1 76 IRambles witb IRature Students 



only a carpet of empty acorn-cups strewing the 

 ground beneath. 



In times of scarcity we should do well to imitate 

 the squirrels and store up our acorn crop, for 

 when dried, roasted, and ground into flour a not 

 unpalatable kind of coffee can be made of acorn 

 kernels. I can speak from experience, for some 

 years ago I had this coffee made, and used it as 

 a tonic beverage. I cannot say it had the aroma 

 or flavour of true coffee, but it made a fair substitute 

 for it, and it is believed to be wholesome and 

 strengthening. 



THE CEDAR OF LEBANON (Cedrns Libant] 



Towards the close of this month I always find 

 my great cedars covered with their cone-shaped 

 male catkins. I see now that they are just ready 

 to shed clouds of pollen ; but, plentiful as these 

 blossoms are, it is the rarest thing to be able to 

 discover any but male catkins ; the female ones 

 appear almost invariably to grow upon the upper 

 branches, where they are quite inaccessible. 



For fifteen years I carefully watched for these 

 small cones, wishing to observe them in their early 

 stage, but failed to find a specimen until a few years 

 ago, when one of my cedars obligingly produced 

 some fruit on the lower branches. The drawing 

 will show my readers the two kinds of blossom. The 

 yellow pollen-bearing catkins drop off in a few 

 weeks, whilst the fertilised cones remain, and 

 gradually increase in size until they are easily to 



