This poem will help you remember how different wood types behave when burnt.

Beech-wood fires burn bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year;
Store your beech for Christmastide
With new-cut holly laid beside;
Chestnut's only good, they say,
If for years 'tis stored away;
Birch and fir-wood burn too fast
Blaze too bright and do not last;
Flames from larch will shoot up high,
Dangerously the sparks will fly;
But ash-wood green and ash-wood brown
Are fit for a Queen with a golden crown.

Oaken logs, if dry and old,
Keep away the winter's cold;
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke;
Elm-wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold;
It is by the Irish said;
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread,
Apple-wood will scent the room,
Pear-wood smells like flowers in bloom;
But ash-wood wet and ash-wood dry
A King may warm his slippers by.

This traditional; classic piece of British folklore, often titled "The Firewood Poem" or "Logs to Burn," advises on the best wood for heating, ranking ash as supreme (burns well wet or dry). It highlights that beech, oak, and chestnut require seasoning, while birch, fir, and larch are fast-burning or smoky. It is believed to have been first published in The Times in 1930 by Celia Congreve.