lO 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES. 



Hemlock. 

 Tsuga Canadensis — (Linn.) Carr. 



The range of growth of hemlock is from 

 southern New Brunswick and Nova Scotia 

 and the valley of the St. Lawrence to the 

 shores of Lake Temiseaming; south and west 

 to the western part of Wisconsin; through 

 the northern states to Delaware; along the 

 Allegheny mountains to parts of 

 Alabama and Georgia. 



It is known as hemlock in Maine, 

 New Hampshire, Vermont, Massa- 

 chusetts, Bhode Island, Connecticut, 

 New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Delaware, Virginia, North 

 Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, 

 Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, 

 Ohio, Ontario. In Vermont, Shode 

 Island, New York, Pennsylvania, 

 New Jersey, West Virginia, North 

 Carolina, South Carolina and Eng- 

 land, it is called hemlock spruce ; 

 spruce tree in Pennsylvania and 

 West Virginia; spruce pine in 

 Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, 

 North Carolina, Georgia; to the 

 New York Indians is was knovm as 

 oh-neh-tah, which being interpreted 

 means ' ' greens on the stick. ' ' 



The tree ranges from sixty to one 

 hundred feet in height. The trunk 

 is straight and symmetrical, usually 

 two to three feet in diameter, but 

 sometimes much larger. It thrives 

 best on dry, rocky ridges, generally 

 facing north. Under these condi- 

 tions it often forms dense forests, 

 in which no other species will be 

 found. Less frequently, hemlock is 

 found on the borders of swamps in 

 rich, deep soil. The tree reaches 

 its greatest development in the high 

 mountainous country of North Caro- 

 lina and eastern Tennessee. When 

 the hemlock grows in the open, 

 where it receives a clear sweep of 

 sunlight, no more graceful and orna- 

 mental evergreen can be found. 

 With its delicate lustrous needles 

 and drooping boughs, it has an ap- 

 pearance of feathery lightness. 

 Lounsberry says: "When on some 

 open, rocky ridge this tree is seen 

 growing by itself, it is often 

 clothed to the ground with its grace- 

 ful and drooping branches. Their 

 spray is filmy and plume-like, and 

 as first the intense lustre of their dark green 

 needles is heightened and then their silvery 

 undersides dart upward, it appears as though 

 a light, fleecy cloud were gamboling through 

 its boughs. When the spring-time comes the 

 tree is touched with a lively yellow-green 

 and is then, as also when it is young, one 

 of the most charming sights of nature. In 

 October, in the forest's shade it becomes 



TWENTT-SEVENTH FAFEB. 



dark, almost black, and stretches itself sol- 

 emnly to its utmost height. ' ' 



Hemlock bark is reddish-grey; it is scaly 

 and becomes rougher and deeply furrowed as 

 the tree grows old. It is rich in tannin, yield- 

 ing an extract which is a powerful astringent, 

 extensively used for medicinal purposes. The 

 bark is the primMpal m;itorinl used in the 



•IVrilAI. IIIOMI.UIK (MiOWTIl. .MUl'.N IAIN i!i:i;ii 



i:asteun tennkssee. 



northern states for tanning leather, ;uid in llie 

 White mountains and in parts of .Michigan 

 and Wisconsin many trees have been de- 

 stroyed solely for this purpose, causing great 

 waste of timber. 



The leaves of hemlock are simple and grow 

 flat, on small petioles, opposite each other 

 on the branchlets; they arc about half an inch 

 long and very narrow; blunt at the apex. In 



color they are a lustrous, dark green, with a 

 delicate whitish tint beneath. In the spring 

 the new leaves are a lighter, somewhat yel- 

 lowish green. "There is no phase of tree 

 life more beautiful than that presented by 

 the hemlock clothed in its spring-time garb; 

 the tips of the dark-green sprays are painted 

 in yellow-green, with a fairylike daintiness, 

 the effect of which could only be 

 conveyed to the mind by a careful 

 study in color." 



The cones are very small, about a 

 Inilf inch in length, growing singly 

 from the lower .side of the branch- 

 let. Their scales are rounded and 

 thin, light brown in color. The 

 seeds are winged and even when 

 ripe the coues do not spread apart 

 perceptibly. 



The wood is coarse, sometimes 

 cross-grained, brittle, perishable, 

 hard to work and disposed to warp 

 and split. It is subject to "wind 

 shake. ' ' The heartwood is reddish 

 brown, with somewhat darker sap- 

 wood. The bands of summer cells 

 are broad and conspicuous; the thin, 

 medullary rays are very numerous. 

 It weighs twenty-six pounds to the 

 cubic foot. 



Hemlock is largely manufactured 

 into coarse lumber and used for out- 

 side work — railway ties, joists, raf- 

 ters, sheathing, plank walks, laths, 

 etc. It is rarely used for inside 

 finishing, owing to its brittle and 

 splintery character. Clean boards 

 made into panels or similar work 

 and finished in the natural color, 

 often present a very handsome ap- 

 pearance, owing to the peculiar 

 pinkish tint of the wood, ripening 

 and improving with age. 



With the growing scarity of white 

 and Norway pine, hemlock has be- 

 come the natural substitute for 

 these woods for many purposes. It 

 has never been conceded that hem- 

 lock possesses the intrinsic merit of 

 cither of the northern pines for 

 structural purposes, but it has 

 proven a suitable substitute for a 

 variety. of uses, notably for framing 

 and sheathing of medium priced 

 ,^ structures. The chief hemlock pro- 



ducing section of the country is 

 Pennsylvania, where the conversion 

 of this wood into lumber has been the fore- 

 most industry following the depletion of the 

 white pine forests. Second in volume of pro- 

 duction is the state of Michigan, and third, 

 Wisconsin, in which states hemlock often 

 grows in comprehensive forests. There is 

 also a vast quantity of hemlock growth in 

 Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that is 

 interspersed w'*Ji white pine and hardwoods, 



