Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-08-25
Stc Correspondence Of tho Dc,cc Meas By Frank Cupen)

Hell told II 10 me Just before he left
fog Nova Scotia a few weeks ago,
Il do not know thar you are acquuint-
ed with sheep said he. MANY people
are not I have had farmers scoh az
the idea that sheep have no upper front
teeth ana have seen ihcm surprised TO
find this the ease. Indeed ] myself
knew little about sheep until l%9 Ihou
! bought The farms " Behn Bhgeagh.
which now compose nos summer home
iu Nova scotia near iadtrgk Upon
one Of these farms ] found a focE of
81 ewes, ana the following sprus ! ODE
served that about onc-half of The lambs
produced We're twins Some " The ewes
had but one lamb but many had two,
aud ! began 90 wonder n there WAS not
some characteristic which would enable
one 90 distinguish the tWiu-besrln5
ewes. To fiud out 7 made careful cg-
animation 81 the milk bags Of an the
mothers. Now the ordinary sheep bag
has but two nipples, and 10 IS from
those that The lamb dfawg all iis milk
This was The case with my sheep. I
noticed. however. thIt up'n some ot
the bags were embryonic nipples in aa-
dIlon Go those ~ usual size. I'm some
cases these were barely perccptlble and
in none We're they larger than good
sized pimrles. Upon looking farther /
found that tho ewes bearing The enc
brNouic nipples had far more twins
Than those not so marked. OF tha or
binary ewes only q per cont were twin
bearing. while % thosa which bad these
marks % an uHdeyeiogei milk supply
81 per cent had fUins This seemed TO
indicate that the marks meant some
ihlng. and 7 then began Co experim-n mt
10 tini DOT how much
QUEER BREEDING EXPERIMENT.
please tell me- just what you hoped
10 ascertain, Dr. Be1g' I asked.
In the first place, ! wanted 90 flud
whether by seleciive breeding those
now dead embryonic plmpie-lIke nipples
could be made alive and uFcfl.
wanted 90 know whether they would
grow and an with milk and whether
~ they did go the sheep growing them
would yield greater milk supply ln
the second place ] wanted to know
whether, after ! had produced "a sheep
with four good live nipples instead 81
two that sheep would have twins Oft
Civ AltsA rll''l lAtt 80 &c tlNprn,
What did you find %
IN the first place. said DR.. Bell II
experienced little difficulty In develop
ing the embryonic nipples ] was soon
able 10 raise sheep having four nipples
AL yielding milk, and. indeed, for sew
erai years past nearly every eve born
on my farm has had four I've fuuc-
iional nipples instead Of two. lu recen,
years ] have produced a. large number
which have SIX such nipples. and
think there Is no doubt that could
eventually produce a six-nippled varie-
~ az sheep. Indeed | have already
produced a fouruippled variety OF
the lambs dropped this year eight have
six nipples and IN addition we have
nov, Tor the first s,ime. a lamb with
eight nipples. This Is only one %
that character that have produced
and the only one have ever heard
Of"
How about the twins. doctor?" /
asked.
AS TO that part Of my Investigations
/ have not been 80 successful. The pro-
portion OF twins born has been small,
and the sheep with the four or six nip
pies have not proved more fertile than
those OF the ordinary kind. ] believe,
however, that by using twins only FOR
breeding purposes II may be possible
TO raise a twin-bearing stock. and that
is what l hope 10 DO now. feel that
have accomplished what ] set out 20
perform as to my frat proposition. and
that by using my multi-nippled yare-
ties, aud breeding only from twins. I
viii eventually have a breed OF sheep
which will almost always produce
twins"
Were these sheep all born on your
farm"
The most OF them were replied Dr.
Bell, MY investigations. however. have |
not been confined 20 my own sheep I |
have catalogue which ! published |
IN 1904 containing the records OF about |
500 sheep Of which 6j5 were born or !