Dead standing vs laying down

[RORY12553]

A dead standing tree fell near my house a couple of months ago. I went out and cut a lot of it up...was fairly dry and not to difficult to split...had to leave a large part of the trunk due to weather and time...finally got to it yesterday and it was very wet so much that even my little helper noticed.

Question being would the dead standing tree hold less moisture than the one laying on the ground?

 

[Woody Stover]

The stander would be drier; Water drains off better and it gets more wind. The trunk will probably need to be split and stacked to get dry, but some smaller branches may be dry enough.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Expect the bottom part of the standing dead tree to have lots of moisture for sure. Not as much up top.