THE WOOL TRADE. INFLUENCE OF HEREDITY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1747, 12 May 1913, Page 8

THE WOOL TRADE.

INFLUENCE OF HEREDITY.

SALE AND EXPORT TOTALS. The sales of wool in New Zealand last month were very small, the big sales all being ended. In all, ll!!)2 bales were offered, and every one was sold, the total being made up as under:—Wellington, )O'J bales; Christchurch, lilG; Napier, 271; Auckland, 201; and Timaru, 35. There were no offerings at lnvereargill, Dunedin, or Gisborne. To bring the ten months up to tho end of the season, Jle.ssrs. Dalgety and Co. figure out the following offerings and sales, the figures for the corresponding ten months of last season being also given :— Corresponding Total for 10 Months, 10 Months, 1912. Bales. Bale-'. Towns. Offd. Sold. Offd. Sold, lnvereargill 18,137 10,186 19,181 17,920 Dunsdiu- ... 18,920 46,122 39,489 30,307 Timarn ... 25,0 M 24,061 21,432 19,451 Cliristcli'ch 54,021 52,807 49,0.10 40,171' Wellington 00,193 61,511 40,941 40,010 Napier ..: 52,830 51,582 39,027 37,778 Gisborne ... 432 428 1,032 1,027 Auckland 20,774 20,1,12 17,091 15,058 286,971 273,439 233,252 211,358 a'J'lic wool exports for April amounted to 39,382 bales, making a total of 482,253 for llio ten months, or an increax! of :SI,:US bales over tiio corresponding ten months of last- season. Details of tho exports aro:— CorresTotal ponding April, for lO^los., 1913. 10 Mos. 1912. Towns. Bales. Bales. Bales. lnvereargill 5,130 . 27,552 30,115 Dunedin 5,801- 11,219 35.191 Oamarii 709 0,125 9,027 Timaru 3,711 ' 29,832 28,75-1 Christchurch 3,122 7-1,097 01,010 Blenheim 1,188 9,320 11,58? Nelson — 5,238 4,910 Wellington 7,911 114,091 111,00-1 Wauganui 4,052 20,01ti 8,911 Waitara 2.372 Ii.WW lU-15 Napier ' 2,228 72,41-1 08,383 Gisbnrne 552 • -If,l-58 -11,3(13 Auckland 1,973 27,253 21,21(1

However true may lie Napoleon's, maxim —"Sentiment rules the world"—it does not pay tlie cheese factory manager to be s nlimenial. Ui eoiu.-e, he CAN be s-enti-ineiital and stick to tlmse (dd-fa.-diioned vais. On the other hand, "Viclor" Vats will help liini lo produce heller quality ch'.ese— and boiler prices, therefore -bigger prulils. Don't be -enl.iiiienlal; pul bn.-i-----i!c..-s lir-t, and send lor particulars of the famous "Victor" Vat to-day. Albert J. l'arton, plumber, Carlciton.—Advt. INCUBATORS FOB 1913.-Now is the time to book your requirements for coming season. Full particulars on application. A. and I'. FOOD CO., Wellington.—Advt. A Manehurian crane has been ure-enl-cd io flie liOiidou Zoological (iardens by l.ord Neutnn. Anmug recent jncipnlalioii:, alio, aro two Canadiuxi porcupiiicj.

vnnvs of a iHiLs'ra.x oi-wjciai,. 'J'lio influence ill' heredity was dealt wifh by Ml*. (.!. I\ lieid, clel;iry (if (In* Michigan State liolMi-iii Breeders' Associat ion in a recent address ti> Ijiot-iUi.Mr. h'cid said: "When a cull' is born into Uiis world it w apt to resemble tile male parent in .-iiiuc respects and tin- female in other respects. U' its resemblance td 1 lio male parent is stronger, wi- say 1 Ik? ■.ire is more prepotent limn the Jam. lievei'se IIu» situatiin, and we .-ay ilie dam is Iho nuiro prepotent. 11 more calves are born of tho same silo and dam and show a variation ill their resemblance to sire and dam, some favouring tin; dam, others favouring the .sire, we Uou'ot .our former conclusion concerning the prepotency of sire and dam, and soon decide 1 licit if is a hard matter to determine tlie relative influence oi sire and dam on the oli'Slirins and we are mial.le to accept what I lie scientists call Cialton's Law. Tins law is possibly teo geoniel rical for the regular breeding operations in nature, but it is accepted by many as expressing approximately the inllnence of each generation back from the new lurn calf. "As briefly as possible, the law is (hat one-hall' of Ihe r'nlluonces that delermlite the character of Ihe new born calf lies within the parents, the other halt' to their nnccstry as follows:—One-fmirt.li wiiliin the grandparents, oue-cighfh within the greal-grniulparenls, nne-sixleeiilh in the next generation back, and so on indolinilely. This law gives credit to the sire and dam in each generation for the characteristics of tho calf. "We see, then, if the character of the parents alfects the calf one-half, each parent will all'ecf: its qualities one-fourth. With four grandparents, nil affecting (he calf a total of one-fourth, each one contributes but one-sixteenth lo the heritage of the, calf. Another generation back there aro eight great-grandparents, each one affecting the calf one-si.xty-l'ourth of its total heritage. Thus we sec that ;i pedigree of nioro than four or the generations back is of little or 110 value. "If n pedigree of four or five generations shows continual improvement, we can have hones that tho young calf will be as good or belter than its ancestry; but if jin in provenient in succcssive generations is shown, the supposition is more than probable tin*t deterioration is in progress in that line. Any mail selecting breeding ai.imals from a line that goes back for live or mora generations to show an animal of merit is making a decidedly poor choice. Some will argue that a law of nature kiiuwii u< scientists as Mendel's liicnomena, will operate to his advantage and animals of merit are liable to outcrop in some regular ratio, but tho 'preponderance of data is against this lorlorn hope. "We have already stated that wo credit the villi:? Pf a mature one-half to hereditary influences and one-half to environment allot. conception; also we credit each of flic great-grandparents of a culf with olii'-sixty-fourth of :1s hereditary finalities. That will be one-huiuired-anil-lwenty-cighth part of the character of this animal at maturity. If, then, we must go back to the great-grandparents of a calf to find-great excellence we are enjoying slim chances of ever making a high-class animal of this calf. "Test the truth of this statement .n you will, I think it will stand. If r.o record of the merit of the intervening animals has been made, you have little lo judge by; they may have had great liierit. or they may have had none. This cannot l>e determined. We need to know the history of such cases. "Another thing we must remember. The ntility to perform and tho transmitting of that ability to perform are seperaie functions. Many animals possess both functions; others do not. If I his greatgrandparent referred to dees not transmit this ability for large performance, there is no hope of making a large performer of the animal in question, if this great-grandparent did possess Ihe ability to transmit its performing ability, and the icierinodiary ancestors possessed merit but. no record kept, there is gocd reason to l>eliev« tho succocding generations will bo good."