Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1877-05-17

season the same COW WIS HelNCu Win "
pure .Aberdeenshire bull the produce wasa
cross calf. whey. when two years old. had
very long horns, the parents being Doth
polled."
\ flock of ewes. white and woolly, be-
LONGING to DR.. Wells in the Island of Grena-
ia. were served by Il ram of a chocolate col
or and harry like q goat. The progeny
were Of course crosses. but bore a strong
resemblance to the male parent. Tho next
season. DR.. Wells obtained a ram OF precise
w the same breed as the ewes, but the pro-
geny showed distinct marks of resemblance
to the former ram, i'll color and covering.
The same thing occurred on ~ncigllboring
estates under like circumstances. "-Good-
ale's Principles Of Breeding, p.A9.
At the Michigan Agricultural College sew
eral years ago Chester White SOW had a
litter Of pigs by an Essex boar. The pigs,
us might be expected, were varied i'll color.
The next season the same SOW had a litter
Of pigs by Il pure Suffolk boar tilat showed
a larger proportion of black than the pre-
ceding litter by The Essex boar.
A large number of similar cases might be
quoted. aud | frequently hear OF instances
OF the same character coming under the OBJ
seryation of farmers in different parts OF the
country.
The cases with fowls above referred to are
of particular interest, not only rs showing
the influence of q previous im~pregnation,
but from their bearing upon q quite geIer-
ally received explanation Of tie phenomena.
DR.. McGillivray says "when a pure ami
NAL of any breed has been pregnant to IN
animal Of q different breed, such pregnant
animal is u cross ever after, the purity OF her
blood being lost in consequence OF her con-
n"ection with the foreign animal" The
same explanation is given by Or. Carpenter
who is, however, more explicit as to the
manner in which the influence may he ex-
ertcd. He says some of these cases "seem
to reader it mere likely that the blood of
the female has imbibed from that of the
fntus through the placental circulation,
some of the attributes which the latter has
derived from its male parent, and that the
female may communicate these, with those
proper to herself, to the subsequent off
spring Of a different male parentage." The
same explanation is given by Or. Harvey,
Of Edinburgh.
Quite a number Of other writer's on the
subject of heredity, have accepted this theo-
ry as the most plausible one that has yet
been advanced. If these cases were limited
to the class of mammals, the relations Of the
mother and fntus during the period Of ges-
tation, would ovionsly present & possible
explanation Of the facts observed. Ii the
same influence, however, is observed in
birds, in which the egg is not allowed to re-
tain such a close relationship to the mother
during the development of the embryo.
some other explanation will be required to
reconcile ali the facts.
The cases above mentioned are the only
ones | am acquainted with in which the par
%ticulars are given showing the supposed in
tluence in fowls.
In the report of the Secretary of the Mas
sachusetts Board of Agriculture for 1868,
Mr.. Chaplin of Milford is quoted as saying
= that a hen turkey would lay two or three
successive filters OF eggs, having been i'm
pregnated only tor the first %litter,' but it is
not stated on what authority the statement
is made.
III his "Book Of Poultry" Mr.. Wright
reports several cases in which the marks of
the male We're observed in the chickens from
eggs laia a month, six weeks and two
months after that particular male had been
with the hens. After discussing a number
/ nf II .,; l,r. nnron NJ. IIr..nl,A nm... ~ ~