The woods and by-ways of New England . those of the other spruces are sessile, those of theHemlock have slender footstalks, yielding them a slightmobility. The spangled glitter of the foliage is caused bya slightly tremulous motion of the terminal sprays. In a deep wood the Hemlock shows some very im-portant defects. There it forms a shaft from fifty toeighty feet in height without any diminution of its size,until near the summit, where it tapers suddenly, forming ahead of foliage that projects considerably above the gen-eral level of the forest. The trunk is covered with deadbranches projecti
The woods and by-ways of New England . those of the other spruces are sessile, those of theHemlock have slender footstalks, yielding them a slightmobility. The spangled glitter of the foliage is caused bya slightly tremulous motion of the terminal sprays. In a deep wood the Hemlock shows some very im-portant defects. There it forms a shaft from fifty toeighty feet in height without any diminution of its size,until near the summit, where it tapers suddenly, forming ahead of foliage that projects considerably above the gen-eral level of the forest. The trunk is covered with deadbranches projecting from it on all sides, causing it to weara very unsightly appearance ; and when the tree is sawedinto boards, they are found to extend directly through thesapwood of the tree, making a hole in it as round as if itwere bored with an auger. This is caused by the con-tinued growth of the trunk of the tree after the decay ofits branches, every year forming a new circle round thebranch, but not inosculating with it, as in other trees. I. THE HEMLOCK. 363 The full beauty of the Hemlock is displayed on theedge of a wood, or on a plain where it has grown withoutimpediment, feathering down to the ground. Here weobserve how much less formal it is in shape than otherconifers. When there are no gaps in its ramification,the numerous branches are mostly in close contact attheir extremities, so that, when viewed from the outsideof the wood, it seems nearly one uninterrupted mass offoliage, hiding the interior of the tree almost entirelyfrom sight. In its perfection, when it has enjoyed anisolated growth, without any mechanical accident to marits symmetry, it presents a fine tapering form withoutstiffness, and a mass of glittering foliage with which thatof but few other trees is comparable. The branches of the Hemlock are very numerous, per-fectly horizontal, and remarkable for the absence ofthose regular whorls that distinguish other trees of thisgenus. They are put forth irregularly from a
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Keywords: ., bookauthorflaggwil, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1872
