MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 37, 21 June 1845, Page 1

MISCELLANEOUS.

TsCHERKESSIAN, LAMB SICINS, BIACK ShEEP Woot, &c. — I beg of you the opportunity and the medium of your excellent hebdomadal, to publish to the wool growers of the colony, a hint which I culled the other day, from the works f. r of the celebrated traveller and naturalist, Dr. [ Pallas. It may, or may not turn out a profitable "hint >it is fot them to judge and try — for me to fulfil a? duty.. The passage is taken from the Latin notes of the works of that gentleman, as they are translated by the late Dr. Guthrie, of Petersburgh. It is to this effect : — " The inhabitants of_the,lJkraiu,and Podojia, as soon as a lamb is dropped, in order to augment its beauty, and make it bring a higher price, sew it up in a sort of coarse linen shirt, so as to keep up a continued pressure on the wool. This coat is moistened daily with water, to make the wool soft and sleek, only loosening it from time to time,, as the animal increases in size ; but still it is kept sufficiently tight to effect the purpose in view, which is, to lay the wool in beautifully glossy ringlets, and thereby produce a delicate species of fur, in great request for lining cloaks awd morning gowns. By this treatment the fine soft wool which rises in the infancy of the lamb takes a handsome arrangement; and the animal is killed younger or older, according to the species of fur intended to be produced, from a short glossy nap like satin, only fit, from its thinness, for the purpose mentioned above, to a warm thick fur for a winter great coat. The first of these furs, in estimation and price, is a fine black that looks like silk damask ? an inferior black fur comes next, much thicker, for pelices or shubes, as we call the upper winter garb worn out of doors ; and the least in estimation is the whitish, except it be of a very pure colour and silky appearance, when it is a rival to the first, especially for night gowns, a very common dress, both morning and evening, amongst the Russians, particularly in the interior parts of the empire/* It is necessary to add to the above, that as soon as the lamb is invested in its new querpo it is taken from the ewe, and nourished with milk and the best herbage. The Germans have made similar trials with the Saxon breed of sheep, and succeeded admirably. Those gentlemen who have an interest in the boiling-down system, and are satisfied that the trade in tallow will eventually be a profitable one, might add considerably to their gains, by breeding that variety of sheep called the fatrump, the steatopyga of Pallas, the ovis laticaudata of other authors. It is reared in all the temperate regions of Asia, from the confines of Europe to the wall of China, comprehending most of the vast plains of Tartary. It constitutes the chief wealth of the Turcomans, Kirguises, Kalmouks, and Mongols : the number they breed is enormous. The same variety is reared also in Syria, Persia, Mauritania, the Cape of Good Hope, and other regions of Africa, but with some modifications of form ; indeed, according to Pallas, it is the most universal breed of sheep of any in the world. But it is only among the Kirguises where it arrives at the greatest perfection of size and abesity. The soil and the water of great part of southern Tartary would appear to be in some respects not unlike those of this country. The ground in. many places exudes a saline efflorescence, of which the sheep are exceedingly fond : but the pasturage is somewhat different to ours : it abounds in bitter and aromatic plants, such as camphorosma,

artemisia, and many species of salsola ; and the water is brackish and scarce, of which when they meet with it, the flocks drink voraciously. Pallas attributes all the peculiar qualities of this sheep to the pasturage and water, in addition to the mother's milk, which is most abundant, being increased and enriched by the same food. There is no doubt that saline and bitter pasturage is both the most nourishing and the most wholesome on which an animal can browse ; and if our large sheepowners would only take the slight trouble of scattering about the seeds, or planting the roots, of some of the European or Asiatic bittei and aromatic plants over their extensive runs, and drive the flocks to the higher grounds in the wet seasons, the scab and the rot would become unknown in the colony. I would recommend particularly gentian and wormwood. Water trefoil is also affirmed by the old writers on husbandry to be a perfect cure for the rot. Sheep are particularly fond of tormentil root, which they seek out wherever it is to be found : they have never been known to become effected with rot on pastures where this useful bitter grows. The expense would be trifling and the trouble slight, but the advantages incalculable : we should remember that we have children who are to succeed us. But to return to the sheep. Pallas justly considers that this species of food is the principal cause of their fatness and size, which is so augmented beyond that of all other varieties, that it is nothing uncommon for a sheep to weigh two hundred pounds ; the urojnjgium alone often weighing forty. In addition to these memoranda, if I might offer an opinion on another subject connected with grazing, I would recommend the rearing of black sheep to some extent in the colony. I haye J no doubt it would prove a profitable speculation, because I know that not long since, black wool was very much in request by English woolstaplers for the purpose of mixing with white, to produce the various shades of grey cloth so commonly worn in England and elsewhere ;• which, from the colour being natural, preserves the original shade unaltered by climate or wear. My object in recommending it, however, is solely for our own domestic uses, as it would answer well here for the same purposes as in England, namely, to form that useful mixture, improperly called Colonial Tweed, of various intensities of colour ; an article, by the way, which I ardently hope to see worn generally throughout the country, even by our worthy parsonsr wliom I should like to see turned once more into gray friars — as far as the wearing Colonial Tweed goes. England never began to thrive, or know her own value, until Edward 111. had the good sense to encourage the manufacture of the raw material at home : from that epoch, and a memorable one it is for England, may be dated the commencement of her commerce, and the foundation of her present wealth, power, and independence, &c, &c.-*~Maitland Mercury.

Charles Dickens. — We have been assured, on authority which we have no reason for doubting, that this celebrated writer contemplates a speedy arrival amongst us ; not to make a mere passing visit for the sake of taking notes — but as a settler, the notes he has already taken sufficing to introduce him as a capitalist. — Southern Queen, May 17.