252 N, n. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ject to a line dropped from the middle of the neck. The 

 belly should be straight longitudinall}-, and round laterally, 

 and filled at the flauks. The ribs should be round, and 

 should project horizontally, and at right-angles to the back. 

 The '•' hooks" should be wide and flat ; and the rump, from 

 the tail to the hooks, should also be flat and well filled. — ■ 

 The quarter from the aitch-bone to the hook should be long. 

 The loin-bones should be long, broad and flat, and well fill- 

 ed; but the space between the hooks and the short-ribs 

 should be rather short, and well arched over with a thick- 

 ness of beef between the hooks. A long hollow from the 

 hooks to the short-ribs indicates a weak constitution, and 

 an indifferent thrivcr. From the loin to the shoulder-blade 

 should be nearly of one breadth, and thence it should taper 

 a little to the front of the shoulder. The neck-vein should 

 be well filled forward, to complete the line from the neck 

 to the brisket. The covering on the shoulder-blade should 

 be as full out as the buttocks. The middle ribs should be 

 well-filled, to complete the line from the shoulders to the 

 buttocks along tlie projection of the outside of the ribs. — 

 These constitute all the points which are essential to a fat 

 ox, and which it is the business of the judge to know, and 

 by which he must anticipate what the lean one, when fed, 

 would realize. The remaining points are more applicable 

 in judging of a lean than a fat ox. 



The first of the points in judging of a lean ox is the na- 

 ture of the bone. A round, thick bone indicates both a 

 slow feeder, and an inferior description of flesh. A flat 

 bone, when seen on a side view, and narrow, when viewed 

 either from behind or or before the animal, indicates the 

 opposite properties of a round bone. The whole bonea 

 in the carcass should bear a small proportion in bulk and 

 weight to the flesh, the bones being only required as a sup- 

 port to the flesh. The texture of the bone should be small 

 grained and hard. The bones of the head should be fine 

 • and clean, and only covered with skin and muscle, and not 



