A GARDEN DIARY 159 



MARCH 29, 1900 



\X7HO would believe in being seriously tor- 

 * * mented by a plague of oaks ? Such 

 nevertheless has been our lot for the last few 

 weeks. As plagues go they are certainly better 

 than locusts, not to speak of others that we 

 read of in the Bible. For all that we find 

 them quite troublesome enough. Although so 

 young that they were only dropped from the 

 parent bough last autumn, they already cling 

 to the ground with all the tenacity of their 

 ancestors ; the most exasperated pull causing 

 considerable fatigue to the puller, but producing 

 no effect whatever upon the youthful athlete. 

 Many of them are in the engaging condition of 

 being still attached to their natal acorn, which, 

 acting as a sort of grappling iron, effectually 

 hinders their being drawn up, even through the 

 soft soil of our flower -borders. Last year was 

 a most bountiful one for acorns, and every sty 

 in the neighbourhood revelled in plenty. Since 



