Tfie KURAL NEW-YORKER 
Value of the Old-time Acorn Crop 
In a roc cut issue you discuss the acorn 
question with reference to its food value 
for domestic animals. This calls to my 
mind a time long past. In 1854, when I 
was a lad on my father’s farm, we had 
the driest year perhaps that has >et been 
known in that State. The soil of my 
father’s farm was new and was the char¬ 
acteristic black rich prairie land. We 
succeeded in raising 20 bushels of corn 
per acre instead of the usual 75 or 80. 
Many of our neighbors had only half as 
much. Early in the season it was a grow¬ 
ing problem what would > become of our 
hogs. My father usually had of all sizes 
and ages 100 head or more. What could 
we do with so many hungry hogs beside 
the usual number of horned cattle, at 
least 25 in number, and half that many 
horses, besides fJO or 80 head of sheep? 
In the midst of our quandary it was dis¬ 
covered that there was a crop of mast 
never before equaled perhaps. There were 
all kinds of acorns, hickorynuts, walnuts, 
etc. My father owned 120 acres of the 
very best white, oak timber in that sec¬ 
tion of the country, but it was three 
miles from our prairie home. However, 
that was not a great obstacle, as we sim¬ 
ply drove all the hogs, big, little, old and 
young, to that oak forest. At that time 
hog raisers uniformly butchered their hogs 
and hauled them all dressed to the near¬ 
est pork-packing establishment which us¬ 
ually was not many miles away. About 
the middle of the Winter we got the hogs 
together and selected the fat ones, 50 or 
liO in number, and found them as fat as 
usual and sold them for the usual price, 
keeping the usual number for family use. 
I remember the question was fully dis¬ 
cussed as to the quality of the pork and 
lard, and it. certainly proved satisfactory. 
The sows and pigs were returned to the 
forest and remained tihere until late 
Spring and when returned to the farm 
were in fine order. Here was a practical 
test of the value of mast as a satisfactory 
fattening hog food. 
Other farmers in all parts of the coun¬ 
try did the same thing. In fact there was 
nothing else to do. < >u all sides around 
my father’s timber land there were hun¬ 
dreds of acres of like timber and many 
hundred head of hogs were fattened and 
wintered there. \\ e did not gather either 
acorns or nuts, but let the hogs do their 
own harvesting. We had the corn and 
oats enough to carry our horned stock 
horses and sheep through the Winter bv 
exercising great economy. 
At that time there were each Fall and 
.spring great numbers of wild pigeons, now 
known as passenger pigeons. That Fall 
there were simply untold millions of them, 
and for months they simply lived on white 
oak acorns. I have killed many a pigeon 
that had in its crop at the time three or 
four of these large acorns. How t'hat 
small bird could swallow these acorns, 
and stranger still how they could dis¬ 
solve the tough hard covering that ahvavs 
surrounded each acorn, was and is yet a 
puzzle to me. I had the great privilege 
of visiting one of the characteristic pigeon 
roosts, an experience that one could never 
forget. The roost was in a region covered 
with a growth chiefly of young oak trees 
up to eight or ten inches in diameter. 
Many of these trees wen* bent, over by 
the weight of pigeons on them until the 
limbs- actually touched the ground. A 
great many men from sections adjacent 
would visit the roost and with a long 
slender pole like 1 a fishing rod by going to 
the roost of <me of the trees it was easy 
to strike in the dark and kill several each 
tune and in some instances a basketful 
could be collected. < )f course when the 
tree was forcibly struck the pigeons would 
take wing and settle elsewhere nearbv. 
.I hen the small tree would spring back 
into a perpendicular position and the 
hunter would then by carefully groping 
around find many killed and ' wounded 
mids. J hose noble birds many years ago 
have entirely disappeared Whether tliev 
are extinct or have emigrated to some 
other country is a matter in dispute. 
I here is no question about the value of 
mast as a food for domestic animals, but 
where are now the. trees to produce that 
food . It will be a long cry from now to 
the time When our country will be refor- 
ested with mast-producing trees, especially 
'Vi- °f trees, the majestic white 
A. W. FOREMAN. 
Foot Rot 
On page 102, K. M. Z.. New York. I 
asks what will cure foul or foot rot in 
a valuable cow. I have never known the 
following remedy to fail, even in the worst 
cases: Get some pine tar and take a 
piece of bale rope or any coarse string 
about that size, and 20 inches long. With 
a crotch stick press it down in the tar. 
leaving two or three inches on each end 
clean to take hold of; raise up the foot 
and beginning at one end of string draw 
»t through between the toes so the tar is 
thoroughly applied to the diseased parts. 
■ sually two or three applications at in¬ 
tervals ot a week are all that will be re¬ 
quired. Anyone keeping cattle should 
always have a bucket of pine tar in the 
stable ready tor use. It is also excellent 
for horses that have sores from interfer- 
mg or any injury. georue w. lee. 
New York. 
497 
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Contagious Abortion 
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