THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



fruits or fruits containing winged seeds, and those 

 with succulent fruits containing small seeds are best 

 adapted for distribution, and in the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere they are the most abundant types. The 

 Oak, strange as it may sound, is much distributed by 

 water-fowl that swallow the acorns and eject them 

 whole. All nut-like fruits are much sought after by 

 squirrels and other rodents who store them and thus 

 help to distribute them, for though they take heavy 

 toll they seldom devour all. Nevertheless, trees 

 which bear a nut-fruit are handicapped in the strug- 

 gle for existence, and sometimes one thinks that 

 Mother Nature made a mistake when she evolved 

 this particular kind of fruit. However, man, as 

 well as rodents, should be thankful for some of these 

 fruits supply him with wholesome food. 



In the case of succulent fruits man has from the 

 dim and distant early days striven to improve their 

 size and flavour, and his efforts have been abun- 

 dantly rewarded. In a subsequent chapter I treat of 

 these so we may dismiss them for the moment. With 

 nut-fruits the story is different though undoubtedly 

 primitive man ate the acorn, walnut, hazel-nut, 

 hickory, pecan, and pine-nut long before he did 

 succulent fruits. 



The acorn has fallen into disfavour though that of 

 Quercus ballota is still eaten by the peasants in Spain 

 i74 



