No. 6. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 437 



They are not breeders, but they simply keep the Jersey sires for the 

 purpose, and I wanted to know whether it was a good or bad prac- 

 tice. 



PROF. SHAW: Mr. Chairman, there is this feature of breeding 

 which is very important; take it in the raising of sheep. Now sup- 

 pose you began with a Lincoln sire instead of a Southdown, and 

 you kept your sheep in those mountains where the pasture is so short 

 that the sheep would have to skip about and go all day in order to 

 get enough pasture. You would probably find that you would suc- 

 ceed poorly in doing that thing, because the Lincoln cross would 

 give an impulse in the direction of size, which the food did not sus- 

 tain. You have got to give attention to the question of feed, that 

 you give to the animals when you set out to make these changes. 



MR HERR: I would like to ask the Professor if the first impregna- 

 tion in a heifer or cow will influence subsequent impregnation. 



PROF. SHAW: A first impregnation in a female does sometimes 

 influence succeeding impregnations; a first impregnation of a fe- 

 male does sometimes influence every succeeding impregnation; a first 

 impregnation in a female oftener does not influence any other im- 

 pregnation. The certainty of influence is stronger in proportion to 

 the prepotency of the sire causing the first impregnation. 



The SECRETARY: Then if we have been raising mules, we can 

 take the same mare and raise horses without having any fear that 

 they will be influenced by the original impregnation? 



PROF. SHAW: I would say that is probably the strongest illus- 

 tration of the influence of the first impregnation on the progeny. 

 In mules you will find that stronger than any other kind of breeding 

 that I ever heard of or read of. 



MR. HERR: I had a heifer bred of horned stock, and she at first 

 produced a calf with horns; at the next impregnation, she seemed 

 to have bred way back and produced a muley calf. 



PROF. SHAW: Did she go on in that way? 



MR. HERR: No, nothing subsequent to that that I know of. 



PROF. SHAW: That illustrated the influence that you referred to. 



MR. RODGERS: On the question of color, will it have any in- 

 fluence upon the color of a colt. Suppose at the time of the concep- 

 tion of a mare, an object of a certain color appears before the mare, 

 is there or isn't there danger that the progeny may inherit some 

 of those color characteristics? 



PROF. SHAW: I would answer yes; sometimes there is. The 

 danger is considerable, but of course in a great preponderance of in- 

 stances it does not follow, but it does follow often enough to make 

 the matter of importance on the part of the man who is breeding good 

 and valuable stock, for that sort of thing should be avoided. 



A Member: At what period of conception may that thing take 

 place, Professor? 



PROF. SHAW: Well, I imagine that it must take place about the 

 time of the conception. There are other influences, of course, such 

 as the influence of some sudden, mental impression on the mind of 

 the pregnant animal. That influence may take place a good long 

 while after conception. 



