ON THE OLD AND KEMAKKABLE ASH TREES IX SCOTLAND. 120 



that tlu'iu i.s the .same coniiecLiou between the ahsenee uf wocjI 

 from the belly and tlie possession of good milking qualities, and 

 tliat a large number of small IJaek "ticks" are generally fuund 

 on the faces of stylisli shec]*, wliile among blackfaced stock it 

 has been noticed that a (hm-coloured face and freedom from 

 blueness in the Heece have tlie same co-relation. The lesson to 

 be deduced from tliis is a very obvious one, — that care must be 

 taken, lest in tlie modification of one point the breeder is, at the 

 same time, effecting a com})h'te change in other characteristics 

 which he did not contemplate. 



Since 1860, as has been said. Cheviots have rather lost favour. 

 This is perhaps to be accounted for by the circumstance that 

 prior to that year their popidarity was so great as to cause tliem 

 to be placed on ground not adai)ted for tliem. I)lackfaced stock, 

 too, have latterly met a much better trade than they formerly 

 did, owing to the brisk demand that has sprung up for lilack- 

 faced ewe laml)S, and cast ewes for crossing ]~)urposes with 

 Leicester tups, as well as to the advantage which tlieir su})erior 

 hardiness gives them in a severe season. But should Cheviot 

 breeders, as a class, be wise enough to profit by the lessons which 

 ought by this time to have been brought home to them l)y their 

 exceptional experiences, it need not be long before a sheep of a 

 sufficiently hartly character is again the prevailing t}^e. The 

 breed will then be able to hold its own against its oiDponents. 



ON THE OLD AND REMARKABLE ASH TREES {FRAXINUS 

 EXCELSIOR) IN SCOTLAND. 



By RoBEET Hutchison, of Carlowrie. 



[Premium — The Gold Medal.] 



Continuing the catalogue of old and remarkable forest trees in 

 Scotland, initiated by the Highland and Agricultural Society 

 last year, by an exhaustive report on the Spanish chestnuts 

 (Castanca Vesca) of the country at the present day, the sub- 

 ject of this — the second chapter of the hitherto imperfectly 

 Nvritten literature and record of our old trees — is the Ash. 

 Probably next to the sycamore, if not equally with it, no tn^e 

 has been more generally ])lanted in Scotland than the ash 

 (Fraxinus excelsior). By many it is considered to be indigent)us 

 to the country. Loudon evidently thought so; b\it another 

 authority repudiated the idea, and based his conclusions upon 

 the circumstance, that in no instance have any traces of the 



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