2 BULLETIN 722, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
figures which can be applied to the practical operations of forestry. 
Meinecke,* in a recent paper on this subject, has clearly expressed 
the need of concentrated work upon single tree species, with a special 
aim to secure accurate data adaptable to practical use. In order to 
make a beginning in supplying the fundamental knowledge for a 
solution of some of the more vital problems bearing on the regula- 
tion of the forest with regard to the peculiarities and activities of 
the more economic fungi, a series of detailed studies has been in- 
~ stituted, beginning with the western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla). 
In the present study, an attempt has been made to secure for two 
principal types of the typical stand all available data bearing on the: 
relationship of decay to the many factors concerned in its inception, 
development, and spread, and to determine, if possible, which of the 
factors concerned in the life history of western hemlock has the 
ereatest influence in the development or retardation of decay. 
PRESENT STATUS OF WESTERN HEMLOCK IN THE TRADES. 
The regulation of hemlock in the northwestern forests is probably 
one of the most difficult silvicultural problems with which foresters 
have to deal. Not only has this species for many years in some 
parts of the West been considered little more than a “weed”’ in the 
forest, to be removed in as expedient and thorough a manner as 
possible, but a widespread prejudice on the part of the lumber trade 
has kept the products of western hemlock much in the background. 
The common occurrence of heart-rot, the susceptibility to fire and 
frost, etc., have also led to a much advanced theory of a general 
decadence of this really valuable species. Western hemlock can not 
be considered in any sense a decadent tree, as is evidenced by its 
splendid height and diameter growth in localities where it reaches its 
best development. There are approximately 90,000,000,000 feet board 
measure of western hemlock in the United States and Alaska, and 
most of this is found in Washington and Oregon.? Only recently 
have the millmen placed hemlock upon the market under its rightful 
name. In 1908, 90,000,000 feet of western hemlock were reported 
cut, and this increased to 248,000,000 feet in 1910.2 The rapid 
increase in cut tends to show that the true value of western hemlock 
is hereafter to be recognized and that the prejudice against its name 
is gradually disappearing. 
Several mill owners with whom the subject of the soundness and 
durability of hemlock lumber has been discussed state that too fre- 
quently the lumber decays rapidly after bemmg sawed. This is not 
1 Meinecke, E. P. Forest pathology in forest regulation. U.S. Dept. Agr. Bul. 275, 62 p. 1916. 
2 Hanzlik, E. J., and Oakleaf, H. B. Western hemlock; its forest characteristics, properties, and uses. 
In Timberman, v. 15, no. 12, p. 25. 1914. 
