i9i i.] Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 925 



Several funds exist from which loans can be granted to the 

 Provincial Societies or to other associations for the purchase 

 of small holdings, or for the drainage and reclamation of 

 marsh land. 



Co-operative Associations. — Apart from the societies men- 

 tioned above, there are some 800 co-operative associations, 

 with 40,000 members, for the purchase of farm requisites, 

 about 500 co-operative dairies, 200 associations for the sale 

 of eggs, and some for other purposes, but these do not 

 generally receive any assistance either from the State or the 

 Provincial Societies. 



SUMMARY OF AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS. 

 Experiments with Live Stock. 



Inheritance of Horns and Face Colour in Sheep. — Sheep Breeding by 

 Mendelian Methods (Jour. Agric. Science, Vol. I., Part 4, March, 1900, 

 and Vol. III., Part 2, October, 1909). — In 1903 an experiment was 

 begun by Professor T. B. Wood to follow out the inheritance of various 

 characters in sheep. Suffolk ewes were crossed with a Dorset horn 

 ram, these breeds being selected as possessing certain well-marked 

 characteristics, i.e. Suffolk sheep of both sexes, black faces and no 

 horns, and Dorsets of both sexes, white faces and large horns. In 

 order to simplify the experiment the face colour and horns alone were 

 considered, all other characters being neglected. The experiment was 

 of a preliminary nature, the purpose being to study the possibility of 

 work on Mendelian lines with large animals, rather than to produce 

 results of economic importance. The results were of considerable 

 interest from this point of view, but they indicate clearly the difficulty 

 of experimental work with large and slow-breeding animals. The purity 

 of males as regards Mendelian characters can be quickly tested by 

 mating with a number of ewes, but it must be several years before a 

 female bears enough lambs for it to be seen that she breeds true. 

 Another difficulty is the complicated nature of what it was hoped would 

 prove to be simple characters, such as horns and face colour. Points 

 •of economic importance such as would be likely to appeal to the butcher, 

 the dealer, or the wool merchant, are hardly likely to turn out less 

 complicated than these. 



Feeding of Cattle (Univ. Coll. of Wales, Aberystwyth, Agric. Dept., 

 Bull. 1). — The object of this experiment, carried out in 1908-9, was to 

 compare the value of different quantities of concentrated food in the 

 daily ration. In the previous winter, 1907-8, a set of experiments showed 

 that heavy feeding was unprofitable, 6 lb. of concentrated food giving 

 as good results as 10 lb., at a less cost. The present trial was designed 

 to show whether less than 6 lb. per day could be profitably fed. 



Two lots of ten bullocks, viz., six Herefords and four Welsh, were 

 fed for sixteen weeks, from December 4th to March 26th, on the same 

 -daily allowance of 5 lb. chopped straw, 10 lb. hay, and 50 lb. roots ; 



