ADAPTATION OF CONIFERS 89 



sightly. This species is a native of the mountains and parti- 

 cularly the mountain valleys of Alberta and eastern British 

 Columbia and, though enduring severe winters there, is evi- 

 dently not suited to the climatic conditions of the low altitudes 

 in eastern Canada. It is of a fine pyramidal form, and, when 

 young, the trees are very attractive. As with the Colorado 

 blue spruce and the native white spruce, the color varies from 

 greenish- to steely-blue. 



Sitka spruce, Picea sitchensis, is a fine tree, native to the 

 western coast regions of Canada where it reaches a large size 

 and is very valuable for timber. It makes a good ornamental 

 subject also, the foliage being particularly attractive, but, in a 

 part of Canada where so many ornamental evergreens succeed, 

 it is not prized as much as a lawn tree as it otherwise would be. 

 It is not hardy in eastern Canada. 



The Norway spruce, Picea Abies, is the most generally 

 planted for ornament and for windbreaks in eastern Canada. 

 It is a very rapid grower and soon becomes an attractive object 

 on the lawn or quickly makes protection from wind. It is 

 useful for hedges also. While the stock usually supplied by 

 nurseries is not hardy on the Canadian prairies, it does fairly 

 well when seed is obtained from the coldest districts in which 

 this spruce is native. At Ottawa, most trees of Norway spruce 

 planted thirty-three years ago are still fine specimens, well 

 clothed with foliage, though some are now becoming ragged. 

 In other places in the province of Ontario good trees con- 

 siderably older than this may be found. There are many 

 horticultural varieties of this spruce, most of those listed by 

 nurserymen having been tested at Ottawa. The best of the 

 larger growing forms is var. pyramidata, which makes a hand- 

 some pyramidal-shaped tree, closer in habit than the type. 

 Some of the pendulous forms are attractive for a time, but are 



