The Forest Industries 63 



other chemicals. In both of these processes the 

 wood most largely used is spruce, but poplar, bass- 

 wood, hemlock, and several other kinds also enter 

 into the consumption. 



A very important product of forest industry is 

 bark for tanning purposes. There are in the 

 United States a number of trees the bark of which 

 may be used in making leather, notably several 

 species of oak. But by far the most important 

 tree of this kind in North America is the hemlock. 

 The hemlock industry, by the way, furnishes a 

 striking illustration of how the American forests 

 have, since the coming of the railroads, been drawn 

 into the circle of the world's commerce. One of 

 the centres of tan-bark production is the eastern 

 portion of Central and Northern Wisconsin. Within 

 a few years large tanneries have there been set up 

 in the very midst of the forest, and raw hides are 

 brought there from Argentina to be treated with 

 the bark of the trees growing near by. 



Side by side with the wood-pulp and the tan- 

 bark industries, — each of them in a different way 

 illustrating phases of the most modern economic de- 

 velopment, — the most primitive of all forest indus- 

 tries still remains one of the most important of all. 

 That is the cutting and consumption of fire-wood. 

 Although there are many places, even within 

 heavily wooded territory, where the use of coal 

 and various kinds of fuel has almost entirely 

 superseded the use of wood for heating and 

 cooking purposes, yet it is probably correct that an 



