GRADE III. 



The Hemlock Tree. 



"The Hemlock is one of the best of our forest 

 trees. It is a graceful and very useful tree. It 

 makes the best timber for the frame of a barn or a 

 house. The bark is used for tanning leather. The 

 wood is good to burn in a tight stove, and to heat an 

 oven. 



' ' This tree grows best at about forty-five degrees 

 north latitude, where it is found ninety feet high and 

 three feet in diameter. It grows as far north as sixty 

 degrees, but it does not grow nearly so large there. 



" The wood is white, and between the yearly rings 

 it is yellow. It comes apart easily between the rings 

 because there are no strong rays to hold it together. 

 In the best places it grows a quarter of an inch thick 

 all round the tree in one year. Where the tree does 

 not have a good chance it grows so slow that we can 

 scarcely count the rings, because they are so thin. 



" The bark on old trees is an inch thick, and there 

 is a new layer every year next to the wood. The 

 outer bark is gray, or dark brown. The inner layer 

 is white with a yellow tint. Between these two lay- 

 ers there is a crimson layer and a light brown layer. 



