This message is from: "Nathan Lapp" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >The Hemlock TREE is a evergreen tree much like the >spruce, etc. and is not poisonous. It is used for lumber.
Thank you, Jean, for coming to the defense of the useful and NON-poisonous Hemlock Tree. Let me add a few words to the botony lesson. Hemlock is a well-respected lumber here in western New York. My father built our dairy barn with Hemlock from our own woodlot 25 years ago. It is now my place of work, where the cows get milked, fed, and bedded down within its sturdy walls. Then we built our gambrel roof garage with an upstairs office/library in 1994. My brother and I cut the Hemlock trees from our own woods, skidded the logs (too bad we didn't have Fjords back then!) and used the lumber for everything from beams to the interior panelling of the study area. When it was done we dubbed it Hemlock Hall, and announced its purpose as a clearinghouse for "studies of liberty and free enterprise." That's when we started to hear from people who didn't know about the Hemlock tree and knew it only as a poison. Some even suggested we change the name of our place lest we become suspect of hosting suicide meetings. In an effort to educate we sent all the critics a beatiful sprig of Hemlock evergreen leaf (in the middle of winter.) Today the name Hemlock Hall still stands engraved in a slab of Hemlock lumber hung near the entrance of the study area. Its misunderstood name does not deter the searching students of liberty or travel-worn victims of government tyranny who frequently come to visit. Walls and ceilings of polished Hemlock grace the visitors' entrance, and my computor cubicle glows in natural beauty that inspires me to write. Here is a poem I wrote about the honored tree--and that will be the end of my lesson! Hemlock, tree of the forest-- What do you teach us today? Stand beside her, Listen, listen, 'till you hear what she has to say. She's whispering Gently, gently, as the breeze takes her sprigs to and fro. See how her sweeping bough reaches low? Oh, you beautiful evergreen tree! To the lowly, the oppressed, you speak Not deeming your heavenward peak too high To come low with your branches While unwavering, your trunk reaches toward the sky. You lend of your elegance You speak And you listen. Oh, you beautiful evergreen tree Tree of liberty. Her majesty!
