Times were tough when we lived in Maine.  But the memory of a stew slow
cooking all through a winter day on the woodstove has stayed with me in
greater detail than any of the hardness.

-jc

On Thursday, August 7, 2003, at 08:19  PM, Deb Bledsoe wrote:

> On Thu, 7 Aug 2003 14:24:05 EDT, Met History <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> [snip] avoiding resinous soft woods and elm.   A good size
>> farmhouse in New England burned up to thirty-five cords of wood per
>> year."
>>
>> What's wrong with elm?     Christopher
>
> Elm is a soft wood with a high water content, and doesn't burn well in
> the
> stove...  a portion of the heat produced is wasted up the flue, energy
> locked up in the steam driven off the wood during combustion. We always
> called it water elm, and saved it for bonfires. It takes a big bed of
> coals
> to induce it to burn.
>
> Osage orange burns hot and tarry, and pops huge chunks, so it's only
> good
> for airtight stoves, but if you can get up on the roof to clean the
> chimney
> regularly, there's not much better.
>
> Back "home" in southern Ohio, we always figured a cord of good wood per
> room per year. At the lake in upper Michigan, John Mcconnell laid up no
> less than five per, plus his "stove wood", a variety of choice stuff
> split
> small for his wood burning kitchen range.
>
> http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/for/for35/for35.htm
>
> deb "burned hedge for years" bledsoe
>
> --
> To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
> uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
> <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>
>
>
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