When this wood began to go to market, its promoters found difficulties in securing a trial for it in eastern states, because of its name. The eastern hemlock was known to be a substantial wood, but a rough one with many faults linked with its virtues. It was naturally supposed that the western hemlock had all the faults of its eastern relative with possibly some of the good qualities left out; and there was general hesitancy to put the new comer to a trial. That caused a movement among western lumbermen to sell their hemlock under some other name. They were confident the wood had only to be given a trial and it would win its way, after which the name would make little difference. Accordingly, it was started to market under the name of Alaska pine, although Alaska has no pine large enough for good lumber. Other lumbermen thought it advisable to choose a name less likely to excite suspicion, and they called it Washington pine. Others designated it as spruce, and still others as fir. It was more likely to pass for fir than for pine or spruce. The lumber is now generally known as western hemlock, but in California some call it hemlock spruce or California hemlock spruce. In Idaho, Washington, and Oregon the name hemlock usually suffices; while western hemlock spruce, and western hemlock fir, and Prince Albert’s fir are names used in speaking of lumber and of the tree in the forest. Western hemlock’s range extends north and south a thousand miles, from southern Alaska to California south of San Francisco. It grows from the Pacific coast eastward to Montana, five hundred miles or more. It ascends to altitudes of 6,000 feet, but it is not at its best on high mountains, but in the warm, damp region near the coast in Washington and Oregon. Trees 200 feet high and eight or ten in diameter are found, but the average size is much less. The leaves of western hemlock are dark green and very lustrous above. The flowers are yellow and purple. Cones are one inch or less in length, and the small seeds are equipped with wings which carry them some distance from the base of the parent tree. The seeds will germinate and develop a root system without touching mineral soil. Their ability to do so assists them greatly in maintaining the tree’s position in the damp climate where this hemlock reaches its best development. The ground in the forest, with all objects that lie upon it, is often covered with wet moss a foot or more thick. The seeds of most trees would inevitably perish if they fell upon such a bed of moss; but the seeds of western hemlock germinate, and the rootlets strike through the moss until they reach the soil beneath, and seedling trees are soon growing vigorously. Seeds often germinate in the moss on logs and stumps, but the roots strike for the ground, and generally reach it. In this habit the western hemlock resembles the yellow birch of the East whose seeds seem to germinate best on mossy logs and stumps.