In article , Unnh
wrote:

Cherry can be hard to split. Burning it puts off a lot more chemicals
than many other woods. Trees in suburbs often have concrete, steel and
other embedded items. I'm sure that that particular tree was riddled
with termites, fungi and mold.... HTH, /ts

Thanks for trying, but this is a town of 400, more than a hundred miles
from anything that can even remotely be called a "suburb".

Being a tree on a 120 year old homeplace, it probably had seen a nail,
bullet, or BB on occasion.

The chemicals it might put out will be vented out the flue, and (given
the prevailing winds), right towards my mother's house. Thanks again!
:-/

Kevin