8 N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION. [Bulletin 198 



The second year of co-operative research with the Nutrition Laboratory is 

 now also in its closing stage. 



This year only two steers were used with the object of making a continuous 

 nitrogen balance under conditions, in respect to feeding, care, etc., exactly 

 duplicating the first year's work. 



In terms of practical interpretation the results obtained which will be of 

 value to the farmer will include information on: 



1. The composition and digestibility of native hay. 



2. Economic rations for maintaining stock through winter. 



The results will be reported on in bulletin form sometime during the early 

 part of next year. 



Sheep Breeding. — Breeding experiments with domestic animals generally are 

 of necessity a slow procedure where biometry must form the basis of means of 

 observation. With farm live stock, excepting of course pigs, the handicap in 

 obtaining requisite number of offspring on which to formulate reliable deduc- 

 tions on the inheritance of somatic and germinal traits of a breed becomes even 

 greater because of their long periods of gestation and low fecundity. 



Accomplishment of the main objective in this work, namely, the production 

 of large numbers of F2 or second generation of inbred hybrids, has been materi- 

 ally delayed by annual depredations by dogs. However, the present schedule 

 of breeding is nearing its termination since the numbers of r2 individuals are 

 assuming a proportion sufficient for the purpose of inheritance of conformation 

 and wool characteristics of the two particular breeds represented in the founda- 

 tion stock. No more Fi are now produced, as reports on these have been made 

 in Technical Bulletin 15, "A Comparison of Some Traits of Conformation of 

 Southdown and Rambouillet Sheep and of Their Hybrids." The r2 will form 

 the basis of another bulletin on the inheritance of conformation. A report on 

 the inheritance of wool characteristics is now under preparation and will be 

 published next year. 



Department of Botany 



Relative Adhesiveness of the Copper Fungicides. — Work on this subject has 

 been completed and reported on in Scientific Contribution No. 14. 



Studies on the Effect of Fungicides and Insecticides on Plants. — In continua- 

 tion of previous work with Bordeaux mixture, the relative transpiration of 

 sprayed and non-sprayed plants was studied, especial attention being given to 

 the behavior of the plants at night. 



A Study of the Toxic Action of Fungicides to Parasitic Fungi. — In order to 

 ascertain the value of a fungicide it is essential that it be tested under the 

 conditions most favorable for the germination of the spores of the fungus 

 against which protection is sought. It is, therefore, necessary to know with 

 some exactness the optimum conditions for the germination of the spores before 

 undertaking a study of the effect of toxic agents on germination. For this 

 reason attention has been confined for the present to a study of the minima, 

 optima, and maxima temperatures of germination of a few fungi commonly 

 met with that are difficult to control by chemical agencies; to wit, with scidio 

 and uredo-spores of Cronartium ribicola, secidiospores of Gymno sporangium 



