330 
REV. M. C. H. BIRD ON ACORNS. 
the heavily fruit-and leaf-laden boughs for nearly forty-eight 
hours after they had been first, broken. 
It is difficult to estimate, even approximately the total 
number or weight of acorns produced by any given tree; but 
after the September gale I noticed that the ground beneath 
several roadside Oaks was so thickly strewn with acorns that 
they almost touched one another. These were all swept 
away by the leisurely roadmen during the following week, 
but on October 16th the road was again almost completely 
covered with fallen fruit. I found that a square foot of 
ground easily accommodated 180 average-sized acorns weigh- 
ing 1 lb. 14 oz. An Oak tree whose umbrage or shade area 
extends over 30 ft. square may, according to these figures, 
bear at least 162,000 acorns of 96 to the lb., or 30 bushels, 
weighing 15 cwt., which at 8d. per bushel would be worth £1. 
In ancient days the value of an Oak wood for pannage and 
shackage was sometimes estimated, I believe, by the number 
of swine that an average-sized tree in that grove would cover. 
Much damage resulted last autumn from cattle indulging 
too freely in acorns; in fact, acorn poisoning is an annual 
danger difficult to guard against in so well-wooded a district 
as this, where the hedgerow timber mainly consists of Oak 
trees. But the risk has been greater than usual this year, not 
merely on account of the heavier crop of fruit, but also from 
the fact that many green leaves were blown down at the 
same time as the acorns, which besides falling prematurely, 
in which condition they are said to be the more injurious, 
fell with cups and stalks attached. Both leaves and stalks and 
cups were thus consumed by the cattle to their greater danger, 
for these necessary adjuncts to the fruit are more highly 
charged with tannin than the acorns themselves. Valonia, 
which consists of the imbricated cups of Quercus AZgilops, a 
native of Asia Minor, Greece, and Turkey, contains 40 to 45 
per cent, of tannin : some 30,000 tons are annually imported 
to the United Kingdom, oak bark having materially 
