Enquiry into Plants/Volume 1/Chapter 75

by Theophrastus

Of the uses of various woods in making fire: charcoal, fuel, fire-sticks.

IX. Next we must state in like manner and endeavour to determine the properties of each kind of timber in relation to making fire. The best charcoal is made from the closest wood, such as aria (holm-oak) oak arbutus; for these are the most solid, so that they last longest and are the strongest; wherefore these are used in silver-mines for the first smelting of the ore. Worst of the woods mentioned is oak, since it contains most mineral matter,^[1] and the wood of older trees is inferior to that of the younger, and for the same reason that of really old trees^[2] is specially bad. For it is very dry, wherefore it sputters as it burns; whereas wood for charcoal should contain sap.

The best charcoal comes from trees in their prime, and especially from trees which have been topped^[3]: for these contain in the right proportion the qualities of closeness admixture of mineral matter and moisture. Again better charcoal comes from trees^[4] in a sunny dry position with a north aspect than from those grown in a shady damp position facing south. Or, if the wood^[5] used contains a good deal of moisture,^[6] it should be of close texture; for such wood contains more sap.^[7] And, for the same reason, that which is of closer texture either from its own natural character or because it was grown in a drier spot,^[8] is, whatever the kind of tree, better.^[9] But different kinds of charcoal are used for different purposes: for some uses men require it to be soft; thus in iron-mines they use that which is made of sweet chestnut when the iron has been already smelted, and in silver-mines they use charcoal of pine-wood: and these kinds are also used by the crafts. Smiths^[10] require charcoal of fir rather than of oak: it is indeed not so strong, but it blows up better into a flame, as it is less apt to smoulder: and the flame from these woods is fiercer. In general the flame is fiercer not only from these but from any wood which is of open texture and light, or which is dry: while that from wood which is of close texture or green is more sluggish and dull. The fiercest flame of all is given by brushwood; but charcoal cannot be made from it at all, since it has not the necessary substance.

They cut and require for the charcoal-heap straight smooth^[11] billets: for they must be laid as close as possible for the smouldering process. When they have covered^[12] the kiln, they kindle the heap by degrees, stirring it with poles. Such is the wood required for the charcoal-heap.

In general damp wood makes an evil smoke, and for this reason green wood does so: I mean the damp woods which grow in marshy ground, such as plane willow abele black poplar: for even vine-wood, when it is damp, gives an evil smoke. So does palm-wood of its own nature, and some have supposed it to give the most evil smoke of all: whence Chaeremon^[13] speaks of "Veins issuing underground from roots of palm with its malodorous smoke." Most pungent is the smoke of fig-wood, whether wild or cultivated, and of any tree which has a curdling juice; the reason lies in the sap; when such wood has been barked and soaked in running water and then dried, it gives as little smoke as any other, and sends up a very soft^[14] flame, since its natural moisture also has been removed. The cinders and ashes of such wood are also pungent, and especially, they say, those of almond-wood.

For the crafts requiring a furnace and for other crafts various woods are serviceable according to circumstances.^[15] For kindling fig and olive are best: fig, because it is tough and of open texture, so that it easily catches fire and does not let it through,^[16] olive, because it is of close texture and oily. Fire-sticks are made^[17] from many kinds of wood, but best, according to Menestor,^[18] from ivy^[19]: for that flares up most quickly and freely. They say also that a very good fire-stick^[20] is made of the wood which some call traveller's joy; this is a tree like the vine or the 'wild vine,' which, like these, climbs up trees. The stationary piece^[21] should be made of one of these, the drill of bay; for the active and passive parts of the apparatus should not be of the same wood, but different in their natural properties to start with, one being of active, the other of passive character. Nevertheless they are sometimes made of the same wood, and some suppose that it makes no difference. They are made in fact of buckthorn kermes-oak lime and almost any wood except olive; which seems surprising, as olive-wood is rather hard and oily; however it is plainly its moisture which makes it less suitable for kindling. The wood of the buckthorn is also good, and it makes a satisfactory stationary piece; for, besides being dry and free from sap it is necessary that this should also be of rather open texture, that the friction may be effectual; while the drill should be one which gets little worn by use. And that is why one made of bay is best; for, as it is not worn by use, it is effective through its biting quality. All fire-sticks take fire quicker and better in a north than in a south wind, and better in an exposed spot than in one which is shut in.

Some woods, such as prickly cedar, exude^[22] moisture, and, generally speaking, so do those whose sap is of an oily character; and this is why statues are sometimes said to 'sweat'; for they are made of such woods. That which seers call the menses of Eileithuia,'^[23] and for the appearance of which they make atonement,^[24] forms on the wood of the silver-fir when some moisture gathers on it: the formation is round^[25] in shape, and in size about as large as a pear, or a little larger or smaller. Olive-wood is more apt than other woods to produce shoots even when lying idle or made into manufactured articles; this it often does, if it obtains moisture and lies in a damp place; thus the socket of a door-'hinge'^[26] has been known to shoot, and also an oar which was standing in damp earth in an earthenware vessel.^[27]

1. i.e. and so makes much ash.
2. cf. 2. 7. 2.
3. κολοβῶν conj. Palm.; κολλάβων U; κολάβων Ald.
4. δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῶν conj. W.; δὲ καὶ οἱ τῶν UMVP; δὲ οἱ τῶν Ald. H.
5. καὶ εἰ ἐνικμοτέρας conj. W.; καὶ οἱ ἐνακμοτέρας U; καὶ ἡ ἐν ἀκμητέρας MV; καὶ οἱ ἐν ἀκμητέρας Ald. Bas. Cam. The sense seems to require ὑγροτέρας for ἐνικμοτέρας and ἐνικμοτέρα for ὑγροτέρα. G seems to have had a fuller text.
6. i.e. from growing in a damper place. cf. 5. 9. 4.
7. cf. §1 ad fin.
8. ξηρότερον conj. W.; ξηρότερα UMV; πυκνότερα ξηρότερα Ald. I have bracketed τὸν.
9. βελτίω conj. Sch.; βελτίων UM; βελτίον Ald. H.
10. cf. Plin. 16. 23.
11. λεῖα conj. Scal. from G; νέα Ald.
12. With sods. cf. Plin., l.c., who seems to have had a fuller text.
13. An Athenian tragic poet. Scal. restores the quotation thus: τοῦ τε δυσκαπνωτάου | φοίνικος ἐκ γῆς ῥιζοφοιτήτους φλέβας (ῥιζοφιτύτους conj. Schneidewin).
14. i.e. not sputtering.
15. καὶ … χρησίμη conj. W.; τέχναις ἀλλήλας χρ. MV; τέχνη ἄλλη ἐστι χρ. P.; τ. ἀλλήλοις ἐστὶ χρησίμη Ald.
16. i.e. burn out quickly.
17. π. δὲ γίνεται μὲν conj. Sch.; π. μὲν γίνεται δὲ UMV Ald.
18. cf. 1. 2. 3 n.
19. κιττοῦ conj. Bod. from de igne 64, Plin. 16. 208; καρύου Ald.
20. πυρεῖον conj. Salm.; πυροὶ UMV Ald.
21. i.e. the piece of wood to be bored. cf. de igne, l.c.
22. ἀνίει. ? ἀνιδίει.
23. cf. C.P. 5. 4. 4. οἱ μάντεις … ἐλατίνοις conj. Lobeck.; οἱ λεἲαν … τοῖς ἑκατίνοις U; οἰλείαν … τοὺς ἐκατίνοις V; οἱ λεῖαν τῆς εἰληθήας … τοῖς ἐκματίνοις M; οἱ λεῖαν τῆς ἀληθυίας ἔφἁιδρον … τοὺς ἑκατίνους P₂; ἰλεῖαν τῆς εἰληθυίας ἔφυδρον … τοὺς ἑκατίνους Ald.
24. i.e. as a portent. cf. Char. 16. 2.
25. στρόγγυλον conj. Sch.; στρογγύλης UMVP₂Ald.
26. cf. 5. 6. 4; Plin. 16. 230.
27. πλινθ. τεθ. κώπη ἐν πήλῳ conj. Spr.; πλίνθινον τεθεὶς τῇ κώπῃ πηλός P₂Ald. H.

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