Many A Square
Mile Has Already Been Denuded In Supplying These Demands, But, So
Great Is The Area Covered By It, No Appreciable Loss Has As Yet Been
Sustained.
It is pretty generally known that this tree yields edible
nuts, but their importance and excellence as human food is infinitely
greater than is supposed.
In fruitful seasons like this one, the pine
nut crop of Nevada is, perhaps, greater than the entire wheat crop of
California, concerning which so much is said and felt throughout the
food markets of the world.
The Indians alone appreciate this portion of Nature's bounty and
celebrate the harvest home with dancing and feasting. The cones,
which are a bright grass-green in color and about two inches long by
one and a half in diameter, are beaten off with poles just before the
scales open, gathered in heaps of several bushels, and lightly
scorched by burning a thin covering of brushwood over them. The
resin, with which the cones are bedraggled, is thus burned off, the
nuts slightly roasted, and the scales made to open. Then they are
allowed to dry in the sun, after which the nuts are easily thrashed
out and are ready to be stored away. They are about half an inch long
by a quarter of an inch in diameter, pointed at the upper end, rounded
at the base, light brown in general color, and handsomely dotted with
purple, like birds' eggs. The shells are thin, and may be crushed
between the thumb and finger.
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