south into northern Few Mexico and northern Arizona. They occur 

 only at quite high altitudes and are hardly suitable for erosion 

 control practices. They are frequently used, however, for ornamen- 

 tals for street, park and cemetery plantings at altitudes of 4,000 

 feet or less as one goes north. The species are Picea oungens, the 

 Colorado Blue Spruce, and P. enge lmanni i , the En.glene.nn Spruce. 



Abies spp. Two true Firs occur in the Southwest, - A. lasi ocarpa. 

 extends from Alaska southward into the Cascades of southern Oregon 

 and in the Rockies to the mountains of northern Arizona and northern 

 New Mexico, In the southern portion of its range it is frequently 

 called the Arizona Fir (A, arizonica). A. c one o lor, or common "kite 

 Fir, occurs from northern~"Ore^orT'T^nt"o Lower California and from 

 southern Colorado along the Pockies into northern Mexico. The latter 

 is frequently a very large tree, sometimes 250 feet high and six feet 

 in diameter. It is frequently used for ornamental, plantings and may 

 prove of value for erosion control work to a limited extent at alti- 

 tudes of 5,000 feet or more. A lasiocarpa grows only at high alti- 

 tudes in our range. 



*Pinus edulis. The most common of our Pinon pines is J_j_ edulis. 

 It extends from the Ayoming line into western Texas and northern 

 Mexico and is scattered over most of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Few 

 Mexico, It, with the other pinon s and junipers, makes up most of 

 the woodland type of forest in the Southwest, Too much has been writ- 

 ten about the pinons to call for reiteration here. Perhaps few 

 realize, however, the enormous economic importeJice of these trees, - 

 from the standpoint of water and. wind erosion control, fire wood, 

 posts, and most of all, nuts, Fhcn one notes a few packets of the 

 shelled nuts in conf ectionorv stores or a bushel or so of the un- 

 shclled nuts in the grocery store, he commonly fails to multiply 

 these small amounts in his mind by the thousands of stores in which 

 they occur. Many car-loads are shipped each year to markets in the 

 east, to say nothing of the quantities consumed by school children 

 locally. The so nuts are collected by the Indians almost solely and 

 sold to traders at prices ranging from five to ten cents per pound. 

 As retailed the price is much greater. 



l hc pinon is not being grown extensively in our nurseries 

 for the reason that where it is most needed it is usually present. 

 It is likely, however, that very gradually superior strains will be 

 planted either for ran id growth or for superior nuts. Of all the 

 pinon nuts on the market it is safe to say SO;* are from Pinus edulis. 

 Other species may be better for the production of big nuts. Samples 

 brought from southern Utah indicate that P. monophylla produces a 

 much larger nut, at least in some localities. Empty "shells found 

 below a tree on Superstition Mountain were easily three times as 

 large as the normal pinon nut. The 3 ingle- leaf Pinon (P. monophylla ) , 



