BREEDING. 33 



and supposing that the complete maturity of an ovum might be 

 ven' favorable to the production of male sex and inversely, M. 

 Thurg caused cows to be impregnated sometimes at the begin- 

 ning, sometimes at the end, of the rutting period. In the first 

 case he obtained female calves; in the second, male calves. The 

 experiment was repeated by a Swiss agriculturist, Mr. Cornaz, 

 who twenty-nine times in twenty-nine cases succeeded in pro- 

 ducing either sex at will. Giron found that if the female flowers 

 of dioecious plants be fertilized as soon as they are fit to receive 

 the pollen, the seed resulting produce mainly female plants, and 

 that if the fertilization be deferred to as late period as possible 

 the seeds resulting produce mainly male plants. 



EFFECTS OF PREVIOUS IMPREGNATION ON THE FEMALES. 



One of the great mysteries of generation is the effect of one 

 impregnation of the female on the offspring by succeeding males. 

 A few facts will make the matter clear. Dr. Trail, on the au- 

 thority of Mr. George T. Allman, of Tennessee, gives the follow- 

 ing case: "A bay mare, with black points, was bred to Watson, 

 a son of Lexington, who is a golden chestnut, having a large star 

 and both hind and near front ankles white. After dropping her 

 foal he bred the same mare to his saddle stallion. Prince Pulaski, 

 a very dark chestnut, with no Avhite save a very small star: this 

 produce was a facsimile of Watson in every particular." 



A very fine Clydesdale mare was served by a Spanish ass and 

 produced a mule. She aftenvard had a colt by a horse which 

 bore a very marked likeness to a mule; seen at a distance, every 

 one set it down as a mule. The ears were '9^ inches long, the 

 girth not quite six feet, and he stood above sixteen hands high. 

 The hoofs were so long and narrow that there was difiiculty in 

 shoeing them, and the tail was thin and scanty. He was a beast 

 of indomitable energy and durability, and was highly prized by 

 his owner. Dr. Miles writes that a mare belonging to Dr. H. B. 

 Shank, of Lansing, Michigan, produced a mule, was aftenvard 

 bred to a Morgan stallion with remarkably fine ears; the ears of 

 8 



