Canadian hemlock, Tsuga canadensis, also called hemlock spruce
and eastern hemlock is another of the East’s mighty evergreens.
It is the state tree of Pennsylvania. Trees can live 500 years,
grow from 100 to 170 feet tall and be five to six feet in
diameter. Rickett’s Glen State Park in Pennsylvania has many of
these behemoths of the forest. They are shade tolerant and if
the canopy is closed will bide their time until an opening
occurs and then they will have a growth spurt. My fifty year
hemlocks are only about 12 feet tall. In one section of Woodland
Park there are some tall old hemlocks; magnificent specimens as
well as a small grove up the hill from me. Hemlock does not make
a good Christmas tree because it does not retain its needles. Oh
that it would! Hemlock bark contains a lot of tannin useful in
converting the hides and pelts to leather. There were so many
trees that many hemlocks were cut down, stripped of their bark
and the logs left to rot. After all, the supply seemed
inexhaustible. Unlike pine,