Beechwood fires burn bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year.
Store your beech for Christmastide
With new holly laid beside.
Chestnut’s only good they say
If for years tis stayed away.
Birch and firwood burn too fast
Blaze too bright and do not last.
Flames from larch will shoot up high,
Dangerously the sparks will fly.
But Ashwood green and Ashwood brown
Are fit for a Queen with a golden crown.
Oaken logs, if dry and old,
Keep away the winters cold.
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke.
Elmwood burns like churchyard mould;
Even the very flames burn cold.
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread
So it is in Ireland said.
Applewood will scent the room;
Pear wood smells like a flower in bloom.
But Ashwood wet and Ashwood dry
A King may warm his slippers by.
Logs to Burn, Logs to burn, Logs to burn,
Logs to save the coal a turn,
Here's a word to make you wise,
When you hear the woodman's cries.
Never heed his usual tale,
That he has good logs for sale,
But read these lines and really learn,
The proper kind of logs to burn.
Oak logs will warm you well,
Larch logs of pine will smell,
Beech logs for Christmas time,
"Scotch" logs it is a crime
Birch logs will burn too fast,
Hawthorn logs are good to last,
If you cut them in the fall.
Holly logs will burn like wax,
You should burn them green.
Elm logs like smouldering flax,
Pear logs and apple logs,
They will scent your room.
Cherry logs across the dogs
Smell like flowers in bloom.
But ash logs, all smooth and grey,
Buy up all that come your way,
They're worth their weight in gold.