192 Forestry Quarterly. 



Each box requires about 45 board feet, there being no special 

 requirements except that the box must be strong and fairly 

 tight. Spruce is light and tough and therefore well adapted to 

 these uses. 



Spruce is considered the best of material for staves, since it 

 is soft, tough and conforms readily to any desired shape. Only 

 a little cooperage work is done at present, locally, therefore 

 there is but little timber used in that connection. 



The best straight grained trees of this species make very 

 good shakes and limited quantities of it are used for that pur- 

 pose whenever other more durable woods cannot be easily ob- 

 tained. 



Spruce when placed in saltwater is very susceptible to the 

 attacks of the ship worm (Teredo) in a majority of cases piles 

 being rendered useless in two or three years. There are how- 

 ever cases where piles are short-lived regardless of their re- 

 sistance to the shipworm, and in such instances the best long, 

 straight and most accessible trees are taken. For wharves where 

 lasting qualities are necessary, western hemlock is preferred on 

 account of its tendency to withstand the attacks of the ship- 

 worm somewhat better than the former species. Spruce is 

 slightly more difficult to drive than hemlock, on account of being 

 more buoyant and having a greater tendency to batter up or 

 break while being driven. 



At the present time, practically all of the cordwood cut in 

 southeastern Alaska is spruce. Although Western Hemlock is 

 far superior to the former species as a heat producer, spruce is 

 generally taken because large sound easy splitting trees of this 

 species are more easy to get. 



It is assumed that the Sitka Spruce of Alaska will reach its 

 greatest future commercial importance, outside of its use as 

 sawtimber, in connection with the manufacture of paper pulp. 

 Soujtheastern Alaska, with its almost unlimited quaititiefe of 

 hemlock and spruce timber, its many protected inland waterways 

 which make enormous quantities of the timber readily accessible, 

 and its abundance of water-power is unexcelled as a location for 

 the paper industry. Western Hemlock is expected to supply 

 the bulk of the raw material since it makes up about 60 per cent, 

 of the stand and is inferior to spruce for saw timber, while 

 under conservative management by the Forest Service only the 



