Green’s Dictionary of Slang

cordwood n.

[SE cordwood, lengths of wood cut and stacked for fuel]

(US) a rustic, a farmer.

[US]Randolph & Wilson Down in the Holler 236: cord-wood: n. A sign of rustic or rural breeding. To say that a man has ‘cord-wood on his breath’ means that he still bears the marks of his backwoods origin.