Nov., 1910.] ANNUAL REPORTS. 33 



twenty-six ewes; the Shropshire nun with thirteen ewes; anil the Southdown 

 ram with twenty ewes. The flock with the Dorset ram included six Dorset 

 ewes, eight Merino ewes, two Southdown ewes and three New Hampshire 

 native ewes; with the Hampshire ram, four Hampshire ewes, fourteen Merino 

 ewes and eight New Hampshire native ewes; with the Shropshire ram, three 

 Shropshire ewes, six Merino ewes and four New Hampshire native ewes; 

 and with the Southdown ram, eight Southdown ewes, five Merino ewes, 

 three Dorset ewes and four New Hampshire native ewes. In 1909 similar 

 matings, using in all instances the same sheep as in the previous year, were made. 

 As it is by no means a good plan to breed ewes as lambs, no matings of the F, 

 generation were made until this fall, and then only those dropped in 1909 were 

 used. Consequently, so far we have obtained no individuals of the F a genera- 

 tion. This year two Leicester yearling ewes and a Rambouillet ram were 

 purchased. Matings will be made with these two breeds. This cross should 

 afford most interesting data especially in regard to wool characteristics, as 

 the Leicester possessing one of the coarsest of fleeces and the Rambouillet 

 the finest, such a combination should afford a most patent clew to the manner 

 in which wool characters behave in heredity. 



From the several different matings of parent stock we have obtained alto- 

 gether one hundred individuals of the Fj generation, forty-nine of which we 

 shall be able to use for mating inter se this year to obtain the F 2 generation. 

 The greatest number of F, individuals from any one cross has been gotten 

 from that of the Hampshire and Rambouillet. In this respect the Southdown 

 and Dorset cross comes next. It is with these crosses that the principal work 

 in wool testing is being performed. The Southdown-Rambouillet cross, at 

 least in numbers, has not proven very productive, most of the offspring as 

 well being rams, which naturally minimizes the number of F 2 individuals 

 we can obtain. The crosses of pure-bred rams upon native ewes has produced 

 most excellent results. These native ewes are simply ordinary grade stock 

 found all too prevalently in New Hampshire, that for generation after genera- 

 tion have been bred in a desultory fashion and represent a heterogeneous 

 mixture of many of the pure-bred classes of sheep. They were chosen in 

 the experiment mainly to prove the fact that it does not follow that what 

 in a Mendelian sense is a pure character can exist only in the so-called pure- 

 bred animals. 



Many matings have also been made with pure-bred animals, and the inheri- 

 tance of separate characteristics noted. We hope subsequently to be able 

 to prove patently to breeders that in the improvement of pure-bred sheep 

 they can make advantageous use of Mendel's law and that the law operates 

 just as clearly in what is known as pure-bred types as where distinctly opposite 

 characters are crossed. 



Twenty-six characteristics have been distinguished and records of these are 

 kept for each sheep. Diagrammatic drawings are made to indicate particular 

 features, where a verbal description cannot adequately explain relative differ- 

 ences. For example, distribution of wool on head, ears and legs are described 

 in this manner A special chart has been prepared for this purpose on which 

 all the characteristics for each individual are associated and shown together. 



