26 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



(a) ANALYSIS OE MILK PRODUCTION RECORDS. 



In this direction the outstanding event of the year is the 

 transference and analysis of the production records of the Bilt- 

 more Farms herd, of Biltmore, N. C. Through the kindness 

 of the manager, Dr. A. S. Wheeler, we were given permission 

 to copy and make any use we wished of the records of produc- 

 tion of this remarkable herd of registered Jersey cattle. In 

 January, 1915, Mr. John W. Gowen, then a member of the; 

 staff of the Department of Biology, went to Biltmore and 

 transcribed the records. In this work every facility was ac- 

 corded him by Dr. Wheeler, to whom we desire to extend our 

 heartiest thanks for this aid. After returning to the laboratory 

 Mr. Gowen spent the remainder of the academic year in the 

 reduction of these records. As a result of his very efficient 

 and painstaking labors we have now in shape for study probably 

 the most complete and satisfactory set of records for the 

 study of the inheritance of milk production anywhere in 

 existence. They are far superior to advanced registry records 

 because they include records not alone of the good cows, but 

 of all cows, good, bad, and indifferent. 



(b) MENDEEIAN EXPERIMENTS WITH CATTLE. 



As has been pointed out in earlier reports definite cross- 

 breeding experiments, carefully controlled, are absolutely -es- 

 sential to the study of the problem of the inheritance of milk 

 production. The experiments along this line with the herd 

 of the University of Maine are proceeding satisfactorily, if of 

 necessity somewhat slowly. In due time we hope to have a 

 considerable number of animals in the cross-breeding experi- 

 ments from which may be tested, by Mendelian methods, the 

 way in which milk and butter fat production are inherited 

 when a high producing and a low producing 'breed are crossed 

 together. 



Table 11 gives a conspectus of the animals which have so 

 far been born in the Mendelian herd. 



