from the bases of these stems, whilst buds are depe generated at the opposite extremities, as in the cases I have mentioned respecting trees. Many naturalists have supposed the fibrous roots of all plants to be of annual duration only; and those of bulbous and tuberous rooted plants certainly are so; as in these nature has provided a distinct reservoir for the sap which is to form the first leaves and fibrous roots of the succeeding season; but the organization of trees is very dif. ferent, and the alburnum and bark of the roots and stems of these are the reservoirs of their sap during the winter. When, however, the fibrous roots of trees are crowd. ed together in a garden-pot, they are often found lifeless in the suc. ceeding spring; but I have not observed the same mortality to occur, in any degree, in the roots of trees when growing, under favourable circumstances, in their natural situation. . I am prepared to offer some observations on the causes which direct the roots of plants in search of proper nutriment, and which occasion the root of the same plant to assume different forms under different circumstances; but I pro. pose to make those observations the subject of a future communica. tion." On the Effects of Westerly Winds in raising the Level of the Brit. ish Channel. By James Rennel, Esq. F. R. S. [From the same. IN the Observations on a Cur. rent that often prevails to the West. ward of Scilly," which I had the honour to lay before the Royal So ciety many years ago, I slightly mentioned, as connected with the same subject, the effect of strong westerly winds, in raising the level of the British Channel; and the escape of the super-incumbent wa. ters, through the Strait of Dover, into the then lower level of the North Sea. The recent loss of the Britannia East India ship, captain Birch, on the Goodwin Sands, has impressed this fact more strongly on my mind; as I have no doubt that her loss was occasioned by a current, produced by the running off of the accumu lated waters; a violent gale from the westward then prevailing. The circumstances under which she was lost, were generally these: The In January last she sailed from her anchorage between Dover and the South Foreland, (on her way to Portsmouth,) and was soon after assailed by a violent gale, between the west and south-west. thick weather preventing a view of the lights, the pilot was left entirely to the reckoning and the lead; and when it was concluded that the ship was quite clear of the Goodwin, she struck on the north-eastern extemity of the southernmost of those sands. And this difference between the reckoning (after due allowance being made for the tides) and the actual position, I conclude was owing to the northerly stream of current, which caught the ship when she drifted to the back, or eastern side of the Goodwin. The fact of the high level of the M. Mirbel's Traité d'Anatomie, &c. &c. Dr. Smith's Introduction to Botany. Phil Trans. for 1805. Channel Channel, during strong winds, between the W. and S. W., cannot be doubted, because the increased height of the tides in the southern ports, at such times, is obvious to every discerning eye. Indeed, the form of the upper part of the chan. nel, in particular, is such as to receive and retain, for a time, the principal part of the water forced in; and as a part of this water is continually escaping by the Strait of Dover, it will produce a current; which must greatly disturb the reckonings of such ships as navigate the Strait, when thick weather prevents the land, or the lights of the Foreland, and the north Goodwin, from being seen. I observe in a new publication of Messrs. Lawrie and Whittle, intitled "Sailing Directions, &c. for "the British Channel, 1808," that throughout the Channel it is admitted by the experienced persons whom be quotes, that strong S.W. winds " cause the flood-tide to run "an hour, or more, longer than "at common times:" or in other words, that a current overcomes the ebb tide a full hour: not to mention how much it may accelerate the one, and retard the other, during the remainder of the time.* It is evident, that the direction of the current under consideration, will be influenced by the form and position of the opposite shores, at the entrance of the Strait; and as these are materially different, so must the direction of the stream be, within the influence of each side respectively. For instance, on the English side, the current having taken the direction of the shore, between Dungeness and the South Foreland, will set generally to the north-east, through that side of the Strait. But, on the French side, circumstances must be very different: for the shore of Bologne trending almost due north, will give the current a like direc tion, since it cannot turn sharp round the point of Grisnez, to the north-eastward; but must preserve a great proportion of its nor therly course, until it mixes with the waters of the North Sea. And it may be remarked, that the Bri tannia, when driven to the eastward of the Goodwin, would fall into this very line of current. There is another circumstance to be taken into the account; which is, that the shore of Bolonge presenting a direct obstacle to the water impelled by the westerly winds, will occasion a higher leve! of the sea there than elsewhere; and, of course, a stronger line of current towards the Goodwin. It must, therefore, be inferred that a ship, passing the Strait of Dover, at the back of the Good. win Sands, during the prevalence of strong W. or S. W. winds, will be carried many miles to the north. ward of her reckoning; and, if compelled to depend on it, may subject to great hazard from the Goodwin. be It will be understood, of course, that although the stream of current, alone, has been considered here, (in order to simplify the subject,) yet that, in the application of these remarks, the regular tides must It is also asserted, that in the mouth of the Channel, the extraordinary rise of tide, in stormy weather, is ten feet: that is, at common springs twenty, and in storms thirty feet. also be taken into the account. But from my ignorance of their detail, I can say no more than that I conceive that the great body of the tide from the Channel, must be subject to much the same laws as the current itself. The opposite tide will doubtless occasion various inflexions of the current, as it blends itself with it; or may absolutely suspend it; and the subject can never be perfectly understood with out a particular attention to the velocity and direction of the tides in moderate weather, to serve as a ground-work. Circumstances relative to Merino Sheep, chiefly collected from the Spanish Shepherds, who attend. ed those of the flock of Pouler, Lately presented to his Majesty by the government of Spain; and also respecting the Sheep of the flock of Negrette, imported from Spain by his Majesty in 1791. By Sir Joseph Banks, Presi. dent of the Royal Society of London, [From Part ii. Vol.vi. of Communications to the Board of Agriculture.] A considerable part of Estrema. dura, Leon, and the neighbouring provinces of Spain, is appropriated to the maintenance of the Merino flocks, called by the Spaniards Trashumantes, as are also broad green roads, leading from one province to the other, and extensive resting-places, where the sheep are baited on the road. So careful is the police of the country to pre serve them, during their journeys, from all hazard of disturbance or interruption, that no person, not even a foot-passenger, is suffered to travel upon those roads while the sheep are in motion, unless he belongs to the flocks. The country on which the sheep are depastured, both in the southern and the northern parts, is set out into divisions, separated from each other by land-marks only, without any kind of fences; each of these is called a Dehesa, and is of a size capable of maintaining a flock of about a thousand sheep, a greater number, of course, in the south country, where the lambs are reared, and fewer in the north country, where the sheep arrive af. ter the flock has been culled. Every proprietor must possess as many of these in each province as will maintain his flock. In the temperate season of winter and spring, the flocks remain in Estre madura, and there the ewes bring forth their lambs in December. As soon as the increasing heats of April and May have scorched up the grass, and rendered the pastur age scanty, they commence their march towards the mountains of Leon, and after having been shorn on the road, at vast establishments called Esquileos, erected for that purpose, pass their summer in the clevated country, which supplies them with abundance of rich grass; and they do not leave the mountains till the frosts of September begin to damage the herbage.. A flock in the aggregate is call. ed a Cavaña; this is divided into Messrs. Lawrie and Whittle's publication allows the tides in this quarter a velocity of one mile and a half per hour, at the springs; half a mile at the neaps. The Britannia's accident happened at dead neaps. as many subdivisions as there are thousands of sheep belonging to it; each sheep, besides being searmarked in the face with a hot iron when young, is branded after every shearing with a broad pitch brand, generally of the first letter of the name of the proprietor, and each subdivision is distinguished from the rest by the part of the sheep's body on which this mark is placed. By the laws of the Mesta, each Caraña must be governed by an officer called Mayoral; for each subdivision of a thousand sheep, five shepherds and four dogs are appointed. Some of these inferior shepherds obtain the office of Ra. badan, the duty of which is to give a general superintendance under the control of the Mayoral, also to prescribe and administer medicines to the sick sheep. At the time of travelling, and when the ewes are yeaning, one or two extra shepherds are allowed for cach thousand sheep. The number of Merino sheep in Spain is estimated by Burgoyne at 6,000,000; these of course must be attended by 30,000 shepherds, and 24,000 dogs at ordinary times, and they find occasional employment for 5 or 10,000 additional persons in the seasons of lambing and of travelling. In their journey, each subdivision is attended by its own shepherds and dogs, and kept separate as far as may be from all others. The duty of the dogs is to chace the wolves, who are always upon the watch when the sheep are on the road, and are more wily than our foxes; they are taught also, when a sick sheep lags behind unobserved by the shepherds, to stay with and defend it, till some one returns back in search of it. There are besides, in each subdivision,about six tame wethers, called Mansos; these wear bells, and are obedient to the voices of the shepherds, who frequently give them small pieces of bread; some of the shepherds lead, the Mansos are always near them, and this disposes the flock to follow. Every sheep is well acquainted with the situation of the Dehesa to which its subdivision belongs. and will at the end of the journey go straight to it, without the guid. ance of the shepherds; here the flock grazes all the day under the eyes of the attendants; when the evening comes on, the sheep are collected together, and they soon lay down to rest; the shepherds and their dogs then lay down on the ground round the flock, and sleep, as they term it, under the stars, or in huts that afford little sheiter from inclement weather; and this is their custom all the year, except that each is allowed, in his turn, an absence of about a month, which he spends with his family; and it is remarkable, that the fa milies of these shepherds reside en tirely at Leon. The shepherds who came with his Majesty's flock, were questionel on the subject of giving salt to their sheep; they declared that this is only done in the hottest sea son of the year, when the sheep are on the mountains; that in September it is left off; and that they dare not give salt to ewes forward with lamb, being of opinion that it causes abortion. It is scarcely credible, though it appears on the best authority to be true, that under the operation of the laws of the Mesta, which 4 confide ⚫onfide the care of the sheep to the management of their shepherds, without admitting any interference on the part of the proprietor, no profit of the flock comes to the hands of the owner, except what is derived from the wool; the carcases of the culled sheep are consumed by the shepherds, and it does not appear that any account is rendered by them to their em. ployers, of the value of the skins, the tallow, &c.; the profit derived by a proprietor from a flock, is estimated on an average at about one shilling a head, and the produce of a capital vested in a flock is said to fluctuate between five and ten per cent. the palate as it is in this; we have our lamb-fairs, our hog-fairs, our shearling-fairs, our fairs for culls, and our markets for fat sheep, where the mutton, having passed through these different stages of preparation, each under the care of men, whose soil and whose skill is best suited to the part they have been taught by their interest to assign to themselves, is offered for sale, and if fat and good, it seldom fails to command a price by the pound, from 5 to 10 per cent. dearer than that of beef. In Spain, they have no such sheep-fairs calculated to subdivide the education of each animal, by making it pass through many hands, as works of art do in a manufacturing concern, and they have not any fat sheep markets that at all resemble ours; the low state of grazing of Spain ought not therefore to be wondered at, nor the poverty of the Spanish farmers; they till a soil sufficiently productive by nature, but are rob. bed of the reward due to the occupier, by the want of an advantageous market for their produce, and the benefit of an extensive consumption; till the manufactur. The sheep are always low kept. It is the business of each Mayoral, to increase his flock to as large a number as the land allotted to it can possibly maintain: when it is arrived at that pitch, all further increase is useless, as there is no sale for these sheep, unless some neighbouring flock has been reduced by mortality, below its proper number; the most of the lambs are therefore every year killed as soon as they are yeaned, and each of those preserved is made to sucking and mercantile parts of a comtwo or three ewes. The shepherds munity become opulent enough to say, that the wool of an ewe, that pay liberal prices, the agricultural brings up her lambs without assist. part of it cannot grow rich by ance, is reduced in its value. selling. At shearing time the shepherds, shearers, washers, and a multitude of unnecessaryattendants, are fed upon the flesh of the culled sheep; and it seems that the consumption occa. sioned by, this season of feasting, is sufficient to devour the whole of the sheep that are draughted from the flock. Mutton in Spain is not a favourite food; in truth, it is not in that country prepared for VOL. LI. That the sole purpose of the journeys taken annually by these sheep, is to seek food in places where it can be found, and that these migrations would not be un dertaken, if either in the northern or thesouthern provinces, a sufficiency of good pasture could be obtained during the whole year, appears a matter of certainty. That change of pasture has no effect upon their 3 F |