16. Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) (Hemlock Spruce, Peruche). Medium-sized tree, furnishes almost all the hemlock of the Eastern market. Maine to Wisconsin, also following the Alleghanies southward to Georgia and Alabama.
17. Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana). Large-sized tree, wood claimed to be heavier and harder than the Eastern species and of superior quality. Used for pulp wood, floors, panels, and newels. It is not suitable for heavy construction, especially where exposed to the weather, it is straight in grain and will take a good polish. Not adapted for use partly in and partly out of the ground; in fresh water as piles will last about ten years, but as it is softer than fir it is less able to stand driving successfully. Washington to California and eastward to Montana.
LARCH or TAMARACK
Wood like the best of hard pine both in appearance, quality, and uses, and owing to its great durability somewhat preferred in shipbuilding, for telegraph poles, and railway ties. In its structure it resembles spruce. The larches are deciduous trees, occasionally covering considerable areas, but usually scattered among other conifers.
18. Tamarack (Larix laricina var. Americana) (Larch, Black Larch, American Larch, Hacmatac). Heartwood light brown in color, sapwood nearly white, coarse conspicuous grain, compact structure, annual rings pronounced. Wood heavy, hard, very strong, durable in contact with the soil. Used for railway ties, fence posts, sills, ship timbers, telegraph poles, flagstaffs. Medium-sized tree, often covering swamps, in which case it is smaller and of poor quality. Maine to Minnesota, and southward to Pennsylvania.
19. Tamarack (Larix occidentalis) (Western Larch, Larch). Large-sized trees, scattered, locally abundant. Is little inferior to oak in strength and durability. Heartwood of a light brown color with lighter sapwood, has a fine, slightly satiny grain, and is fairly free from knots; the annual rings are distant. Used for railway ties and shipbuilding. Washington and Oregon to Montana.
PINE
Very variable, very light and soft in "soft" pine, such as white pine; of medium weight to heavy and quite hard in "hard" pine, of which the long-leaf or Georgia pine is the extreme form. Usually it is stiff, quite strong, of even texture, and more or less resinous. The sapwood is yellowish white; the heartwood orange brown. Pine shrinks moderately, seasons rapidly and without much injury; it works easily, is never too hard to nail (unlike oak or hickory); it is mostly quite durable when in contact with the soil, and if well seasoned is not subject to the attacks of boring insects. The heavier the wood, the darker, stronger, and harder it is, and the more it shrinks and checks when seasoning. Pine is used more extensively than any other wood. It is the principal wood in carpentry, as well as in all heavy construction, bridges, trestles, etc. It is also used in almost every other wood industry; for spars, masts, planks, and timbers in shipbuilding, in car and wagon construction, in cooperage and woodenware; for crates and boxes, in furniture work, for toys and patterns, water pipes, excelsior, etc. Pines are usually large-sized trees with few branches, the straight, cylindrical, useful stem forming by far the greatest part of the tree. They occur gregariously, forming vast forests, a fact which greatly facilitates their exploitation. Of the many special terms applied to pine as lumber, denoting sometimes differences in quality, the following deserve attention: "White pine," "pumpkin pine," "soft pine," in the Eastern markets refer to the wood of the white pine (Pinus strobus), and on the Pacific Coast to that of the sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana). "Yellow pine" is applied in the trade to all the Southern lumber pines; in the Northwest it is also applied to the pitch pine (Pinus regida); in the West it refers mostly to the bull pine (Pinus ponderosa). "Yellow long-leaf pine" (Georgia pine), chiefly used in advertisements, refers to the long-leaf Pine (Pinus palustris).
(a) Soft Pines
20. White Pine (Pinus strobus) (Soft Pine, Pumpkin Pine, Weymouth Pine, Yellow Deal). Large to very large-sized tree, reaching a height of 80 to 100 feet or more, and in some instances 7 or 8 feet in diameter. For the last fifty years the most important timber tree of the United States, furnishing the best quality of soft pine. Heartwood cream white; sapwood nearly white. Close straight grain, compact structure; comparatively free from knots and resin. Soft, uniform; seasons well; easy to work; nails without splitting; fairly durable in contact with the soil; and shrinks less than other species of pine. Paints well. Used for carpentry, construction, building, spars, masts, matches, boxes, etc., etc., etc.