AMONG THE OAKS 115 



while measures are taken for natural regeneration 

 of the oak from seed. This is not usually diffi- 

 cult, because where crops of oak can be grown 

 with more profit than pine, fir, and larch, the soil 

 must be anything but poor in quality. 



Many of the self-sown oak and beech woods 

 are now found difficult to regenerate naturally. 

 Owing to the want of close cover the soil often 

 gets overgrown with grass or, worse still, with 

 moss ; and then a satisfactory crop of self-sown 

 seedlings cannot reasonably be expected. Soil-pre- 

 paration of some sort is in such cases absolutely 

 essential to enable acorns and mast to germinate 

 and establish themselves in the soil. Moreover, 

 the change in the conditions between the olden 

 and the present times must also be taken into 

 account. Most of the woods now mature date 

 back to a period when cattle and swine were 

 probably still largely driven into the oak and 

 beech woods for grazing and pannage ; and they 

 were in the vast majority of cases, no doubt, 

 the principal agents in obtaining a satisfactory 

 regeneration. The sharp hoofs of the cattle, 

 and the burrowing and wallowing of the swine 

 after satisfying themselves with mast, worked the 



