Connecticut western news., 1917-11-01
COAL IS SCARCE
Timely Advice to Those Who Plan to
 Burn Wood.

Persons who plan to relieve the coal shortage this winter.py burning woo can figure. roughly speaking, that two pounds of seasoT"d wood have fuel value equal to one pound of coal, ac cordi1g to exp'cts of the Forest Ser vice. While different kinds of wood have different fuel values, the foresters say that in general the greater the dry weight of a non-resinous wood, tha more heat it will give out when burned
 For suGh species as hickory. oak beech, birch. hard maple, ash, locust longleaf pine or cherry, which have comparatively high tuei values. one cord, weighing about 4 900 pounds. is requil ed to equal one ton of coal
 It takes a cord and half of short leaf pine, hemlock, red gum, Douglas fir, sycamore. or soft maple, which weighs about 5000 pounds co1d, to equal a ton of coal, while for cedar, pine. cypress. basswood, spruce, and white pine, two cords, weighing about 2,00O pounds each, are required.
 Weight for weight, however, there is very little difference between various species Resin affords about twice as much heat as wood, so that resinous woods have greater heat value per pound than Eon-resinous woods, and this increased value varies, of course, with the resin content
 The available heat value of cord of 1E moisture present When the wood is green part of the heat which it is cap able of yielding IS taken up in evapor. atlng the water. he greater amount of water in the wood the more heat is lost
 Furthermore, cords vary as to the amount of solid wood they contain. even when they are of the standard dimension and occupy l28 cubic feet of space. A certain proportion of this space is made up of air spaces between the sticks, and this air space may be considerable in cord of twisted, crooked, and knottv sticks. Out of the 128 cubic feet, fair average of solid wood is about 80 cubic feet.
 This, however. applies to the stand ard cord, in which the sticks are cut to four foot lengths and piled feet high and feet long Instead ot buying the four-foot lengths, however, most people now.a days have the sticks cut into two-foot lengths by gasoline saw. This results in a saving of both time and labor. The purchaser should however, take care to see that he gets full measurement when wood is bought in this way. In parts of New England a stack of l6 inch wood feet high and 8 feet long is commonly sold as a "run", but contains only one third of cord. ~>-
 Where wood is to be burned in a stove or furnace intended for coal, it will be found desirable, the foresters say, to cover the grate partly with sheet iron or fire brick in order to re duce the draught If this is not done the wood is wasted by being consumed too fast, and makes very hot fire which in furnace may damage the fire box. E
 It is pointed out, however, that heat value IS not the only test of usefulness in fuel wood and since 95 per cent of all wood used for fuel is consumed for domestic purposes, largely in farm houses, such factors as rapidity of burning and ease of lighting are i'm. portant. Each section of the country has it's favored woods and these are said to be, in general, the right ones to use. Hickory, of the non-resinous woods, has the highest fuel value per unit volume of wood, and has other advantages. It burns evenly, and, as housewives say, holds the heat The oaks come next, followed by beech, birch, and maple. The white pines have a relatively low heat value per unit volume, but have other advan. tages. They ignite readily and give out quick hot flame, but one that soon dies down. This makes them favorites with rural housekeepers as a summer wood, because they are parti cularly adapted for hot days in the kitchen. The same is true of gray birch, or "white bircn'', as it is often called, in the regions in which it abounds. With tine resinous pines a drawback is their oily black smoke.