ponsa_) had their oracles under it, but because they
sought for acorns: But 'tis in another{58:2} place where I shew you what
this acorn was; and even now I am told, that those small young acorns
which we find in the stock-doves craws, are a delicious fare, as well as
those incomparable salads of young herbs taken out of the maws of
partridges at a certain season of the year, which gives them a
preparation far exceeding all the art of cookery. Oaks bear also a knur,
full of a cottony matter, of which they anciently made wick for their
lamps and candles; and among the _Selectiora Remedia_ of Jo. Praevotius,
there is mention of an oil _e querna glande_ chymically extracted, which
he affirms to be of the longest continuance, and least consumptive of
any other whatsoever for such lights, _ita ut uncia singulis mensibus
vix ab sumatur continuo igne_: The ingenious author of the Description
of the Western Islands of Scotland, tells us, that (upon his own
experience) a rod of oak of 4, 5, 6 or 8 inches about, being twisted
like a with, boil'd in wort, well dry'd, and kept in a little bundle of
barley-straw, and then steep'd again in wort, causes it to ferment, and
procures yest: The rod should be cut before mid-May, and is frequently
us'd in this manner to furnish yest, and being preserv'd, will serve,
and produce the same effect many years together; and (as the historian
affirms) that he was shew'd a piece of a thick wyth, which had been kept
for making ale with for above 20 years, &c. In the mean time, the leaves
of oaks abundantly congested on snow, preserve it as well for wine, as a
deep pit, or the most artificial refrigeratory. Nor must we pass by the
sweet mel-dews, so much more copiously found on the leaves of this tree,
than any other; whence the industrious bees gather such abundance of
honey, as that instead of carrying it to their hives, they glut
themselves to death: But from this ill report (hastily taken up by
Euricius Cordus) our learned Mr. Ray has vindicated this temperat and
abstemious useful creature. Varro affirms, they made salt of oak ashes,
with which they sometimes seasoned meat, but more frequently made use of
it to sprinkle among, and fertilize their seed-corn: Which minds me of a
certain oak found buried somewhere in Transilvania, near the Salt-pits,
that was entirely converted into an hard salt, when they came to examine
it by cutting. This experiment (if true) may possibly encourage some
other attem