small oblong scales and on old trunks it is divided into lengthwise 

 ridgt . s. a character which enables a person to distinguish this tree from 

 the Kngelmann spruce. 



The wood is soft, nearly white, weak and of light weight and is 

 only occasionally used for lumber and fuel. The mature cones of the 

 blue spruce are usually about three inches in length and of a pale 

 brownish or whitish tan color. The scales are numerous and each one 

 is somewhat prolonged into a narrowed tip. The blue spruce is extensive- 

 ly planted for ornament. Well grown specimens, especially when twenty- 

 five or thirty years of age, are beautiful treees. but in older age, there is 

 a tendency for the lower branches to die off and leave this part of the 

 tree somewhat ragged. For landscape gardening purposes, the bluest 

 specimens are selected by the nurserymen, as the price which this tree 

 commands is largely in proportion to the blueness of the foliage. Seed 

 of this species has been introduced into Europe and some of the finest 



immature trunk, h. TV 

 I \vo ;i n<l t li !<( VCM rs old. 



