ite 



Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 



Tree fruits for human food are prod- 

 ucts of such trees as the hazel, hick- 

 ories, pecans, walnuts, and, to a lim- 

 ited degree, the pines. When available 

 in quantity, they constitute marketable 

 items, but even the yield from an in- 

 dividual tree often provides food for 

 the landowner. 



In the Tennessee Valley, the har- 

 vesting of black walnuts for the mar- 

 ket is a major enterprise each fall. 

 Around 700,000 pounds of walnut ker- 

 nels are produced annually by farmers 

 in six counties in southwestern Vir- 

 ginia and in eastern Tennessee. While 

 efforts are being made to have land- 

 owners plant and cultivate varieties of 

 black walnuts of higher yield, the mar- 

 ket for wild walnuts continues to exist. 

 Walnuts may be sold in the shells to 

 shelling plants or the meats can be ex- 

 tracted by farm labor. 



The persimmon and pawpaw gen- 

 erally find no market, but are ideal for 

 home consumption. 



Other fruits for home consumption 

 and occasionally for the market are 

 mulberries, wild blueberries, huckle- 

 berries, raspberries, blackberries, and 

 (in the Northeast and Lake States) 

 wild cranberries. A large amount of 

 blueberries as well as huckleberries 

 come from wild plants, in the Northern 

 and New England States chiefly, but 

 also from the Middle Atlantic, Appa- 

 lachian, and Southern States. 



Wild grapes and wild cherries sel- 

 dom find a market as such, but those 

 fruits provide the sources for home- 

 made jams and jellies and wines. The 

 jams and jellies make good items for 

 roadside markets. 



Mistletoes are flowering parasites. 

 The dwarf mistletoe of the West is 

 very destructive of the host pines on 

 which it grows, but the larger mistle- 

 toe, used for Christmas decorations 

 and common in the South, is less dam- 

 aging to the hardwoods on which it 

 grows. The whole plant is harvested 

 stems and leaves, with or without the 

 flowers or fruit. Sprigs with fruit on 

 them generally bring the higher prices. 



Holly, a favorite Christmas green, 



provides a seasonal livelihood for many 

 woodland owners. An attractive forest 

 or ornamental tree, it can be ruined by 

 overzealous cutting, although it is a 

 hardy tree in its adapted range and 

 has few insect and disease enemies. 

 For commercial cuttings, special care 

 must be taken to prune individual trees 

 lightly. The crops should be harvested 

 with tree trimmers not an ax, saw, or 

 corn knife. Cuts should be made at 

 junctions of main and lateral branches ; 

 the cuts should be smooth and clean. 

 Generally, trees do not produce ber- 

 ries until they are about 10 years old, 

 and then only the female ones. A spe- 

 cial warning about holly: Country 

 people should cut holly only on their 

 property; city people should buy holly 

 branches from reputable dealers who 

 can give assurance that no vandalism 

 was involved in gathering them. 



Mushrooms are classified as a fruit 

 crop because the stem and cap, which 

 are harvested and eaten, are really the 

 fruiting body of a ground fungus. 

 Mushrooms are exceedingly rapid in 

 growth; they spring up overnight fol- 

 lowing a spring or fall rain. If they are 

 not picked within 24 hours, they gen- 

 erally start to decay. When they occur 

 in small quantities, they provide food 

 for the landowner's table. In greater 

 amounts, they may be sold to local mar- 

 kets or provide another item for the 

 roadside stand. It is important that the 

 harvester learn to identify the poison- 

 ous and nonpoisonous varieties. 



WE HAVE SEEN (mostly by example, 

 for there are many other salable for- 

 est products) how wide a scope a small 

 forest presents. By proper husbandry, 

 its yields and values can be increased. 



No plant in the forest is too small to 

 be considered; no part of the plant is 

 too insignificant to find an attractive 

 market or home use. The secret of suc- 

 cess in the management of small wood- 

 lands may be summed up as follows: 

 Find out what the land is growing and 

 is capable of growing; discover or de- 

 velop a use and market for it; learn 

 what the plant needs for its best devel- 



