Page:Handbook for Boys.djvu/149

128 There are many different kinds of pines. They are best distinguished by their cones.

Hemlock (Tsuga Canadensis) Evergreen. Sixty to seventy feet high. Wood pale, soft, coarse, splintery, not durable. Bark full of tannin. Leaves ½ to ¾ inches long; cones about the same. Its knots are so hard that they quickly turn the edge of an axe or gap it as a stone might; these are probably the hardest vegetable growth in our woods. Its topmost twig usually points easterly. Nova Scotia to Minnesota, south to Delaware and Michigan.

Red Cedar (Juniperus Virginiana)

Evergreen. Any height up to zoo feet. Wood, heart a beautiful bright red; sap wood nearly white; soft, weak, but extremely durable as posts, etc. Makes a good bow. The

tiny scale-like leaves are 3 to 6 to the inch; the berry-like cones are light blue and ¼ of an inch in diameter. It is found in dry places from Nova Scotia to Florida and west to British Columbia.

Cottonwood (Populus deltoides)

Small and rare in the Northeast, but abundant and large