CAROLINA HEMLOCK. HEMLOCK. SPRUCE PINE. 135 



ble soil, associated with cherry birch, yellow birch, and the 

 Rhododendron. (Fig. 35, p. 123.) 



It bears seed frequently, and young seedlings are common in 

 the shade of the old trees. The hemlock is very free from the 

 attack of injurious insects. Tall trees in exposed situations are 

 often thrown by the wind. 



The dark green leaves are linear, flat, obtuse, two-ranked, and 

 whitish beneath. The cones are small, oval or oblong, with the 

 scales smooth and entire. The hemlock has numerous spreading 

 lateral and superficial roots. 



The wood is light, soft, not strong, brittle, coarse and crooked- 

 grained, difficult to work, liable to windshake and splinter, and 

 not durable ; light brown or often nearly white in color ; the sap- 

 wood somewhat darker. Commercially two varieties, the red 

 and the white, are recognized. The coarse lumber is used for 

 construction, outside finish, and railroad ties. The bark is 

 extensively employed for tanning, and yields a powerful astrin- 

 gent. Canada or hemlock-pitch is made from this species. 



A good deal of hemlock has been cut near Cranberry for the 

 bark, and large quantities of logs have been floated down the 

 branches of the Tennessee river from Graham and Swain coun- 

 ties to Knoxville, Tenn. 



Tsuga caroliniana, Engelmann. 

 (CAROLINA HEMLOCK. HEMLOCK. SPRUCE PINE.) 



A tree, with conical crown, numerous branches upon two-thirds 

 of the stem, and rough thick red-brown bark, reaching a height 

 of 50 to 70 and a diameter of 2 to 3 feet. 



It is found locally along the eastern Appalachian mountains 

 from the Saluda mountains, South Carolina, to Ashe county in 

 North Carolina, where it occurs on cliffs along the South Fork of 

 the New river, near Elk Cross-roads, and on spurs of the Blue 

 Ridge ; also in the gorge of the Doe river in Carter county, Tenn. 

 (Fig. 35, p. 123.) It grows on dry and rocky ridges, rarely form- 

 ing pure forest. 



