The effects of early selection of clones in the nursery on field performance after 6 yrs in the field were studied in a material comprising 794 cutting propagated clones ofPicea abies(L.) Karst. A 20% selection for height in the nursery gave gains of approximately 3% in height after 6 yrs. Attempts to improve the early selection procedure were made. Stratification of the nursery beds in two blocks according to location had almost no effect on the gain, arid selection within growth rhythm classes was less effective. Correlations between other characters measured in the nursery and field characters were generally low. The positive, though moderate, relationships between nursery height and height after 6 yrs in the field are encouraging for further research to improve selection efficiency.