II. 1. THE OAK. 117 



with animals of the deer kind.* In our own native forests, 



the bear, the racoon, the squirrel, the wild pigeon, and the 

 wild turkey, delight in various kinds of acorn, and the hardly- 

 less wild swine fatten upon them. 



In England, whose oak forests are now one of the sources of 

 national wealth and naval supremacy, the tree was once prized 

 only for the acorns, which were the chief support of those large 

 herds of swine, whose flesh formed so considerable a part of the 

 food of the Saxons. "Woods of old," says Burnett, f "were 

 valued according to the number of hogs they could fatten, and 

 so rigidly were the forest lands surveyed, that in ancient records, 

 such as the Doomes-day Book, woods are mentioned of a "sin- 

 gle hog." The right of feeding hogs in woods, called Pannage, 

 formed, some centuries ago, cne of the most valuable kinds of 

 property. With this right monasteries were endowed, and it 

 often constituted the dowry of the daughters of the Saxon kings." 



The oak is peculiarly subject to attacks of insects, which 

 cause a great many varieties of galls ; some kind being found 

 on almost every part of the tree. These were once supposed to 

 be the fruit of the tree. The most important is that known in 

 commerce as the gallnut, and imported in large quantities into 

 this and other countries from Aleppo, and other ports in the 

 Levant. This is produced by the puncture of an insect called 

 by Olivier, in his travels, Diplolepis gallce tinctorial, which 

 deposits an egg in each puncture, which immediately causes a 

 swelling about the size of a walnut. The oak, on which this 

 takes place, is a small, shrubby species, called the Q. infectoria, 

 common in all parts of Asia Minor and Syria, and valuable 

 only for the gallnuts. Oak galls are among the most powerful 

 vegetable astringents known, and form the basis of many styptics 

 and astringent medicines. An infusion of them is said to be 

 the best antidote for an over-dose of ipecacuanha. % 



An insect found on a species of oak growing in the Levant, 



* Histoire des Chenes, p. 4. f Outlines, 532. 



% Burnett, Outlines, 535. Galls contain a peculiar astringent principle, called 

 gallic acid, which strikes a deep purple color, gradually becoming black with the 

 soluble salts of iron. This property renders them a valuable dye-stuff. Hence 

 their request with dyers. They also form the basis of common black ink. 



