ARBORICULTURE 



231 



The Pinon or Nut Pin. 



Pinus Ednlis. 



Few forest trees will thrive in the 

 stony soils, arid climate and great eleva- 

 tions of the central western mountain 

 and plains region of the United States. 

 Pinus Ponderosa, INIountain cedar and 

 the Pinon are pretty much the extent. 

 Mesquit, a low shrub, Texas Hackberry, 

 and a small number of trees and shrubs 

 of greater or less value, are found in sev- 

 eral localities in Nature, but there are 

 many, which, under cultivation, with a 

 moderate quantity of water durin^g the 

 period of growth, are found to succeed 

 admirablv. We now have to do with 

 natural conditions. 



Pinon grows upon the- lower moun- 

 tains of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, 

 Nevada and California, on warm slopes, 

 and, with Red Cedar, covers the moun- 

 tain sides. The seed is an edible nut, 

 found beneath each scale of the cones 

 and has formed the principal food of 

 many Indian tribes. The Mexicans still 

 gather and use them to some extent. 

 These nuts are found on sale at many 

 fruit stands in Denver and in some east- 

 ern cities, being relished by some who ad- 

 mire the peculiar resinous flavor. 



The trees are low growing, seldom 

 more than twenty-five feet high, have 

 short . trunks, branched low, and quite 

 bushy. It is a very pretty evergreen and 

 survives where rain seldom moistens its 

 leaves. The only water it obtains is from 

 the melting of the annual snowfall which 

 is absorbed by the porous soil ; this 

 maintains life throughout the remainder 

 of the year. Under such conditions the 

 Pifion is of extremely slow growth. 



There are approximately fifty concen- 

 tric circles to an inch radius, requiring 

 twenty-five years to increase one inch 

 diameter ; a tree of twelve inches thick- 

 ness having grown for 300 years past. 



Such dense wood is heavy, contains 

 much rosin, and when seasoned for three 

 or four vears makes the very best fuel 



of any known wood, burning slowly and 

 giving out mudi heat. 



The Pinon has too short a stem to be 

 of very great value for mining timbers, 

 cross-ties or lumber, but it possesses high 

 value as a covering for the great arid 

 plains and mesas, and performs its share 

 in the great scheme of Nature towards 

 climatic control. About Buena Vista, 

 Colo., the regularity of the trees, round 

 heads, and dark color have great resem- 

 blance to an apple orchard. 



Many of the trees here are dying, and 

 while I have not had opportunity .to ex- 

 amine them, the appearance from the 

 train indicates the presence of some form 

 of destructive bark beetles. If this be 

 the case, and without a more vigorous 

 protective policy by the United States 

 authorities and state officials, the Pinon, 

 as well as the Ponderosa Pine, will be 

 doomed in a very few years. 



The Blue Jay, a bird which has more 

 enemies among the human race than 

 even the English sparrow, and which is 

 maligned by many through ignorance, is 

 the great tree planter of the Pinon, on 

 the nuts of which he lives during a large 

 portion of the year. 



This mistaken bird is also the great 

 protector of the pines, burrowing deep 

 into the bark to reach the beetles and 

 their larvse, which are slowly but surely 

 destroying the trees. 



The state should prohibit the destruc- 

 tion of all forest growths by men whose 

 only interest is to selfishly convert into 

 money the forests which belong to the 

 commmiity, for no man has a right to 

 make a barren waste of lands which 

 have no agricultural or other value, save 

 forest production, even though he may 

 have a title to the land and all beneath. 



The law should forbid the nefarious 

 business which forever ends the moun- 

 tain forest and terminates the income to 

 the state from taxation because its value 

 is destroved. 



