Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1884-05-17
MAST.
It's Importance as a Winter Food for
Stock. r
Its Money Value Represents Millions
,t to Tennessee Farmers.
Nashville Banner.

Nashville Banner.
But few people residing in this rich
section of the country, dependent on
agriculture for living, can appreciate
the value of "mast." In the upland
counties it is looked for, and its extent
estimated with far more solicitude than
record the extent and value OF fruit.
A failure of mast in those counties
means no loss of luxuries, but it means
want of the necessaries of life, for up
on it the stock depends not only for
sustenence but for fattening purposes.
The mast>bearing trees are watched
closely, and long before we know the
failure or success of our fruit crops,
the people there know whether there
is a failure or chit" Of the mast. It's
value is simply immense. Many things
are heralded throughout the country
by the press dispatches which does not
approach in Importance the interest
felt in mast, yet few people in certain
localities even know the meaning of
the word, or if known, its value is not
appreciated, 1t means the gain or
loss of millions of money. In Ten
nessee, for example, the mast.pro-
ducing counties are ten times more
numerous than those depending on the
plow for keeping stock, All over the
mountainous districts Of East Tennes>
see, the entire extent Of the Cumber-
land plateau, the Rim counties of Mid
die Tennessee, and the great slope of
West Tennessee are more or less de-
pendent on the mast for fattening hogs
and cattle, and for their keep through
the winter months until grass comes.
A person travelling through that sec.
ton can readily mark the difference
between mast year and failure.
When mast "hits," stock come out of
winter fat and sleek; but when it fails
a great proportion succumbs to the
chilling winds of March. The mum.
bers and value Of cattle can be better
estimated by an examination into the
condition of the mast>producing trees
and shrubs than by any other method.
The first thing denizen of that Sec
ton does in the spring is to look close
ly into the buds Of the oak, chestnut,
beach, and other mast trees, just as we
examine the fruit buds of our apple
and peach trees.
Mast does not confne itself to the
above mentioned trees, but includes a
great variety of the forest growth.
The different varieties of oak stand
first in Importance, and it is singular
how providence cares for the poor
dumb brutes by providing that some
acorns are palatable as soon as they
fall, while others cannot be eaten until
cooked by the great artist, nature, who
uses frost and ice for its purposes in.
stead of fire. The fruit of many oaks
are not only unpalatable in the early
winter, but actually injurious, so that
stock will not eat them, and are thus
forced, as it were, to lay up store fol-
the later winter, and then, after re-
peated freezings, they are as good a.
the EARLIER white oak acorns. On the
slopes of the Rim counties and in the
silurial forests of the Basin, the beach
rivals, in value, the oak, or rather il
the only mast that approaches the oaE
in extent. Beechnuts are more nutri
tious than acorns and fatten hog
quicker, but containing an excess o
nitrogen, they do not last SO well
They are rich in oil and take the plac,
OF the chestnut on the uplands.
The people who buy chestnuts OF
the fruit stands OF our cities do no
know that in many sections they con
stitute the principal support of hogs
and that the larders of thousands o
people are more or less dependent up
on this delicious nut. Yet so it is, ant
a failure of the chestnuts means shor
rations to many in bacon. The chin
quapin pronounced chinkapin) 0
dwarfed chestnut of East Tennessee
is another important adjunct of tn
mast. 1t grows like the hazlenut, o.