630 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



wool had no other excellencies, 

 real or fanciful, its whiteness or 

 cleanliness would not recommend 

 it, as it is not, so far as I have 

 seen, remarkable for either. We 

 must lake things as God made 

 them, if we would have them ac- 

 cording to their kind ; art as 

 often fails as succeeds in attempts 

 to ameliorate. The lambs of the 

 Tunis breed are white, red, tawny, 

 bluish, and black, but the fewest 

 of the latter. All, except the 

 black, grow white in the general 

 colour of the fleece, though most 

 commonly coloured in spots ; and 

 either tawny or black generally 

 marks the cheeks and shanks, and 

 sometimes the whole head and 

 face. A perfectly white Tunisian 

 is as much deteriorated by this 

 singularity of departure from 

 stock, as is an Albino negro, who 

 is an anomaly in the African race 

 of men. 1 have seen some nearly 

 white sheep of this breed, and to- 

 lerably high-blooded, after three 

 or four crosses with this object ; 

 but I never liked them the better 

 for this circumstance, which I al- 

 ways considered a departure from 

 blood and race. The whiteness 

 of fleece was obtained from the 

 sires or dams of the crosses. The 

 sire commonly gives the character 

 to the progeny. I would not, 

 however, be understood to say, 

 that mixtures, or crosses with 

 well-selected sheep of other kinds, 

 are prejudicial. On the contrary, 

 I have had, and have seen with 

 others, fine sheep of half, three- 

 quarters, and seven-eighthsblood. 

 But not all of these crosses (espe- 

 cially where white fleece is the 

 object) shew the tail in perfec- 

 tion ; and I think many are defi- 



cient in some of the best qualities 

 of the sheep, and that in propor- 

 tion to defect of tail and white- 

 ness of fleece. 



Method of preserving and keeping 

 in vigour Fruit Trees, planted 

 in Orchards or Fields. 



[From Mr. Nicholson's Journal of 

 Natural Philosophy.] 



It has been observed, that the 

 numerous roots of the herbage 

 growing round fruit trees, recently 

 planted in fields and orchards, are 

 injurious to the vegetation of these 

 young trees, and their fruit is 

 smaller and inferior in quality, in 

 proportion to the quantity of the 

 herbage that covers their roots. 

 This is particularly the case with 

 peach trees. In Germany, to pre- 

 vent this, they surround the fresh 

 transplanted trees with the refuse 

 stalks of flax, after the fibrous 

 part has been taken ofi', spreading 

 it over the ground as far as their 

 roots extend ; and this gives them 

 surprising vigour. No weeds will 

 grow under this flax ; and the 

 earth remains fresh and loose. 



This experiment has been tried 

 on an old peach tree, languishing 

 in an orchard. Refuse flax stalks 

 were spread at its foot, and far 

 enough round tocover all its roots, 

 when it soon recovered its strength, 

 pushed out vigorous shoots, and 

 was loaded with larger and better 

 fruit than before. 



The leaves of trees falling in 

 autumn, may be employed in the 

 same way with advantage ; but 

 dry branches, or something else, 

 should be laid over them, to pre- 

 vent their being blown away by 



