A Capacious Crop A beneficent believer in posterity is afforesting
a small area of his property with oaks that he has himself grown from acorns. One little plot that has flourished was sown with acorns taken from the crops of birds. I have this week, merely for curiosity, followed his example. The stimulus was the discovery of no fewer than 21 acorns exactly taken from the crop of a young cock pheasant. The bird, as the pigeon, must have at least the digestion of an ostrich. None of the acorns showed the very least sign of being affected by their experienee. Incidentally afforesters appear to differ diametrically in their theories of the right method of transplanting oaks. One advises great care in not damaging the tap root. The other says that the safest course is to cut the tap root ; an arbiter is required. W. BEACH TuomAs.
Previous page
