246 ROTATION OF TREES. [CHAP. XVIII. 



nial offices themselves. The sacrifices, therefore, made by the 

 planter, are comparatively small, since he has a well-trained es 

 tablishment of servants, and his habitual style of living is so free 

 and liberal, that the expense of a few additional inmates in the 

 family is scarcely felt. Still there is a warm and generous open 

 ness of character in the southerners, which mere wealth and a 

 retinue of servants cannot give ; and they have often a dignity of 

 manner, without stiffness, which is most agreeable. 



The landed proprietors here visit each other in the style of 

 English country gentlemen, sometimes dining out with their 

 families and returning at night, or, if the distance be great, re 

 maining to sleep and coming home the next morning. A con 

 siderable part of their food is derived from the produce of the 

 land ; but, as their houses are usually distant from large towns, 

 they keep large stores of groceries and of clothing, as is the 

 custom in country houses in some parts of Scotland. 



Near the house of Hopeton there was a clearing in the forest, 

 exhibiting a fine illustration of that natural rotation of crops, 

 which excites, not without reason, the surprise of every one who 

 sees it for the first time, and the true cause of which is still im 

 perfectly understood. The trees which had been cut down were 

 full-grown pines (Pinus australis), of which the surrounding 

 wood consists, and which might have gone on for centuries, one 

 generation after another, if their growth had not been interfered 

 with. But now they are succeeded by a crop of young oaks, 

 and we naturally ask, whence came the acorns, and how were 

 they sown here in such numbers ? It seems that the jay (G-ar- 

 rulus cristatus) has a propensity to bury acorns and various 

 grains in the ground, forgetting to return and devour them. The 

 rook, also (Corvus americanus), does the same, and so do some 

 squirrels and other Rodentia ; and they plant them so deep, that 

 they will not shoot unless the air and the sun s rays can pene 

 trate freely into the soil, as when the shade of the pine trees has 

 been entirely removed. It must occasionally happen, that birds 

 or quadrupeds, which might otherwise have returned to feed on 

 the hidden treasure, are killed by some one of their numerous 

 enemies. But as the seeds of pines must be infinitely more 



