Page:Tree Crops; A Permanent Agriculture (1929).pdf/193

 "I wish to say that throughout the forest region of Texas which constitutes the eastern part of the state, the acorns furnish a very important part of the hog feed. As to the classes of this feed, there are two: namely, (1) from the white oaks, that is the oaks that mature this fruit in one year and furnish what people call 'sweet mast,' which is considered equal to the best of our cultivated grains as hog food. Among the oaks of this kind may be mentioned the post oak (quercus minor) because of its number and great fertility, and the white oak proper (quercus alba) because of the excellent quality and size of the acorns, as well as their abundance. (2) The second class is furnished by the black oaks, (q, trilobata, rubra, and marylandica) or those that mature the acorns in the second year from flowering. This is called the 'bitter mast.' It is very abundant, but is considered inferior because it gives inferior meat and lard of a dark color.

"These five trees, when full grown, are all heavy yielders of acorns. Those (the white oaks) that produce what is called the 'sweet mast' are especially abundant yielders in very nutritive food for hogs. Where the trees are properly thinned so as to develop freely and hence bear freely, an acre of land properly set with either the white oak or the post oak is almost equal to an acre of corn. The trouble in these forests is that the trees are prevented from producing fruit by being densely crowded. Many of them, therefore, develop no fruit at all, but act as a hindrance to others that are larger and would develop more fruit.

"There is no attempt made to manage the oak forest for this purpose, although management to that end would be very effective in increasing the amount of hog feed, and would consist simply of thinning the trees to a proper stand for bearing. This could be done without decreasing the amount of wood produced, because each tree, if given a larger space, would not only produce a larger crop of fruit, but would grow to a larger size.