44 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



taken to establish an efficient inspection system. The Department 

 stands ready to give such aid and cooperation as it properly can. 



ANIMAL HUSBANDRY. 



In recognition of the growing importance of the work carried on 

 by the Bureau of Animal Industry m the breeding and feeding of live 

 stock the i\jiimal Husbandry Office of that Bureau was designated as 

 the Animal Husbandry Division, beginning with January 1, 1910. 



Some promising animals are being obtained in the breeding experi- 

 ments with carriage horses in Colorado and Morgan horses in Vermont. 

 The wisdom of the purchases previously made of breeding animals 

 has been demonstrated, and some additional purchases were made 

 during the year. The young stock is passed on at intervals by a 

 board of survey to determine what animals should be retained for 

 the breeding experiments and what should be disposed of. At the 

 close of the fiscal year there were 71 animals in the Colorado stud and 

 30 in the Vermont stud. Experiments in breeding range sheep in 

 Wyoming are being continued with the object of improving the 

 quality and type of this class of sheep. Good results are being 

 obtained in experiments in breeding Holstein cattle in North Dakota 

 and in developing a milking strain of Shorthorn cattle in Minnesota. 



In the breeding experiments at the Bureau's experiment station at 

 Bethesda, Md., several additional zebra-ass hybrids have been 

 obtained. These are beautiful clean-limbed animals, and those now 

 in their second year are considerably larger than their dams, although 

 not as large as their sire. Extensive experiments in the breeding of 

 small animals for the purpose of studying inbreeding, heredity, and 

 similar problems have been continued. 



Investigations in beef production in Alabama which have been in 

 progress for six years indicate that with the eradication of the cattle 

 ticks this may be made a profitable business in the South, and that in 

 future the South may become the source of an important part of the 

 beef supply of the country. The profits in feeding several experi- 

 mental lots of steers ranged from $6.99 to $10.64 per head. 



POULTRY AND EGG INVESTIGATIONS. 



The cooperative experiments in poultry breeding and selection 

 at the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station are yielding results 

 which have an important bearing not only upon the breeding and 

 selection of fowls for egg production but also upon the broader 

 problems of breeding animals for production in general. The poul- 

 try-feeding experunents at the Bureau's experiment station have 

 been seriously interfered with by the reappearance of coccidiosis, 

 or white diarrhea, in the flock. Feeding experunents with cotton- 

 seed meal indicate that 30 per cent of this material is as high a pro- 



