ASSOCIATED TREES 27 
more sound than when growing on high slopes and 
ridges, although in general its timber is of inferior qual- 
ity and suffers severely from windshake. On the 1046 
acres measured there were four Hemlock trees over 1o 
inches in diameter per acre, with an average diameter 
of 17.5 inches. 
Hemlock is very tolerant of shade both in youth and 
in later life, but in the Adirondacks it is inferior in this 
respect, as it is in reproductive capacity and quality of 
timber, to that foundin Pennsylvania. The reproduc- 
tion is poor, and the tree grows very slowly both in 
diameter and height. The current rate of growth in 
diameter of 141 trees averaging 16.6 inches in diameter 
was found to average one inch in twenty-five years. 
BALSAM 
Balsam (Adies balsamea (Linn.), Mill.) is for the 
most part a small tree in the Park. One specimen 
measured 2 feet in diameter, but the average of trees 
over ten inches in diameter is between r1 and 12 
inches. A very large proportion of the whole stand is 
under Io inches. Balsam is most plentiful in swamps, 
although the largest specimens are found on the knolls 
above them. On wet soil it is frequently almost pure, 
but in such cases the trees are small. 
It reproduces itself well, and the young growth bears 
a considerable amount of shade. The rate of growth 
was determined, for 63 trees averaging 10.5 inches in 
diameter, to be one inch in diameter in thirteen years. 
