THE FARMER S MAGAZINE. 



31 



so desirable, waa for the landlords to pick out good tenants, 

 aud tlie tenants to pick out good landlords. To the tenant- 

 farmers he would sa}', " Don't take the land unless you get 

 good, leases." Then, and only then, they would attain to 

 that mutual interest which "Mr. Herbert had so well 

 depicted ; then they might begin to grow and flourish ; but 

 as long as men felt that the}' might be turned out any j'ear, 

 this happy state of things could not be brought about, 

 They were not all of old count}' families like Mr. Morgan 

 and Mr. Herbert : they were a money-making set of men 

 now-a-days ; but when they saw a man cultivate his farm 

 well, and get a prize here, and then another at the Tredegar 

 show, the landlord noticed the improvemeut, and stepped in 

 with a demand for a little more rent. There was always 

 some one ready to step in at once, if the tenant objected to 

 this course. This would not be the case if leases were 

 granted. He was glad to see an advertisement in the 

 county papers a few weeks ago, in which a very good farm 

 belonging to the Duke of Beaufort was announced to be let 



by tender. This had created an unpleasant feeling among 

 some of the farmers, for the fashion had been to run to the 

 parson or squire of the parish and get a character, such as 

 anybody could get. Then they went to the steward, 

 or agent, or to the landlord himself, and talked themselves 

 into the farms, and they could not be refused, because they 

 had such good friends here and there, who had taken upon 

 themselves to recommend men as tip-top tenants, without 

 knowing anything of their capabilities of farming at the 

 same time. If the farms were let by tender, the best 

 farmers would have the opportunity of going before the 

 landlord. Kissing would not then go by favour, and 

 the man of most merit would get the farm. The landlord 

 would be benefitted by this plan, because, from the number 

 of those who applied, he could select the best ; he would not 

 le bound to accept the highest offer, but could accept the 

 best man. This was the fashion in his county (Westmore- 

 land), and it was found to answer well. He wa^^ glad to see 

 Mr.Wyatt introducing the system in this part of the country. 



ON THE PRODUCTION OF THE SEXES AMONG SHEEP. 



[TRAXSLATED from the FRENCH OF THE ." JOURNAL D'AGRICULTURE PRATIQUE."] 



The interesting researches of Giron de Bazareingues 

 into generation, and particularly on the productioa of 

 the sexes amongst domestic aninaals, are now known 

 but by very few persons, having the misfortune to be of 

 too remote a date. On the other band, meeting with a 

 very varied reception on their appearance, they have 

 had the fate of all contested things — they have left in 

 the mind nothing but ideas undecided as to their value. 

 Zootechny, in fact, was too little advanced at that 

 period, for the art of animal-production to think of ex- 

 tracting from such a study facts for its use. 



Daily observations, conducted and arranged with the 

 calculation in hand, in a sheepfold of great importance 

 — th it of the Dishley-Mauchamp naerinos of M. J. M. 

 Viallet, at Blanc, in the commune of Gailhac-Toulza 

 (Haute-Garonne) — have enabled me to comprehend the 

 laws which, according to M. Giron de Bazareingues, 

 preside over the production of the sexes. If I am not 

 deceived, I have gained some new hints ; but, however 

 this may be, the reader will see in the following 

 notes only an exposition of facts, designed simply to 

 draw attention once more to this curious question. 

 And, as the establishment of any natural law whatever 

 hasi at all limes its utility even in practice, it is perhaps 

 desirable still to find it of importance in the economic 

 management of animals in certain positions. 



The general law which Girou de Bazareingues has 

 recognized on the subject of the procreation of the sexes 

 is as follows : The sex of the product would depend on 

 the greater or less relative vigour of the individuals 

 coupled. In many experiments purposely made, he has 

 obtained from the ewes more males than females, by 

 coupling very strong rams with ewes either too young 

 or too aged, or badly fed ; and more females than males, 

 by an inverse action in the choice of the ewes and rams 

 he put together. 



This law has developed itself regularly enough at the 

 sheepfold of Blanc, in all cases in which circumstances 

 of different vigour between the rams and ewes have been 

 observed in coupling them. Witness two striking 

 examples of it : 



In 1853, births, the issue of young ewes by a 

 Dishley-Mauchamp merino ram, extremely vigorous 

 and highly fed, produced 25 males, and 9 females only, 



or 71.73 per cent, of males, and 28.27 per cent, of 

 females. 



At a later period, the same ram, still in full vigour, 

 having been put to some ewes that had done nursing 

 their lambs — a period at which the ewe is found very 

 weak — there resulted, in 1853, 8 male births against 

 4 females; and in 1854, under similar circumsiances, 

 17 male against 9 female births. The two occasions 

 united yielded 65.78 per cent, of males, and 34.22 per 

 cent, of females. 



But the following fact has nothing in common with 

 those related by Giron de Bazareingues, and which has 

 been repeated, with small variation, every year, from 

 1853 — the period at which the observations I have noted 

 down began. 



This fact consists : 



1st, In that, at the commencement of the rutting 

 season, when the ram is in his full vigour, he procreated 

 more males than females. 



2nd, When, some days after, the ewes coming in 

 heat and in groat numbers at once, the ram was 

 weakened by a more frequent renewal of the exertion, 

 the procreation of females took the lead. 



3rd, The period of excessive exertion having passed, 

 aud the number of ewes in heat being diminished, the 

 ram also found less weakened, the procreation of males 

 in majority again commenced. 



In order to show that the cause of such a result is 

 isolated from all other influences, of a nature to be 

 confounded with it, I shall take the year 1855-6, in 

 which, by the effect of a degree of equilibrium of age and 

 vigour between the rams and ewes, the male and female 

 births were found, relatively with each other, nearly 

 upon a par in numbers, being 25 males to 23 females. 



The following table, drawn up with the dates of birth, 

 exhibits the facts in detail. The letter M. indicates the 

 male, and F. the female births. 



It will be seen that, the list of births having been di- 

 vided into three successive series, and in mean propor- 

 tions almost equal, we have for the first, of eleven days, 

 from the 27th December to the 8th January, 13 males 

 against 4 females ; for the second, of nine days, from 

 the 9th to the 18th January, 3 males only against 15 



