Spruce weaving baskets and for sewing together pieces of birch bark for canoes. See also Kiidk'yaas for an unusual golden Sitka Spruce sacred to the Haida people. Spruces are popular ornamental trees in horticulture, admired for their evergreen, symmetrical narrow-conic growth habit. For the same reason, some (particularly "Picea abies" and "P. omorika") are also extensively used as Christmas trees, with artificial Christmas trees often being produced in their likenesses. Spruce branches are also used at Aintree racecourse, Liverpool, to build several of the fences on the Grand National course. It is also used to make sculptures. The closely related species
1847 Grand National 1847 Grand National The 1847 Grand National Steeplechase was the ninth official annual running of a Handicap Steeple-chase Horse race which took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool on 3 March 1847 and attracted a then record field of twenty-six runners. It was won by Mathew, ridden by Denny Wynne in the colours of County Cork landowner, John Courtenay. This was the first time the race was officially named The Grand National Steeplechase, having previously been run under the title, Grand Liverpool Steeplechase. Contemporary newspaper reporters stated that the race was run over the same course as the previous year,