50 



THE OAK. 



that lie ^veiit out of liis way, on pui^pose to view 

 their labour. He then found that they were 

 planting a grove of Oaks. The manner of their 

 planting was thus : they first made little holes 

 in the earth with their bills, going about and 

 about till the hole was deep enough, and then 

 they dropped in the acorn, and covered it with 

 earth and moss. The young plantation.' Mr. Ro- 

 binson adds, ^ is now growing up to a thick grove 

 of Oaks, fit for use, and of height for the rooks to 

 build their nests in. The season was the latter 

 end of autumn, when all seeds are fully ripe.' " * 



But the use of this fruit as an article of food is 

 not confined to the inferior animals : even man 

 has condescended to submit to the same humble 

 fare, and among the rest our own progenitors. 



The earliest notices which we have of the Oak 

 in Britain, are in the Saxon Chronicle, from 

 which it appears that Oak forests were chiefly 

 valued for the acorns which they produced, which 

 were generally consumed by swine and other 

 domestic animals, but, in years of great scarcity, 

 were eaten by man. ^Famines,' Burnet observes, 

 ' which of old so continually occurred, history in 

 part attributes to the failure of these crops. Long 

 after the introduction of AVlieat and Oats, and 

 Rye — nay, little more than seven huiidred years 

 since, when other food had in a great measure 

 superseded the use of mast, considerable reliance 

 was still placed thereon, and Oaks were chiefly 

 valued for the acorns they produced. In the 

 Saxon Chronicle, that year of terrible dearth and 

 mortality, 1116, is described as ^a very heavy 

 timed, vexatious, and destructive year,' and the 



* Jesse's Gleanings in Natural Histon-. 



