26 N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION. [Bulletin 163 



The last report issued by this department inferred that some data on the 

 breeding project would be published within the space of the next two years. 

 Unfortunately, however, it happened that the majority of lambs of the F 2 

 generation in the spring of 1911 were males, and as a result, the mating of 

 that generation inter se has been shifted back another year. There was a good 

 crop of both male and female lambs last spring (1912), and they will be mated 

 inter se during the next breeding season (1913), and it will not be until after 

 the lambs resulting from these matings are dropped, that an explanation may 

 be forthcoming, as to the fixation of any new characters that show in the F 2 

 generation. 



This project is highly important, and requires that absolutely accurate data 

 be kept on all the sheep. As the experiment grows older it is necessary that 

 the flock also become larger, because when the F 2 generation is tested for the 

 purity of certain visible characters, they can be more readily detected or proven 

 by increased numbers. To illustrate clearly, it is true that with the F 2 gener- 

 ation of certain animals and plants which have been tested out, or experi- 

 mented upon, that two individuals or more of the F 2 generation may reveal 

 exactly the same characteristics to the eye, no external difference being de- 

 tected, but upon mating, only certain combinations breed true to type. So 

 in this breeding project, various combinations shall very probably have to be 

 made, which will take several years. 



It is hoped the general public realize, that such a problem of this character 

 and scope, will possible take a long time to reach an ultimate solution. It 

 becomes more complex as it grows, also more expensive, due to the increased 

 size of the flock and the cost of maintaining it. 



Breeding Multi-nippled Sheep. 



This department continues to study the inheritance of multi-nipples in 

 sheep, but owing to limited material with which to work Ihe progress has 

 necessarily been slow. As stated in the last biennial report Dr. Alexander 

 Graham Bell and Dr. C. B. Davenport presented the Station with two multi- 

 nippled sheep, one ram and a ewe, each possessing seven apparent nipples. 

 They were mated but no lamb was dropped. The milti-nippled ewe recently 

 met with accidental death. 



Two years ago the ram was placed with a flock of about forty native two- 

 nippled ewes, and as a result of this mating a number of lambs possessing more 

 than two nipples were dropped, the most frequent number being four, only 

 two of which were normally developed in any case. The multi-nippled sheep 

 from the seven-nippled ram were mated inter se during the summer of 1911, 

 but no lambs were dropped as a result of such matings. Similar matings are 

 being made this fall and just what the result may be cannot be forecasted at 

 this time. One of the get of the seven-nippled ram, a four-nippled specimen, 

 has been placed with a flock of about 30 native ewes on a farm near this Station 

 and it is expected that this will aid greatly in securing data. 



This line of investigation is of economic importance. The average sheep 

 breeder well knows that the ordinary two-nippled ewe cannot properly nourish 

 a pair of twins, and if it can be authentically proven that a multi-nippled ewe 



