136 AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



It would be difficult to compile a list of this tree's uses, because in markets 

 it hardly ever carries its right name. It is used for fuel and charcoal in 

 the region of its growth ; also as farm timber, and as props and lagging in 

 mines. When it goes to market, it is manufactured into doors, window 

 frames, sash, interior finish for houses, and for purposes along with other 

 spruces. Large quantities of this wood will be accessible when lumber- 

 men penetrate remote mountain regions where it grows. It may be 

 expected to increase in importance. It is occasionally planted in 

 eastern states as an ornament. 



BLUB SPRUCE (Picea parryana) is found among mountains in Colorado, Utah, 

 and Wyoming, from 6,500 to 10,000 feet above sea level. It attains a height of 150 

 feet and a diameter of three under favorable circumstances, but its usual size is little 

 more than half cf that. Its name is given on account of the color of its foliage, but 

 it has other names, among them being Parry's spruce, balsam, white spruce, silver 

 spruce, Colorado blue spruce, and prickly spruce, the last name referring to the 

 sharp-pointed leaves which are an inch or more in length. Cones are three inches 

 long, and usually grow near the top of the tree. It is not unusual for blue spruce 

 trees to divide near the ground in three or four branches. In its youth, particularly in 

 open ground, blue spruce develops a conical crown. The wood is lighter than white 

 pine, is soft, weak, and pale brown or nearly white in color. The sapwood is hardly 

 distinguishable from the heart. This is a valuable tree for ornamental planting; but 

 in later years it loses its lower limbs, and becomes less desirable. 



WEEPING SPRUCE (Picea breweriana) is of little commercial importance 

 because of scarcity. It grows among the mountains of northern California and 

 southern Oregon, at elevations of from 4,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level. The leaves 

 are an inch or less in length, the cones from two to four inches long. They fall soon 

 after they scatter their seeds. This tree is named on account of its drooping branch- 

 lets, some of which hang down eight feet. The wood seems not to have been in- 

 vestigated, but its color is pale yellowish to very light brown, and the annual rings are 

 rather narrow. The tree ought to be valuable for ornamental planting, but nurseries 

 have experienced much difficulty in making it grow. It grows on high and dry 

 mountains where few ever see it, but refuses to become domesticated or to grace 

 eastern parks. 



