166 EXPEEIMENT STATION EECORD. 



The origin and ancestry of the black and white cattle [of Holland], 

 F. Dettweiler (Mitt. Deut. Landw. Gesell, 26 (1911), Nos. 33, pp. U6, W; 

 S-i, pp. 473-Jf76; 35, pp. 480-485). — From historical evidence the author con- 

 cludes that there were 3 principal types of cattle in Europe, (1) the red Ger- 

 man, (2) the black and white Celtic, with red and white variations, and (3) 

 the gray Alpine cattle. The red and white cattle of Holland and along the 

 shores of the North Sea to the east were crossed with the black and whito breed 

 from Jutland at about the end of the eighteenth century, giving rise to the 

 black and white cattle of Holland and Holstein at the present time. This evi- 

 dence is also substantiated by experiments of the author in breeding, who 

 found that black was dominant to red. 



The origin and ancestry of black and white cattle, Gross (Mitt. Deut. 

 Landw. Gesell., 26 (1911), Xo. 37, pp. 508-510).— A discussion of the views 

 expressed in the article noted above. 



Results from breeding grade Shorthorns to Hereford bull, P. E. Fogle 

 (Amer. Breeders Assoc. [Proc.], 6 (1910), pp. 373-375). — A report on results 

 obtained in the inheritance of coat color when white grade Shorthorn cows 

 were mated with pure-bred Herefords. 



The results obtained to date indicate that a cross between red and white 

 gives roan ; that the roan cow having received red from one parent and white 

 from another transmits the red to about half of its offspring and white to the 

 other half; and that the solid red or nearly solid red cows have inherited the 

 red from both parents, as their offspring showed no other color than red. An 

 exception to this was a roan calf from a cow which was yellow with a little 

 white. The inheritance of the eye ring was variable but on the whole ap- 

 peared to be inherited with a solid red color. 



The age factor in register-of-merit Jerseys, E. N. Wentwobth (Amer. 

 Breeders Maff., 2 (1911), 'No. 2, pp. 97-103, figs. 3). — In an examination oJB 

 Jersey cows in the Register of Merit, with reference to their sire's age, it was 

 found that 46.8 per cent were sired by bulls under 3 years of age. The average 

 age of sires was 4 years 6 months, and the average age of daughters at the 

 time of record was the same. The coefficient of correlation between age of 

 sire and production of cow was ±0.6647. 



By dividing the sires into 3-age groups it was found that in only one case did 

 the oldest group of sires lose anything to the younger, in spite of the large 

 number of younger animals. In a majority of cases there was a direct corre- 

 lation between the high lactation of the cow and the merit of the calf which 

 preceded this period, and there was a relatively large number of bulls which 

 seemed to sire most of their Register-of-Merit daughters within one season. 



"Another interesting point lay in the relative influence in inheritance between 

 the bull and the cow in the production of sons capable of siring Register of 

 Merit daughters. Without transposing the records to the basis of the above 

 work, a coefficient between the sire and son of 0.821 existed, while the trans- 

 posed records gave a relationship of 0.862. Taking the latter relationship with 

 the cow the coefficient 0.0727 was derived. This would show a slightly stronger 

 influence for the bull, but as the number of cases was smaller with the cows 

 the probable error would be enough larger to nearly neutralize this difference. 

 This should set at rest the minds of many dairymen who believe that a dairy 

 bull from a high performing cow is of more value as a sire than a bull whose 

 daughters have proven worthy of registry. It furthermore brings a closer 

 harmony with the theory of the equal potency of parents, something which 

 practical men have hesitated to accept. 



"In conclusion it may be said that deductions from this work are practi- 

 cally impossible. While the introductory curves are somewhat surprising, a 



