THE HEMLOCK. 



The Hemlock is confessedly one of the most teautiful 

 of the coniferous evergreens, though rather narrow in its 

 dimensions. The principal branches are small and short 

 ■with very slender terminations, in which it differs from all 

 the other spruces. The multitude of these slender sprays, 

 and their rows of soft delicate leaves, cause those beauti- 

 ful undulations that characterize the foliage of this tree 

 when moved by the wind. The leaves, of a light green on 

 their upper surface and of a silvery whiteness beneath, 

 are arranged in a row on each side of the branchlets. 

 But while those of the other spruces are sessile, those of the 

 Hemlock have slender footstalks, yielding them a sKght 

 mobility. The spangled glitter of the foliage is caused by 

 a slightly tremulous motion of the termiaal sprays. 



In a deep wood the Hemlock shows some very im- 

 portant defects. There it forms a shaft from fifty to 

 eighty feet in height without any diminution of its size, 

 unto, near the summit, where it tapers suddenly, forming a 

 head of foliage that projects considerably above the gen- 

 eral level of the forest. The trunk is covered with dead 

 branches projecting from it on all sides, causing it to wear 

 a very unsightly appearance ; and when the tree is sawed 

 into boards, they are found to extend directly through the 

 sapwood of the tree, making a hole in it as round as if it 

 were bored with an auger. This is caused by the con- 

 tinued growth of the trunk of the tree after the decay of 

 its branches, every year forming a new circle round the 

 branch, but not inosculating with it, as in other trees. 



