DAIRY AND SEED IMPROVEMENT MEETINGS. I49 



The book will be thoroughly illustrated throughout and, it is 

 believed, will serve as a useful purpose in the hands of breeders 

 of Maine. 



3. The Control of the Sex Ratio. 



One of the primary objects for which the cooperative "record 

 project was inaugurated was to collect statistics bearing on the 

 question as to whether the proportion of males to females in 

 cattle could be influenced or controlled by the time of service 

 relative to the beginning of the period of heat. Some earlier 

 statistics collected by the Station appeared to indicate that there 

 was a possibility of influencing the sex ratio by paying attention 

 to this point. It was believed to be of such extreme importance 

 as to justify the careful study of the matter on the basis of 

 much more extended statistics. These statistics we have now 

 collected and analyzed and shall publish as soon as they can be 

 prepared for the press. In the meantime the Committee desires 

 to report now that, with the more extended statistics in hand, it 

 appears to be conclusively established that there is no definite 

 or permanent relation between the time in- the heat period at 

 which the cow is served and the sex of the offspring. The 

 apparent relation between these two factors, which is believed 

 by many breeders to exist and which our earlier statistics ap- 

 peared to indicate, seems now to be purely accidental and to 

 have arisen only because of the comparative meagerness of the 

 statistics on which the matter was discussed. 



4. Inbreeding. 



The investigations on the effect of inbreeding in cattle in 

 relation to productive qualities have been actively prosecuted 

 during the past year. Some preliminary work carried out in 

 191 5 seemed to show that in Jersey cattle there was a positive 

 relationship between the degree of inbreeding and productivity 

 in advancd registry cows. The nature of the relationship was, 

 that the closer the degree of inbreeding within certain limits the 

 higher the productivity. It seemed extremely important to de- 

 termine on much more extensive material whether this relation- 

 ship was general. This has involved the working out of a large 

 number of pedigrees which are now completed. It is hoped 

 that the report on this work may be published early in 1917. 



