340 PLANTS USED BY INDIANS OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CAL, 
fat content far exceeds that of the almond and is nearly equal to that 
of the hickory nuts. The calorific power exceeds that of the chestnuts, 
filberts, cocoanuts, Brazil nuts, almonds, and a few other nuts. An 
Englishman who had had considerable experience in fattening hogs for 
the British market estimated that if a hoe is fed a peck of acorns, 
together with a little bran, it will increase a pound a day for two 
months together. The same authority states that horses, cattle, and 
sheep may be taught to eat acorns, and that chickens eat them readily 
after they have been softened by boiling. An extensive, interesting, 
and very satisfactory experiment in fattening hogs with acorns was 
made in L898 by G. W. Carver, director of the Tuskegee Agricultural 
Experiment Station, Tuskegee, Ala. One great advantage in their 
use In France ts the production of a quality of lard which is especially 
esteemed in large factories for absorbing the odor of flowers. In this 
‘apacity it becomes the vehicle of the most delicate perfumes. 
In England crude acorns have occasionally been condemned as fatal 
to hogs, but no such complaint has to my knowledge been made any- 
where in California. It would seem, therefore, that the tannin and 
bitter substance can be ingested by these animals with impunity. It is 
difficult, however, to conceive why they should not be affected thereby, 
and it seems certain that if such good results are obtained by allowing 
the animals to eat the crude nuts, far better results would accrue if 
‘are were taken to grind the acorns and to leach out their objection- 
able constituents. 
For human food different kinds of acorns have been especially 
esteemed in ancient Greece and in France, and are now used throughout 
the Mediterranean region, Mexico. and the southern United States. 
In most cases, only the sweet acorns, which contain little or no tannin, 
have been used, and in no case, except in California, so far as [ have 
learned, has any extensive manufacturing process been adopted to 
prepare them for eating. One process was, however, employed in the 
eastern United States in carly times. The nuts were boiled by the 
Indians in water containing the ash of maple wood, in order to extract 
the oil, which was used with their meat. Ta Spain and Ttalv, accord- 
ing to Memimo,' sweet acorns are used by the poorer people to the 
extent sometimes of 20 per cent of their total food. The tannin is not 
extracted and the nut is not even reduced to a fine meal for better or 
more complete digestion. © Nutrition experiments made on men showed 
that over LO percent of the acorns passed undigested in small fragments 
into the feces. Much of this loss and the consequent deficiency in 
food value is unquestionably due to the lack of proper preparation, 
Its value as a fattener was admitted. 
All kinds of acorns are appreciated by the Indians of Mendocino 
'Memmo, Giovanni, The Alimentation of Individuals of Different Social Condi- 
tions (trans.). Ann. d. Ist. dig. sper. d. Univ. di Roma, n. ser. vol. d. 1804. 
