30 THE WESTERN HEMLOCK. 



Hemlock, unless cut with the Fir, is usually lost. Fire is practically 

 certain to run through the slashings. The thin bark of the Hemlock 

 makes a severe fire fatal, and where a tree is only slightly scarred the 

 boring-beetle is almost sure to attack it. With its shallow root system 

 the Hemlock is also liable to be blown down when left unprotected, 

 and even the drying of the soil, due to increased light, often proves 

 fatal. 



It is not uncommon for 5,000 to 25,000 feet of Hemlock per acre to 

 be left standing on land from which the Fir has been removed. Allow- 

 ing a stumpage value of only 25 cents per thousand feet, this represents 

 a loss of $1.25 to $6.25 an acre. Or, putting it differently, if Hemlock 

 gains a place in the market, it will raise the value of such timber from 

 $1.25 to $6.25 an acre. In the case of pure, or nearly pure, Hemlock, 

 a greater increase in value would be necessary to bring about the 

 same result, for there would be no logging of Fir to lower the cost of 

 logging the Hemlock. (PI. IX.) 



VOLUME AND YIELD, FIRST-GROWTH HEMLOCK. 



Scribner s scale has been used in all volume and yield tables in this 

 report. The universal custom of scaling at the small end of the log 

 has been followed, although the scale was originally intended to be 

 applied at the middle, where it is far more accurate. The prevailing 

 practice undervalues large logs, and it is probably for this reason that 

 the mills secured its adoption; but a return to the correct method here 

 would result only in confusion. 



The data for Table 6, which gives the contents of standing trees in 

 board feet, were obtained by two methods, one based on the actual 

 logging practice and one on the possible merchantable contents of the 

 trees. The former included the scaling of several hundred trees as 

 they lay in the slashings, cut into logs but not yarded out. The logs 

 were scaled just as would be done by the camp or mill scaler, except 

 that the total contents of each tree were kept separate. In this way 

 the average contents of trees of different diameters and height were 

 found. The average diameter limit in the tops to which the Hemlock 

 was cut was 20.5 inches. In this way. from 10 to 30 feet of merchant- 

 able, and sometimes clear, lumber is usually left, which will undoubt- 

 edly be used when Hemlock is better appreciated. The same trees 

 were therefore also scaled to a point 16 inches in diameter inside the 

 bark, unless the crown extended below this point, Avhen the merchant- 

 able length was considered to end at the first large green branch. 

 Table 6 gives the result of both methods. 



