584 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



An Up-to-Date Barn and Silo Built Entirely of Hemlock in 1912. 

 this modern building is at hemlock hill farm, ontonagon county, mich. the barn is 36 feet wide, 



105 FEET long; the SILO IS 12 FEET ACROSS AND 34 FEET HIGH, AIR-SPACED AND FROST PROOF. 



and it is economy to dress it near the 

 beginning of its journey to market, 

 rather than at the other end. It is poor 

 poHcy to pay freight on shavings when 

 nothing is gained by doing so. This ac- 

 counts for the great development of 

 what is known as the planing mill prod- 

 ucts industry, which means that, before 

 lumber is sent to market, it is manufac- 

 tured one step further than the rough 

 lumber stage. 



The box maker is a large buyer of 

 rough hemlock lumber. It is usually 

 the low grades which go to this factory. 

 The box maker is in a position to get 

 most out of lumber of that class, be- 

 cause he cuts it into small sizes and can 

 use everything except what is actually 

 worthless. Some other industries are 

 not so fortunate. If they work low- 

 grade lumber they must often throw 

 away good material because they can- 

 not make use of adjacent defects. 



Hemlock is excellent box material 

 whce much strength and moderate 

 weight are wanted. It possesses ex- 

 traordinary nail-holding power, which 



is due to the presence of a large amount 

 of tannin in the wood. That substance 

 combines with the iron and favors a 

 c-mcnt which grips the nail so firmly 

 that it can be withdrawn only with difti- 

 cuity. This property is of special value 

 in crate material, and large amounts of 

 hemlock are used for that purpose. In 

 quantity it ranks near the top of th;.' 

 list of all woods of the United States 

 for this use. The following States are 

 among the most important users of 

 hemlock for boxes and crates, and the 

 figures give the annual demand and the 

 average prices paid. 



Az'e. Cost 

 at f actor Y 

 feet Used. Per M'. 



Illinois 34,472,000 $13.42 



Michigan 27,523,000 12.08 



Massachusetts . . . 27,391,000 17.31 



New Hampshire.. 20,035,000 15.00 



Wisconsin 17,057,000 11.08 



New York 10,448,000 19.50 



Maine 4,704,000 14.72 



These prices are for box lumber de- 



