THE OAK. 



49 



tioned of a single hog. The numerous herds of 

 swine which still continue one of the chief sources 

 of wealth to the rural population of Spain^ are 

 fed on the acorns of the evergreen Oak, which 

 abound in almost every part of the country. They 

 are also a grateful food to deer, both when wan- 

 dering at large in the forests, and when confined 

 in parks ; and are greedily eaten by pheasants and 

 partridges. Evelyn, recommending the extensive 

 planting of Oaks, says, " In this poor territory 

 (Westphalia) every farmer does by antient custom 

 plant so many Oaks about his farm as may sufiice 

 to feed his swine. To effect this, they have been 

 so careful, that, when of late years the armies in- 

 fested the poor country (both Imperialists and 

 Protestants), the single bishoprick of Munster 

 was able to pay one hundred thousand crowns per 

 mensem (which amounts to about twenty-five 

 thousand pounds sterling of our money), besides 

 the ordinary entertainment of their own princes 

 and private families. This being incredible to be 

 practised in a country so extremely barren, I 

 thought fit to mention, either to encourage or re- 

 proach us." The same author says, that a peck 

 of acorns a day, with a little bran, wdll make a 

 hog, 'tis said, increase a pound weight per diem 

 for two months together." 



The Rev. Mr. Robinson, in his Natural His- 

 tory of Westmoreland and Cumberland, says, that 

 ^ birds are natural planters of all sorts of trees, 

 dissemiinating the kernels upon the earth till they 

 grow up to their natural strength and perfection.' 

 He tells us, that early one morning he observed 

 ^ a great number of rooks very busy at their work, 

 upon a declining ground of a mossy surface, and 



E 



