EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 581 



fact that the male does exercise some influence in prolificacy, but it would 

 not determine the degree of such influence. From the argument given 

 above, therefore, it would be correct to say that it is extremely probable 

 that the male does exercise an influence on prolificacy. 



But the argument thus far has only recognized vigor as the source of 

 such increased prolificacy. To this may be added judicious feeding. The 

 ewe pastured on rape or roots for some time before mating will be more 

 prolific than the ewe confined to dry prairie grasses. Likewise the sow 

 habitually fed on a variety of succulent foods will be more prolific than 

 the sow fed habitually on corn. It is taken for granted, then, that vigor 

 and food do exercise an influence on prolificacy. No one well informed 

 on these questions will deny this. And it is almost certain that these 

 influences are so operative through the male as well as through the female. 



Once grant that the male does exert such influence as the outcome of 

 judicious feeding, and it is then not difficult to show that this influence on 

 the part of the male will be strengthened or weakened, as the case may 

 be, by inheritance. Some persons claim that the female influences only 

 certain parts of the organization and that transmission in the male 

 influences certain other parts. This I do not subscribe to. It has never 

 been proved. Until it is proved, the conclusion is justifiable that the 

 Influence of both parents extends to every feature of the organization, 

 including breeding tendencies, not necessarily in equal degrees nor always 

 in the same degree. Now, if this is true, and I believe it true, then it 

 follows that the power to transmit tendencies to prolificacy or the opposite 

 inheres in both male and female as the result of inheritance. No one 

 will doubt this in the case of the female, but many do doubt it in the 

 case of the male. If it is true that the male does exert influence on 

 every part of the organization, including capabilities in the line of per- 

 formance as well as physical features, then it is true that the male, 

 as the result of inheritance, does transmit tendencies to increased pro- 

 lificacy, the influences that govern reproduction being so effected by the 

 degree of this inheritance, but this may to some extent be modified by the 

 influences of quality in foods and by vigor inherited or acquired. To 

 increase prolificacy in ewes, therefore, it would be in order to choose 

 rams from ancestry that have produced twins for generations previously. 



From what has been said, it will be obvious that though males should 

 have the power to transmit tendencies to prolificacies as well as to beget 

 prolificacy in the female, it will be impossible to determine the degree of 

 the influence which they will thus exert, absolutely or relatively, since, as 

 previously intimated, it will be a varying quantity because of the influence 

 from the various sources mentioned, but it is to be expected that the influ- 

 ence on increased prolificacy will be greatest when the influence exerted 

 by the male and female operate in conjunction rather than in opposition. 

 In other words, when both ram and ewe come of ancestry noted for 

 prolificacy, than when such inheritance belongs only to one parent. 



BREEDING OR FEEDING. 

 Howard A. Chandler. 

 There are what you might call two different kinds of sheepmen: the 

 breeders and the feeders. Of course, all breeders are feeders, because 



