THE EASTERN HEMLOCK. 7 
UTILIZATION OF HEMLOCK. 
Though hemlock first came into use because of the growing scarcity 
and increasing value of better trees, it can no longer be considered 
merely a substitute for these species. In the three large industries 
to which it contributes — lumber, pulp, and bark — it has become prac- 
tically indispensable. 
LUMBER. 
Small quantities of hemlock lumber were produced locally in the 
northeast during the early days, but not until the bulk of the pine 
had gone was it able to find a wider market. As long as the best 
grades of pine lumber could be had for very little more than the cost 
of production, hemlock could not be disposed of profitably. As late 
as 1880 hemlock lumber of the first quality had so little market value 
in New York and Pennsylvania that it could be shipped only at a loss, 
and was often sold at the mill to local consumers for as little as $4.50 
per thousand board feet. Hemlock logs, cut and peeled for tanbark, 
could not be hauled with profit even for short distances, and large 
numbers of them had to be left in the woods to rot. When peeled 
and well dried, hemlock logs float nearly as well as pine, and because 
of their slipperiness are useful, when driven with pine and spruce 
logs in breaking jams. Peeled logs check badly in drying, however, 
and necessitate heavy and wasteful slabbing. In spite of this draw- 
back hemlock formed an average of about 10 per cent of all lumber on 
the Penobscot River in Maine from 1851 to 1895, with a steady rise of 
from 7 per cent in 1851 to 15.3 per cent in 1895. 1 
During the last five years hemlock has ranked fifth in importance 
among the lumber trees of the United States, being exceeded only by 
yellow pine, Douglas fir, white pine, and oak. Table 2 shows the 
annual production of hemlock lumber during recent years, and its 
proportion in the total annual lumber production. 
Table 2. — Hemlock 2 lumber production during recent years, from census reports. 
Year. 
Annual cut. 
Proportion 
of total 
lumber 
cut. 
Year. 
Annual cut. 
Propor- 
tion of 
total 
lumber 
cut. 
1899 
Thousand 
board feet. 
3, 420, 673 
3,268,787 
3,537,329 
3,373,016 
2, 530, 843 
Per cent. 
9.9 
9.6 
9.8 
8.4 
7.6 
1909 
Thousand 
board feet. 
3,051,399 
2,836,129 
2,555,308 
2, 426, 554 
2,319,982 
Per cent. 
6.9 
1904.... 
1910 
7.1 
1906 
1911.. 
6.9 
1907 
1912... 
6.2 
1908... 
1913 
6.0 
1 From statistics contained in the Third Annual Report of the Forest Commission of the State of Maine, 
1896, Appendix, p. 7. 
including western hemlock, an entirely distinct timber tree, which increased from 0.02 per cent of all 
hemlock cut in 1899 to over 12 per cent in 1913. 
