Firewood Poem

[Pine Marten]

(thought to share!)

 

The Firewood Poem

 

Beechwood fires are bright and clear

If the logs are kept a year,

Chestnut's only good they say,

If for logs 'tis laid away.

Make a fire of Elder tree,

Death within your house will be;

But ash new or ash old,

Is fit for a queen with crown of gold

 

 

 

Birch and fir logs burn too fast

Blaze up bright and do not last,

it is by the Irish said

Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.

Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,

E'en the very flames are cold

But ash green or ash brown

Is fit for a queen with golden crown

 

 

 

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,

Fills your eyes and makes you choke,

Apple wood will scent your room

Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom

Oaken logs, if dry and old

keep away the winter's cold

But ash wet or ash dry

a king shall warm his slippers by.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

Old English Poem with plenty of error in it... doesn't help our cause one bit

 

(thought to share!)

 

The Firewood Poem

 

Beechwood fires are bright and clear

If the logs are kept a year,

Chestnut's only good they say,

If for logs 'tis laid away.

Make a fire of Elder tree,

Death within your house will be;

But ash new or ash old,

Is fit for a queen with crown of gold

 

 

 

Birch and fir logs burn too fast

Blaze up bright and do not last,

it is by the Irish said

Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.

Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,

E'en the very flames are cold

But ash green or ash brown

Is fit for a queen with golden crown

 

 

 

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,

Fills your eyes and makes you choke,

Apple wood will scent your room

Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom

Oaken logs, if dry and old

keep away the winter's cold

But ash wet or ash dry

a king shall warm his slippers by.

[18 stoner]

Tosh also!

[matthew65]

I agree no help at all !

[skyhuck]

I think that poem reflects the fact that back then as today many people fail to properly dry and store their fire wood correctly.

 

Elm is a good example, when green its 150% water and will not burn, but most of us will have burned dead Elm that has been dried by gravity and the wind, there are few better or hotter burning timbers.

 

Some wood takes a lot of drying and needs to be kept dry or it will reabsorb water, but weight for weight all dry wood burns very well.

[Pine Marten]

Totally agree with the comments - that's why I posted. Dried long enough you can burn about anything and given the current demand for firewood here in Mid Wales that's exactly what people are doing.

 

btw my favourite firewood has always been birch!

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

I think that poem reflects the fact that back then as today many people fail to properly dry and store their fire wood correctly.

 

Elm is a good example, when green its 150% water and will not burn, but most of us will have burned dead Elm that has been dried by gravity and the wind, there are few better or hotter burning timbers.

 

Some wood takes a lot of drying and needs to be kept dry or it will reabsorb water, but weight for weight all dry wood burns very well.

 

Spot on

[Lorry thompson]

I was surprised at the elm bit I remember working on the canals everyone on the boats called it gold

[geoff]

Huck's about right on this one,my favourite logs are from foraging the overgrown essex hedge rows for standing dead elm with the bark coming off,Iv'e been felling a fair few standing dead elms in a woodland strip for a client......warm next winter!

[##ray##]

i wonder how old this poem is and was it made before sycamore was introduced . and on that note what is sycamore like for fire wood how much drying and how does it burn.