110 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. known to bring these excrescences to maturity ; the white and imper- 

 ^"^^y^^ forated are the best ; of all which, and their several species, see Casp. 



Bauhinus, and the excellent Malpighius, in his Discourse de Gallis, and 

 other morbous tumours raised by, and producing insects, infecting the 

 leaves, stalks, and branches of this tree with a venomous liquor or froth, 

 wherein they lay and deposit their eggs, which bore and perforate these 

 excrescences when the worms are hatched, so as we see them in galls ^ 



What benefit the mast does universally yield, once in two years 

 at least, for the fatting of hogs and deer, I shall show upon another 

 occasion before the conclusion of this Discourse. A peck of Acorns 

 a day, with a little bran, will make a hog, it is said^ increase a pound 

 weight per diem for two months together. They give them also to oxen, 

 mingled with bran, chopped or broken ; otherwise they are apt to sprout 

 and grow in their bellies ^. Others say they should first be macerated 

 in water to extract their malignity, cattle many times perishing without 

 this preparation. Cato advises the husbandman to reserve two hundred 

 and forty bushels of acorns for his oxen, mingled with a like quantity 

 of beans and lupines, and to drench them well. But, in truth, they are 

 more proper for swine, and, being so made small, will fatten pigeons, 

 peacocks, turkeys, pheasants, and poultry ; nay, it is reported that some 

 fishes feed on them, especially the tunny, in such places of the coast 

 where trees hang over arms of the sea. Acorns, before the use of wheat 



^Linnaeus, Geoffrey, Scopoli, and Schaeffer have given us very miniite descriptions 

 of the different kinds of insects that deposit their eggs upon the leaves of the Oak, Alder, 

 Willow, Poplar, &c. 



The flowery leaf 



Wants not its soft inhabitants. Secure, 

 Within its winding citadel, the stone 

 Holds multitudes. But chief the forest-boughs. 

 That dance unnumber'd to the playful breeze, 

 The downy orchard, and the melting pulp 

 Of mellow fruit, the nameless Nations feed 



Of evanescent Insects. Thomson. 



s The food taken in by ruminant animals does not remain long enough in the stomach 

 and intestinal canal to occasion the germination of acorns, mast, or any kind of seed. 

 And even if such a luxuriancy of vegetation should take place, still no bad consequences 

 could possibly ai'ise from it. 



