158 Wool-bearing Cows and Oxen.[ACN

1, Whether it be not of the higheſt public conſequence, that, there ſhould be executed, if poſible, upon ſome general arrange- ment by the legiſlature, a MINERAL SURVEY of the whole terri- tory of Grear Britain and Ireland?

2. Whether every intelligent landholder, deſirous to improve the value of his eſtates, ought not, in common ſenſe, to have a mineral ſurvey of them cxecuted?

3. Whether there be, at preſent, any mineralogiſt of reputar tion, who is diſpoſed to a&, profeflionally, as.a MINERAL SUR- VEYOR, and whoſe aſfiſtance I might, of courle, aſk, for the ſurvey of my ſmall territory?

Bates's Hotel, Adelphi, T. am, Sir, yours, Œe.

Sept. 6, 1801. Re

WOOL-BEARING COWS AND OXEN. To the Editor of the Commercial and Agricultural Magazine. DIR,

AM but an illiterate perſan. My intentions are, however,

good; and I feel a ſtrong deſire to be better informed con- cerning moſt. objeds of utility, than the courſe of my life has hitherto given me opportunity to be. Allow me, then,'to trouble you with an enquiry, which may, perhaps, be a very fooliſh one but to which, if it deſerve any notice, one or another of your cor- reſpondents may perbaps oblige me with a fatisfactory anlwer?

To increaſe the quantity, and improve the quality, of our Britiſh wool, 1s juſtiy held to be an objc& of irfinite importance towaid the preſervation of a manufa@ure which has been, for ages, our fſlaple branch of induſtry and traffflc, I learns with pleaſure, that the Spaniſh ſheep which have been, for that end, introduced into this country, are likely, under proper manage=- ment, to thrive, and multiply, and affford wool equally fine, as that which we now have from Spain. It is only in the leanneſs of their carcaſes and in being ſubject to the foot-rot, that they, in any degree, diſappoint our wiſhés.

But if it were poſſible to procure a breed of cows and OXEN that ſhould furniſh a material for woollen yarn; would not even the bâáre poſlbility deſerve the hizheft attention, among the other projeâs for improving the rural œconomy of this country L

Now, Sir, I happened, lately, to be preſent at a converſation, in a public room, among ſome frangers, ſeemingly perſons of

reat information, who mentioned, that there is“ in the foreſts of North America, a ſpecies of WILD CATTLE, A4 conſiderable part of whoſe bodies is covercd with wool, or with a wool-like hair, and of which there is no reaſon to ſuppoſe that they are either incapable of being tamed, or unfit to live» thrive, and pra- pagate in this climate.”/

What I wiſh, therefore, to enquire, is, whether there be, in America, any cattle of this ſort?—Whether they be capable of domeſtication, or have ever, in any inſtance, been domeflticated?