THE HEMLOCKS.
Unlike any other conifer, the hemlock mounts its ever green leaves on short petioles, jointed to projecting, horny brackets on the twig. At any season this character de termines the family name of a group of exceptionally graceful pyramidal conifers. The Eastern hemlocks have their leaves arranged in a flat spray, silvery white under neath, by pale lines on the underside of the flat blunt pointed blade (See illustration, page 246). An abun
dance of pendent cones is borne annually. The wood of hemlocks is comparatively worthless but the bark is rich in tannin, and so the tree is important in the leather trade.