is rs CUBIC iee., ,
or the contents of pie eishe 80.
long, four feet high ana ioul .s,is
vide Wood is marketed on .nis
hasie nile whose length, breadtn'
and height multiplied together sires
This number of cubic feet fiiis TINS
reuuirement. no matter whether tue
sticks are long or short, straight OF
crooked round or split, unless there
is nm understanding TO the contrary.
Nevertheless, cord, though 1t comes
mn to legal measurements, Is an uh-
certain quantity. even when the seiiei
is honest and the buyer satlsileu.
A lumberman may have tract Oh
pulpwood which he sells TO paper
mill at IS a cord, for as many cords
as IL will make 1t is in the CONTRACT
that he shall cut and stack IT, he
cuts it in 12-foot lengths, and when
the lob Is complete, IL measures zVV
cords and he receives 81, 700 for 1t.
Would he have made or lost by. cut
ting 4-foot lengths instead OF IL
He would have lost in the first
place from the additional labor re-
nuired TO cut 4-foot wood. but his
resulted
from 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 12-foot wood
been cut in 4-foot lengths. there
would have been only 176 cords, and
the owner would have received for it
$3.50 instead of $1,000. 1t was,
therefore. clearly to his advantage to
cut 12-foot lengths. but 1t 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 1920 less.
II also makes considerable differ
ence 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 4-foot wood, with
sticks 6 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 be-
tween the sticks of course depends
very much on the shape and size of
the sticks. Straight, smooth stocks
lie close together, and a cord con-
tains more wood and less air. For
given lengths, sticks of softwoods
are usually straighter and smoother,
and when stacked lie closer together
But whatever 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 kind
lings, all sawed and split, for the
same price per cord as unsplit wood.
They get back the cost of labor in
the increased bulk.
A cord (12S cubic feet) of 4-foot
hardwood usually contains about SO
cubic feet of solid wood a cord of
3-foot wood averages SO cubic
feet; of 2-foot wood. S4 feet, and of
1-foot wood 85 feet. The conifers,
softwoods. contain 90 to 90 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 Snp1p ennpfr;es ,,ool T.,
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
engineers 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 irregular 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 hum
dred cords green will! make from SO
TO s3 cords when dry. This is a fac
tor OF no small Importance to deal
ers who handle large quantities.
Woodlot owners and farmers who
have small forest tracts from which
they expect to sell cord wood. are no
less interested than contractors who
buy and sell large quantities. II
viii 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 the measurements are to be
made White the wood is green or af-
ter 1t is seasoned.