BREEDING. 



31 



of females when placed in a favorable environment, and to most 

 males in an unfavorable environment. Dr. Manly Miles, in his 

 most e.xcellent work, entitled "Stock Breeding," has collected a 

 nnmber of facts bearing on the theory that if the male is older 

 and stronger than the female the offspring will be more males 

 than females. If the females are most vigorous the offspring will 

 contain more females. 



At a meeting of the Agricultural Society of Severac, on the 

 3d of July, 1826, M. Charles Gironde Buzareingues proposed to 

 divide a flock of sheep into two equal parts, so that a greater 

 number oi' males or females, at the choice of the proprietors, 

 should be produced from each of them. Two of the number of 

 the society offered their flocks to become the subjects of his ex- 

 periments, the results of which are given in the following table. 

 The principle of division was to place young rams with strong, 

 well-fed ewes for ewe lambs, and a matured, vigorous ram with 

 weaker ewes for ram lambs. 



The first experiment gave the following results: 



In the second experiment the ewes were divided into tliree 

 sections. The first section included the strongest ewes from four 

 to five years old, which were better fed than the others. It was 



