68 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. [Vol.35 



Suffolk breed of sheep, and the possibility of their introduction into Canada, 

 Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, and other places. 



The sheep in Egypt, G. C. Dudgeon and Mohammad 'Askak (Agr. Jour, 

 Eyiipt, S {1915), No. 1-2, pp. 31-Jf5, pis. 8). — ^A discussion of the breed charac- 

 teristics, distribution, and utility value of the various breeds of sheep native 

 to Egypt. 



Inheritance of fertility in swine, E. N. Wentworth and C. E. Atjbel ( V. 8. 

 Dept. Agr., Jour. Agr. Research, 5 (1916), No. 25, pp. 1145-1160, figs. 4).— The 

 authors summarize the results of their studies at the Kansas Experiment Sta- 

 tion as follows: 



" Fertility in swine offers favorable material for the study of quantitative in- 

 heritance, because the units of deviation are discrete. Biometric studies of 

 litter size with mother and daughter have indicated a small degree of inheri- 

 tance. Crosses of breeds having dift'erent mean litter sizes have suggested 

 that segregations of. fecundity factors may take place. Numerous nongenetic 

 factors limit the full expression of the inborn possibilities of fertility. Certain 

 few somatic characters may be correlated either in a physiological or genetic 

 manner with the different degrees of fecundity, but the bulk of characters 

 usually assumed to be so related are probably entirely independent of it. 

 Herdbook data on the fertility of swine present sources of error, but the 

 percentage of error is low enough to permit the statistics to be suggestive. 



" Numerous influences exist which lower the size of litter, which sources 

 of error may operate in a manner compensatory to those just mentioned. It 

 is questionable whether the size of litter represents the hereditary factors trans- 

 mitted, but the somatic character was perforce accepted at face value in those 

 studies. There is no reduction in variability in the litter sizes of the dams as 

 compared with the grandparents or progeny, as would result if there were 

 homozygous differences for fertility in the grandparents. Hence, the fer- 

 tility deviations are either nongerminal or else the degree of heterozygosis 

 is so great in the grandparents that no increased variability in the F2 genera- 

 tion is possible. The latter explanation is probably the correct one. The 

 frequency curves for the 3,540 litters studied make it appear that there are 

 at least three centers of deviation in swine fertility. These centers possibly 

 correspond to genetic factors involved in the inheritance of fecundity." 



A bibliography of literature cited is given. 



Some hog raising experiments, W. A. Linklateb {Washington Sta., West. 

 Wash. Sta., Mo. Bui., 3 {1916), No. 12, pp. ^-// ) .—Twenty newly-weaned pigs 

 were turned on clover May 3, and 10 more on May 17. These pigs were fed 

 a pound each of mixed grain daily as a thin slop, this grain mixture consist- 

 ing of ground barley, oat middlings, and oil meal, 3:3:1. The gi-ain mixture 

 was gradually increased until the seventh week, after which time the pigs 

 were fed 1§ lbs. each per day. The pigs apparently did not care for the clover 

 pasture, but gained 0.27 lb. each, daily, and required 5.37 lbs. of grain, plus 

 the clover pasture, for each pound of gain. On July 24 the pigs were turned 

 into grain fields of winter wheat and field peas, and had hogged off the grain 

 clean by September 16. In that time they had gained 1,676 lbs. or a little over 

 1 lb. per pig per day. It is estimated that they required 3.58 lbs. of grain 

 to produce 1 lb. of gain. 



The pigs were then divided into 5 lots of 6 pigs each and fed 38 days. Lot 

 1 received ground barley alone ; lot 2 ground barley and tankage, 9:1; lot 3 

 ground barley and oil meal, 4:1; lot 4 ground barley and alfalfa meal, 4:1; 

 and lot 5 ground barley and skim milk, 1 : 2.5. These lots made average 

 daily gains per pig of 1, 1.2, 1.2, 1.1, and 1.4 lbs., consuming 4..54, 3.82, 3.7, 4.1, and 

 2.6 lbs. of grain per pound of gain for the respective lots. Lot 5 consumed, in addi- 



