518 Transactions of the 



tions in the ears, the soft eyes, the lean throat and neck, the light frame, 

 the fine tail, and, above all, in the better specimens, the large, well- 

 formed udder, with prominent, knotted milk-veins, which indicate the 

 largest and richest production at the pail. Even now there are to be 

 found in Jersey a very large number of ill-formed, slab sided cows, hol- 

 low backed, cat-hammed, and sloping at the rump, which show how 

 largely the points of beauty have been neglected. 



Nevertheless, the stimulus of the English and the American demand, 

 and the desire for success in competition at the periodical shows, have 

 had, and are still having, a great influence on the form of the animal. 

 The awkward, ungainly shapes are disappearing, and there is a constant 

 improvement in general outline, though even to this day the great point 

 to be considered in all breeding in Jersey is the production of a good 

 yield of butter. This has been somewhat interrupted during the past 

 few years by the mania for dark colors; but the mischief thus caused 

 promises to be fleeting, and, under the strenuous efforts of the society 

 to discourage this foliy, it is not likely that any serious injury to the 

 race will result. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE JERSEYS. 



Whatever may have been the origin of this race (and what is said 

 above is only one of the theories on the subject), their development to 

 their present condition is a natural outgrowth of the circumstances un- 

 der which they have been kept. 



To understand this properly is important to all breeders of the race 

 in this country, for the reason that, so far as we are to continue the im- 

 provement under influences similar to those which operated for so long 

 a time in the development, we should, as nearly as our conditions will 

 allow, conform to the circumstances of the original breeding and treat- 

 ment. The Jersey cow is a product of the Island of Jersey — of its soil, 

 its climate, its system of agriculture, the circumstances of its farmers, 

 and the needs of the dense population there concentrated. 



DESCRIPTION OF JERSEY. 



The group known under the general name of the Channel Islands lies 

 in the English Channel, north of Brittany, and opposite the west coast 

 of Normandy, from which they are but little removed. They originally 

 formed a part of the Duchy of Normandy, and were a part of the pos- 

 sessions of William the Conqueror when he became the King of England. 

 When Normandy was restored to France, these remained English pos- 

 sessions. The largest and southernmost island is Jersey, which is forty 

 miles north of the coast of Brittany, and sixteen miles west of the coast 

 of Normandy. The strong tides by which it is washed are greatly tem- 

 pered by the influence of the Gulf Stream, which modifies its climate to 

 a remarkable degree. 



Its length from east to west is eleven miles, and its breadth from north 

 to south about seven and a half miles. Its entire area is about sixty- 

 two square miles, or thirty-nine thousand six hundred and eighty acres. 

 Its highest elevation above mean tide is about three hundred feet. The 

 entire north coast is a high, rocky bluff, much indented with bays, and 

 with no considerable streams flowing in that direction. The west coast is 

 of a similar charactei\ and scarcely lower. The southwestern coast is 

 also mainly high bluff land, this continuing along a portion of the south- 

 ern shore, which extends further into the sea than the shore to the east 



