26 



The Journal of Heredity 



PLRE-HHED KAMIIOLILLET EWE 



The Rambouillct is a French imjjrovement of the Spanish Merino, in which fineness of wool has 

 been particularly developed but in which mutton quality has also received careful con- 

 sideration. The breed is com])aratively resistant to parasites, is long-lived, can travel a 

 long distance for feed and water, and instinctively herds closely. It is hoped that these 

 valuable characteristics can be retained in the cross with the vSiberian fat-rump, and 

 greater hardiness gained. The ewe here shown is owned by the South Dakota Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, and is the dam of the lamb shown in the following cut. (Fig. 12.) 



use (>f Plymouth Rock males. Such a 

 method of improving live stock has 

 long been in use among cattle breeders, 

 but the precise results to be expected 

 when it is followed by ])oultry breeders 

 are not so well known. The ex])erimcnt 

 is planned to yield information on this 

 point. A carefully reccjrded exi)eriment 

 in grading up western range Merino 

 sheep is al.so on foot. 



How the white belt characteristic of 

 Ilamjjshire swine is inherited is being 

 studied by the Iowa station, by cross 

 and jjure breedings. The slow work of 

 studying heredity in cattle was taken u]) 

 eight years ago, when a number of black 

 polled (jalknvay females were l)re.d to a 

 white, horned, Shorthorn male. A con- 

 siderable number of F2 animals have 



been ol)tained and the study of inherit- 

 ance of coat color and of the jjolled 

 condition is well under way. An inves- 

 tigation of the significance of scurs in 

 cattle is about to start. 



The Ohio station is slowly accumu- 

 lating data which will eventually provide 

 material for analysis. The principal 

 study in hand is that of the res])ective 

 influence of sire and dam ujx)!! wool 

 ])r(xluction, both in the grease and 

 scoured, of the jjrogcny; also upon the 

 rate of gain and size of progeny. Indi- 

 vidual laying records of Leghorn hens 

 and their progeny are being kept and 

 some cross-l)reeding in ])oultry done. 

 The Dei)artment of Dairy Husbandry is 

 just starting a study of the efTects of 

 long-continued inbreeding of dairy cattle 



