354 OUR WOODLAND TREES. 
though bitter, and unfit for human food, are of 
some value for other purposes. They are eaten by 
deer and by sheep, both of which take them readily, 
and by horses. They are believed to impart a rich 
flavour to the flesh of sheep, which eat them largely. 
The nuts are ground for horses, and also used for 
them as medicine, and hence, according to a popu- 
lar belief the common name of the Tree, although 
similar names are not unfrequently applied to other 
vegetable productions which are not desirable for 
human food. When boiled, the nuts have been 
sometimes given to poultry: as a powder mixed 
with one-third of its bulk of wheaten flour, it is 
said to make more excellent paste than wheaten 
flour alone ; and in the jelly formed from the nuts 
in a decayed state a sort of soap has been furnished. 
As material for packing-cases the wood of this 
Tree finds a not very exalted use. The bark has 
found employment as a medicine as well as for 
tanning, and for the manufacture of a yellow 
die. 
But though commanding admiration by its 
shape and size, rising with a spreading head of 
folage, and with an erect trunk to a height some- 
