SECRETARY'S REPORT. 137 



Quality— On this the thriftiness, the feeding properties, and the value of 

 the animal depends; and upon the touch of this quahty rests, in a good 

 measure, the grazier's and the butchpr's jud<rment. If iha "touch" be good, 

 some deficiency of form may be excused ; but if it be hard and stiff, nothing 

 can compensate for so unpromising a feature. In raising the skin from the 

 body, between the thumb and finger, it should have a soft, flexible, and sub- 

 stantial feel, and when beneath the out-spread hand, it should move easily 

 with it, and under it, as though resting on a soft, elastic, cellular substance; 

 Avhich, however, becomes firmer as the animal "ripens." A thin, papery skin 

 is objectionable, more esjiecially in a cold climate, 15 



The Coit should be thick, short and mossy, with longer hair in winter, 

 fine, soft and glossy in summer, 2 



The Udder— \^\\dh\e and thin in its texture, reaching well forward, roomy 

 bfiiind, and the teats wide apart, and of convenient size, 3 



100 



Points of the Short-horn Bull. 



As regards the male animal, it is only necessary to remark, that the points 

 de^irable in the female are generally so in the male, hut must, of course, be at- 

 tended by that masculine character which is inseparable from a strong, vigorous 

 constitution. Even a certain degree of coarseness is admissible, but then it must 

 be so exclusively of a masculine description as never to be discovered in the fe- 

 males of his get. 



In contradistinction to the cow's, the head of the bull may be shorter, the fron- 

 tal bone broader, and the occipital flat and stronger, that it may receive and sus- 

 tain the horn — and this latter may be excused, if a little heavy at the base, so its 

 upward form, its quality and color, be right. Neither is the looseness of the skin 

 attached to, and depending: from the under jaw, to be deemed other than a fea- 

 ture of the sex, provided it is not extended beyond the bone, but leaves the gul- 

 let and throat clean and free from dewlap. 



The upper portion of the neck should be full and muscular, for it is an indi- 

 cation of strength, power and constitution. The sjjine should be strong, the bones 

 of the loin lon^' and broad, and the whole muscular system wide and thoroughly 

 developed over the entire frame. 



