52 The greater summer-leafing trees 



the Common Oak. Happily there are large areas in 

 which there is the right kind of soil, and many of the 

 poor clays and cold, hungry loams that were broken up 

 in better times might now be well planted with Oak. 

 Nothing that the wit of man could devise pays so well 

 as an Oak wood in many districts of Britain. Oak will 

 grow very well on fine rich loams, but the best quality 

 is grown upon soils which, although cool, cannot rightly 

 be classed as good loam. In my woods, and in the dis- 

 trict around, the Oak is as good in quality as has ever 

 been cut, although the ground it grows upon is saturated 

 in winter and, indeed, for a great part of the year. 



If we watch what goes on under a grove of Oaks after 

 a good year of acorns and in places not too much ex- 

 posed to creatures that store them away, we see a fine 

 vigour of growth from seed such as no other tree can 

 surpass. These, be it observed, are uncovered acorns, 

 and, seeing this, who need be afraid to take the simple 

 way with acorns ? A plan I have practised with success 

 is to scatter acorns over a field of likely ground and then 

 run the plough through the field to cover up the seed. 

 The acorns will thus be thrown into lines and protected 

 from the birds and other creatures during the winter. 

 They come freely, and, if not severely gnawed by vermin, 

 will be too many, but it is very easy to thin out the 

 weakest. The acorns should be from sound, fair-sized 

 trees often an easy matter to obtain, though in the same 

 place we have often found a curious diversity in their 

 size. In districts where rabbits abound it is absolutely 

 necessary to wire, to a height of 3^ feet and not more 

 than a couple of acres at a time, as larger areas are diffi- 

 cult to control. If this is not done the little seedling 

 Oaks will be eaten down (the larger Oaks are saved 



