586 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



a number of States. The call for it is 

 increasing for tanks, particularly the 

 frames, and for silos where it is some- 

 times the principal material. New 

 York's annual use of hemlock for silos 

 is 1,190,000 feet, for which manufac- 

 turers pay an average price of $34.39. 

 This indicates that good stock is used, 

 and the rapid increase in the demand 

 for hemlock by silo makers shows that 

 the wood is chosen for its qualities. 

 The silo is a trying place for any build- 

 ing material, and hemlock has there 

 proved its durability. 



A categorical list of the uses to which 

 hemlock is put by manufacturers would 

 show a remarkable range. It would in- 

 clude commodities of high class as well 

 as many which are ordinary. The total 

 annual demand for this wood in the 

 United States, for manufacturing pur- 

 poses, is 708,752,7 69 feet. That does 

 not include what is used as rough lum- 

 ber without further manufacture, nor 

 does it include pulp, cooperage stock, 

 cross-ties, or mine timbers. In the 

 State of New York alone the follow- 

 ing uses of hemlock are listed : 



Agricultural Im- 

 plements, 



Baskets, 



Blinds, 



Boxes, 



Cars, 



Crates, 



Dairymen's sup- 

 plies, 



Doors, 



Fencing (Pickets) 



Flasks, 



Flooring, 



Furniture, 



Gates, 



Instruments 

 (Musical), 



Machines, 



Machinery (Elec- 

 trical), 



Patterns, 



Ships, 



Sporting goods. 

 Vehicles. 



About 32 per cent of all the hemlock 

 lumber cut in the United States is fur- 

 ther manufactured before it reaches its 

 bnal use. In round numbers, two- 

 thirds of the lumber is used in its rough 

 form, and one-third passes through fac- 

 tories or shops to be converted into 

 commodities. 



THE PRICE OF THE WOOD 



It is medium-priced among the soft- 

 woods with which it comes in competi- 



tion. More of them are above than 

 below it in mill-yard value. In a list of 

 the commercial softwoods reported by 

 the Bureau of the Census for 1911, 

 where fourteen species are named, the 

 rating accorded hemlock is shown in the 

 following table : 



Ave. Mill- 

 yard 

 Wood. Per M. 



Cypress $20.5-1 



White pine 18.54 



Sugar pine 17.52 



Spruce 16.14 



Redwood 13.99 



Western pine 13.88 



Yellow pine 13.87 



Cedar 13.86 



Hemlock 13.59 



Balsam fir 13.42 



Lodgepole pine 12.41 



Lard 11.87 



Douglas fir 11.05 



White fir 10.64 



These figures represent lumber in the 

 yards at the mills and ready to ship. 

 There is some change in values from 

 year to year, but no more than changes 

 in the values of wheat, cattle, coal, and 

 other staple articles. 



The mill-yard value is the average 

 for all grades, that is, the lumber as it 

 comes from the logs without sorting. 

 This value is not the same in all parts 

 of the country, but the differences are 

 usually small. The value is made up 

 of cost of stumpage, cost of logging, 

 cost of conversion, and other necessary 

 charges. Fifteen States produce hem- 

 lock in commercial quantities, and a 

 little is sawed in other States. 



W^hen the prices paid for hemlock 

 by manufacturers in certain States is 

 com]:)ared with the value at the mill- 

 yards in those States, apparent incon- 

 sistencies are seen. In several instances 

 the material is delivered at the factories 

 at an average cost below its mill-yard 

 value in those States. 'I'his would seem 

 to imply that the mills deliver hemlock 

 at the factories for less than its value 

 in the mill's own yard. Below is a 

 table which gives hemlock's value at the 



