106 THE CULTIVATED EVERGREENS 



and most extensively cultivated spruce in the United States 

 and Europe. It has a straight trunk from one hundred to one 

 hundred and fifty feet in height and from five to six feet in 

 diameter. None is better adapted for planting in narrow strips 

 for shelter or seclusion, because of its rapid growth; it makes 

 excellent hedges for shelter in nursery-gardens, windbreaks for 

 fruit-gardens and farm buildings. In the great prairie country 

 of America this beautiful and useful tree should be planted for 

 protection. It grows in any kind of soil except gravelly and 

 sour or water-soaked, undrained ground. It maintains its 

 branches well to the ground if given ample room to grow, and 

 is, therefore, valuable for single specimens on lawns as well 

 as for a background to other evergreens. The foliage is dark 

 green, and when older the branches are drooping, melancholy 

 yet graceful, and beautiful for the open stretch of landscape 

 as well as for woodland effects. 



Some of the variegated forms of Norway spruce are in- 

 teresting when young. The young growth of var. argenteo-spica 

 is whitish, gradually turning a pale green. Var. aureahsis leaves 

 of a golden-yellow on the exposed side and the remainder dark 

 green, giving the tree a peculiar aspect. Both varieties are 

 beautiful when the sun plays on the branches, which on young 

 trees are erect, but when older become pendulous. Trees do 

 not grow quite so fast as the Norway spruce, but are just as 

 hardy, and grow well in any kind of soil, even in a heavy clay. 

 They do especially well in partially shady places and in the 

 open lawn; on account of the dense growth are well adapted 

 for single specimens. These forms should be grafted on the 

 Norway spruce when dormant, as they do not come true from 

 seed like most variegated conifers. 



Picea joungens, Colorado spruce, grows in all soils, seems 

 perfectly hardy in most northern climates and is easily raised 



