558 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



trees are wild, chiefly occurring on privately owned land ; the culti- 

 vated trees, of course, produce the higher-priced grades of nuts. 

 The pinon industry is confined to the Southwest, from western Texas 

 to central Utah and southeastern California. The juniper-pinon 

 type covers approximately 100 million acres, largely owned by the 

 Federal Government. The harvest is uncertain because of the pro- 

 longed periods of drought to which the Southwest is subject, good seed 

 years being attendant upon a proper amount of rainfall. In 1925, 

 a good seed year, 1,200,000 pounds of shelled pinon nuts were shipped 

 out of New Mexico alone, according to available Forest Service 

 records. The gathering of pinon nuts is an important seasonal job 

 for certain residents, especially the native Mexican and Indian 

 population. 



Edible wild fruits are another important byproduct of the forest. 

 Wild blueberry picking, for example, is on a commercial basis in 

 several regions of the country, notably New England, parts of the 

 Middle Atlantic States, the Blue Ridge region of Virginia, and parts 

 of Montana, Washington, and Oregon. Over 30 species of the blue- 

 berry genus, most of them widely distributed, occur on the forest 

 lands of the country, more especially in the North and Northeast, the 

 mountainous districts of the South, the Rocky Mountain region, 

 and the Pacific Northwest. Five species of the related huckleberry 

 genus are native in the wooded regions (mostly privately owned) of 

 the Eastern States. Western species of blueberry occur chiefly on 

 Federal, railroad, and State lands. Accurate figures as to the extent 

 of the blueberry-huckleberry industry are lacking, but it furnishes 

 seasonal employment to thousands of people, and many thousands 

 of boxes of fruit are picked annually for table use and the canning 

 trade. 



Where it is abundant within its range, southwestern Oregon to 

 central California, the Pacific plum is an important element in local 

 economy; when its excellent fruit ripens in summer other local work 

 is often suspended and it is one of the most important food plants 

 among certain Indian tribes, especially the Klamath Indians. 



Accurate figures are largely lacking for values involved in the 

 forest ornamental plant industry. There are enormous numbers of 

 ornamental plants in the wooded sections of the country, many of 

 which now enter the horticultural trade; doubtless many more will 

 ultimately do so. Rhododendrons, azaleas, mountain laurel, and 

 other ericaceous plants are shipped out annually, by the carload, 

 from the mountain forests of North Carolina and other southern 

 States, and the total area of acid soils in the wooded districts of the 

 East where these species occur is probably in excess of 15,000,000 

 acres, probably the larger part of which is privately owned. The 

 latest figures available, which are for the calendar year 1931 and 

 represent fairly average conditions, show that 17,110 leucothoe plants 

 were removed for horticultural use, under permit at a nominal 

 sum, from the Unaka National Forest, Tenn., while 37,547 other 

 ornamental shrubs (chiefly rhododendron and mount am. laurel), 



Ericed at $3,434.41, were sold under permit from three Appa- 

 ichian national forests, the Pisgah, Monongahela, and Unaka. 

 Removal of rhododendron and mountain laurel, where dense, assists 

 in the establishment of timber reproduction, and clear-cutting or 

 severe burning of timber in bottomlands tends to favor occupancy 



