Evening star., 1943-12-10
This and That
By Charles E. TrdceDell.
BIRMINGHAM. Ala

Dear SIR.
IN our yard are five big oak trees:
our neighbors have four oaks. At
this time of the year. we sweep-sweep-
sweep-leaveS and acorns
This year there Is an unusually large
crop Of acorns. 1t looks as II the ground
was carpeted with solid layer of them.
"One day Mrs. Neighbor and I, out
sweeping the lawn, as usual, wondered
if any Of the animal kingdom liked
acorns for winter dinners.
I'VE have no squirrels in the COM
munity.
Yesterday I went out, leaf-raking
as usual and it sounded like light
rain falling.
Il looked up in the biggest tree. There
were dozens of blackbirds in the limbs
having grand feast
The shower I heard was acorns, all
neatly cut in two, as if they had been
sliced with a bread sIcer They fell
from the tree in halves.
Did the birds eat only the centers?
And is this fall custom among black
birds?
why did they halve the acorns?
Il wish somebody would tell me. As
they flew to other trees, noticed
several woodpeckers and one or two
bluejays in their wake.
Invited guests, I wonder?
Cordially, r. p"
The oaks, we believe, are the favorite
trees of all living creatures, including
man.
Certainly squirrels and birds prefer
them, especially the former.
II there are no squirrels in the vicinity
of oaks, it will be because they have
all been killed off. Nothing except
death could keep squirrels away from
oaks.
The kernel of the nuts, of course.
is what the birds are after. Whether
this is all the squirrels eat, we do not
know.
Jays liked to pack their jaws with
bits OF food, to carry away, both to eat
and to hide. In this way they are
responsible for tiding over many a
smaller bird in it's lean days, for the
bits OF food are hidden by the jaybirds
in the crevices of bark, where they are
found later by nuthatches, brown
creepers, and others.
The oaks were worshiped by the
ancients, as well they might have been.
The Druids used them as temples,
In a sense. The Greeks called them
trees of knowledge" (We believe it
was Socrates who gave them this name
In the old days, the oak wreath was
used on some Of the British coins, but
it was replaced by the lion.
In Europe the oak has long been re-
garded as typically British tree, al
though It's grows everywhere
There are about 300 species of oaks
in the world. with 55 species native to
North America
These oaks are broadly divided into
three groups, the white oaks. which
mature their acorns in one year: the
black oaks, which take two wears to
mature their acorns, and the evergreen
or live oaks, which retain their leaves
for two or three seasons.
1t is interesting to note that of the
various American oaks introduced into
Europe, the favorite has been the red
oak, which sometimes grows to a height
OF $50 feet, and lives to be 400 years old,
1t has, according to authorities, the
widest distribution in Germany of any
American hardwood tree. 1t was first
introduced in 1740. Since then many
hundreds of acres of this noble tree have
been planted and grown in Germany,
Belgium and England.
X
In the old days the oaks had more
use in medicine than today.
The bark was regarded as good sub
stitute for quinine, in various fevers,
especially when mixed with camomile
flowers.
They even thought that oak bark,
when finely powdered and inhaled, was
beneficial in consumption in its early
stages. 1t was said that working tan
ners were known to be particularly free
from this disease.
4 r