428 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OP AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Laue details some of hie experiments to ascertain tlie rate of gain 

 in lambs. He says : 



I will give the weight of one, which will give about the average gain. This lamb 

 was dropped February 9, and weighed 8 pounds ; February 19, loi pounds ; February 

 2G, 17^ pounds; March5, 21| pounds; March 12,24^ pounds; March 19, 2Gf pounds; 

 March 27, 31f pounds ; April 2, 35| pounds; April 9, 39 pounds; April 16, 42 ijounds; 

 April 23, 45-i pounds ; April 30, 49 pounds ; May 7, 54 pounds ; May 11, '5G pounds. At 

 ninety-two days old, deducting the weight at birth, the gain was 48 pounds, a trifle 

 over one-half pound per day. My ewes were too old to be good milkers ; the lot should 

 have been at least 10 pounds heavier. The fleece should bring $2 and the lamb $6, 

 making §8 per head. Lannbd dropped in April will be found the most profitable for 

 v/iutor and spring feeding. During the last part of the fall, by the middle of Oc- 

 tober, I commence feeding this class of sheei), giving, during the month of Novem- 

 ber, grain liberally, and they should have access to a daily feeding of hay. Their food 

 should be fat and flesh forming substances, such as will produce growth as well as fat. 

 To full-grown sheep feed corn ; to lambs, oats, pease, corn, and bran; and I thiuk it 

 pays to raise roots to feed any fattening sheep, • » » This class of sheep generally 

 are more profitable to feed than full-grown ones for three reasons : the first cost is not 

 more, and sometimes is less per pound ; the gain is greater on the same amount of feed, 

 and the selling price higher per pound. From my sheep-book I copy the following : 

 Forty-four yearling grade Merinos cost, in the fall, $2 per head ; average weight Decem- 

 ber 1, Go pounds ; sheared and sold April 15 ; average weight after shearing, 72 pounds ; 

 gain in four and one-half months, 17 pounds ; sheared 225 pounds ; sold for $5.25 per 

 head, including wool. Two winters ago I fed a lot of half-grade Cotswolds ; average 

 weight when commenced feeding, 50 pounds ; cost, 6 cents per pound. January 8, 

 average weight, G2^ pounds ; February 16, average weight, 69 pounds ; March 30, aver- 

 age weight, 75 pounds. Sold at that time at 8 cents per pound, or $6 i^er head. The 

 past winter I fed 104 lambs, half-blood Cotswolds. From December 1 to April 1, one 

 hundred and twenty-two days, I fed 9,100 pounds of grain of the following variety and 

 proi)ortion : Of each 100 pounds, 65 pounds were corn, 25 pounds oats and pease, and 10 

 pounds bran. Nearly all the grain was ground. 



"Weight of lambs. 



Time betTreen eacb 

 weighing. 



Gain. 



Average per head. 



December 3 — 7,034 pounds 



January 4—7,633 pounds 32 days 



February 6 — 8,154 pounds 33 days 



March 11 — 8,9fe5 pounds ' 34 days 



April 1—5,505 pounds 21 days 



599 pounds.. 

 521 pounds. . 

 831 pountls.. 

 520 pounds.. 



67 66-104. 

 73 41-104. 

 78 42-101. 

 ee 41-104. 

 91 41104. 



During the month of December I fed 50 pounds of grain per day ; first fifteen days 

 in January, 60 pounds; last half of the month, 70 pounds; from February 1 to 20,80 

 pounds; from the 20th to the 10th of March, 90 pounds; the remainder of the time, 

 100 pounds per day. 



Mr. C. G. Pringle, in a paper on the hybridization of cereals, details 

 some successful experiments in cross-fertilization of wheat. He com- 

 menced them in the spring of 1870, by impregnating a few (^ules in a 

 head of the Black Sea variety with pollen of the Golden Drop, or Sibe- 

 rian. He selected the Black Sea variety' because of its extreme hardi- 

 ness, and crossed it with the Golden Drop in order to unite the hardi- 

 ness of the first with the finer fiour-produciug qualities of the latter. 

 The liruit of this cross, a half dozen grains, was sown the next spring 

 in a drill and cultivated with the ntmost care. This first year the plants 

 showed great uniformity of character. They were, speaking in a general 

 way, intermediate between their parents. Except lor a few short awns 

 on the upper part of the heads, they were beardless like the Golilen Drop, 

 though thej' had sprung from seed borne on the Black Sea, a full-bearded 

 variety ; the chaff had taken a reddish tinge from the Black Sea ; and 

 the kernels were larger, plumper, and of lighter color than those of that 

 variety, evidently partaking strongly of the character of the Golden Drop. 

 Great vigor was displayed by the plants, and the heads were of unusual 

 length. Possibly this great vigor was in part due to the good effect of 

 crossing; certainly good cultivation had something to do with it. The 



