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 
