ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 995 



the breeding habit of ewes could be so modified tliat Uirabs would l)e produced at a 

 season most profitable for market. The conclusions drawn follow: 



"The breeding habit in ewes which usually drop landjs in the 8pring may ])e so 

 changed that they will produce them in the fail and early winter. This change can 

 be effected sufficiently for practical uses in from two to three generations of judicious 

 crossing when accompanied by a judicious selection. It may be effected thus <iuickly 

 l)y choosing very connnon ewes of mixed breeding, and mating them with pure-bred 

 Dorset rams, always reserving the earlier dropped laml)s for breeding uses. In the 

 transforming process the dams which have suckled winter land)s may usually be 

 bred more readily before being turned out on grass than subsecjuently, and especially 

 when fed a stimulating grain portion while yet in the sheds. When the change 

 sought has been thus effected in the dams, a superior quality in the lambs may be 

 obtained by using rams in service of certain of the dark-faced types and more 

 especially of the Southdown and Shropshire breeds. Such foods as clover hay, and 

 corn fodder, bran, oats, liarle}', corn and oil cake, also field roots pro^■e very satis- 

 factory under Minnesota conditions for the production of such mutton in winter. In 

 the markets of the AVest the demand for such laml)s is not yet so good relatively as 

 in certain markets further East." 



In earlier experiments at the station the importance to the sheep industry of 

 specially sown pastures has been demonstrated. A test, beginning in May and cover- 

 ing 112 days, was undertaken to learn the value of feeding grain to wethers thus 

 pastured, the crops grazed including winter rye, peas and oats, barley and oats, rape 

 and kale, rape, and peas and oats in succession. 



On pasturage alone a lot of 10 wethers weighing about 80 lbs. each made an aver- 

 age gain of 16.8 lbs. per head. When the same number were fed 0.5 lb. of oats per 

 head j)er day in addition to pasturage, the corresponding gain was 26.9 lbs. After 

 tlie close of the experiment proper the feeding was continued for 77 days, both lots 

 being given 0.5 \h. grain per head per day. For a month the shee^:) were pastured 

 on cabbage and later on rape. The lot which received grain during the supple- 

 mentary test only gained an average of 28 lbs. per head, the lot which had received 

 grain from the start, 34.1 lbs. per head. Definite conclusions regarding the cost of 

 the gain were not drawn, but the author believes that in general "feeding a small 

 grain supplement of oats to wethers that are being grazed is profitable for a period 

 of several months, after which it becomes less profitable, if, indeed profitable to any 

 extent." 



Sheep-feeding- experiments at Newton Rigg, T. H. Middleton {Ikl. Agr. 

 [Luiidun~\, apt. Ayr. Education ajid ]!i-mirc}i, I'JOl-J, pp. 72, 73). — The comparative 

 merits of mixtures of equal amounts of decorticated cotton-seed cake and corn, linseed 

 cake and oats, and linseed cake and corn fed in addition to Swedish turnips and hay 

 was tested with 3 lots, each containing 16 cross-bred sheep, by the Durham College of 

 Science at Newton Rigg. Practically the same amount of the different feeding stuffs 

 was consumed by the 3 lots in the 54 days of the trial. The lots weighed on an 

 average not far from 1,568, 1,531, and 1,552 lbs., respe(;tively, at the l)eginning of 

 the trial, the average daily gains per head being 1.21, 1.08, and 1.32 lbs. The greatest 

 profit, $1.68, was ol)tained with lot 3. According to the author "oats appear to have 

 given a better result than maize; there appears to have been but little difference in 

 t lie values of cotton and linseed cakes, and mi advantage in increasing the maize 

 during the latter stage of the fattening." 



Sheep-feeding experiment {.To^tr. Bd. Agr. [Lomloii], U {1902), No. 2, pp. 234, 

 ;?^5).— Noted from another publication (see al)ove.) 



The improvement of pasture at Hatley as tested by the effects on sheep, 

 T. V>. Wood {Bd. Agr. ^London'], Rpt. Agr. Education and Research, 1901-2, pp. 

 75-77).— A brief noteon the Cambridge University experiments (1901) on the effects 

 of different manures on pasture as shown by the gains made by sheep. In 5 months 



