414 The Book of Woodcraft 



light, soft, weak, straight-grained, not durable; a cubic 

 foot weighs 25 lbs. Its roots afford the wattap or cordage 

 for canoe-building and camp use generally. North to the 

 limit of trees east of Rockies, south to Dakota, Wis. & 

 Maine. 



Hemlock {Tsuga canadensis) 



Evergreen; 60 to 70 feet high; occasionally icxi; wood 

 pale, soft, coarse, splintery, not durable. A cubic foot 

 weighs 26 lbs. Bark full of tannin. Leaves | to | inch 



long: cones about the same. Its knots are so hard that they 

 quickly turn the edge of an axe or gap it as a stone might; 

 these are probably the hardest vegetable growth in our 

 woods. Wis. to Nova Scotia and south on the mts. to 

 Georgia. 



Balsam Tree or Canada Balsam (Abies balsamea) 



Evergreen; famous for the blisters on its trunk, yielding 

 Canada balsam which makes a woodman's plaster for cuts 

 or a waterproof cement; and for the exquisite odor of its 

 boughs, which also supply the woodmen's ideal bed. Its 



