Letter: English acorns are inferior

RICHARD NORTH'S article ''Hitler law used against our oaks'' (20 November) has echoes of the myth that Brussels had decreed that British oak could not be used in Euro furniture ''because it had too many knots in it''! He has fallen into the same trap as the shock horror headlines of the tabloids, ''Now Euro-meddlers try to fell our oaks'' (Daily Express, 16 November).

The reality is that there has been, according to the Forestry Commission, a poor harvest in the stands of oaks in the UK which are guaranteed of high quality for professional growers. So, imports for professional purposes will be needed to bridge the gap - imports from Poland and Hungary which apparently are the only sources of OK acorns. I would not have thought the Nazi ''Forest Race'' Law of 1934 to which Richard North referred would have been drafted with Polish and Hungarian oaks in mind.

There is, of course, absolutely no reason why private individuals should not collect up acorns and use them for their own private purposes - even to grow oak plants from!

Bryan Cassidy MEP

Brussels