Science, Tech, Math Animals and Nature What Wood Burns the Best? The Firewood Poem A Poem to Select the Perfect Firewood Share Flipboard Email Print Getty Images Animals and Nature Forestry Tree Identification Basics Arboriculture Tree Structure & Physiology Growing Trees Conifer Species Individual Hardwood Species Pests & Wildfires Planting & Reforestation Animals and Zoology Insects Marine Life Dinosaurs Evolution by Steve Nix Steve Nix, is a natural resources consultant, who managed forestry and wildfire programs, and researched and wrote about forest resources. Updated March 26, 2018 This Firewood Poem was written by the wife of World War I British Hero, Sir Walter Norris Congreve. Lady Celia Congreve probably wrote her "Firewood Poem" around 1922 in a published book entitled Garden of Verse. This particular verse expresses how information in the form of a poem can very beautifully describe things as well as used as a guide for wood to burn. This poem fetchingly describes the value of certain tree species for their ability to provide or failure to provide heat from seasoned and unseasoned wood. Lady Congreve probably composed the poem using traditional English folktales passed down through the centuries. It is amazing to me how accurately and charmingly the poem captures the properties of firewood. Please read the poem... The Firewood Poem "Beechwood fires are bright and clearIf 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 fastBlaze up bright and do not last,it is by the Irish saidHawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,E'en the very flames are coldBut ash green or ash brownIs fit for a queen with golden crown." Poplar gives a bitter smoke,Fills your eyes and makes you choke,Apple wood will scent your roomPear wood smells like flowers in bloomOaken logs, if dry and oldkeep away the winter's coldBut ash wet or ash drya king shall warm his slippers by." Lady Congreve's Firewood Explained Traditional folk legends are quite often expressions of early wisdom acquired over time and passed along by word-of-mouth. Lady Congreve must have taken anecdotes from these to compose this very accurate depiction of the properties of wood and how well different tree species burn. She especially pens praises for beech, ash, oak and aromatic fruit trees like apple and pear. Wood science and measurements of the heating properties of wood totally support her recommendations. These tree species have especially good heating and coaling properties. This means that the best trees have a dense cellular wood structure that, when dry, have greater weight than lighter woods. Wood that is dense will also have to ability to produce more heat over a longer period of time with longer-lasting coals On the other hand, her assessments of chestnut, elder, birch, elm, and poplar are spot on and deserve her bad review. They all have low wood cellular densities that rapidly burn with low heat but few coals. These woods produce a lot of smoke but very little heat. So, I would say that Lady Celia Congreve's poem is a cleverly written but non-scientific approach to selecting firewood. It is certainly supported by the sound science of wood burning and heating values. Continue Reading