Sitka Spruce. Ficea sitchensis. 
Leaves thin, roughly angled, sharp pointed, and 
standing out from all sides of the branches. Cones 
about 3 inches long, pendulous. Bark dark purplish 
brown, scaly, the inner cork white with brown dots. 
Wood soft, medium-grained, and light, making 
admirable saw timber. Resonant qualities make the 
wood valuable for piano sounding boards, its suitability 
for airplane manufacture is well known. It makes a 
high-grade pulp, and with western hemlock will no 
doubt be used extensively in the manufacture of 
newsprint in the future. 
This, the common spruce of the coastal forests of 
Alaska from Cook Inlet east and south, is the most 
valuable Alaskan tree. With tall, evenly tapering 
stem and open conical crown, it attains a height of 
160 feet or more and a diameter of over 8 feet on the 
best sites, which are moist, deep, rich, and well-drained 
soils. 
Western Hemlock. Tsuga Jicterophylla. 
Leaves flat, rounded at tips with a whitish under 
surface which distinguishes the tree from mountain 
hemlock. Needles one-fourth to seven-eighths inch 
long. Cones not over 1 inch long, occurring on the 
tips of branches. Bark hard, furrowed, and thick on 
old trees. A pocketknife will disclose a red inner 
bark not found in spruce. The outer bark contains a 
high percentage of tanning and the inner bark has 
been used as a food by the Indians. Wood stronger 
and more durable than other species of American 
hemlocks, easily worked, used for construction, paper 
pulp, and piling. It is admirably suited for structural 
timbers, flooring, and street planking, and every 
pffort should be made to overcome the prejudice 
against its use for these purposes. 
Western hemlock forms some 70 per cent of the 
coastal forests of Alaska. It attains its largest size 
on moist flats and lower slopes, but with abundant 
moisture, both atmospheric and soil, it will do well on 
shallow soils, averaging 125 feet in height and 30 inches 
in diameter. 
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