THE OLD OAKES COW. 11 



for herself, it is true. It is told of her that she gave seven- 

 teen quarts of milk a da}^, and made fifteen pounds of butter 

 in a Aveek, and that she continued to discharge her service in 

 this fashion month after month, beginning early in the spring 

 and going on until early in the following winter. She was 

 considered a remarkable cow, and her record was kept because 

 she was remarkable. It seems she was an animal that could 

 be easily and profitably fed upon those primitive pastures, 

 under the uneconomical methods which prevailed in the early 

 time. But you who are now compelled to select with the 

 utmost care your animals for the production of beef, and 

 must learn what can be fed most profitably upon your pas- 

 tures and in your barns for that purpose, and who are ready 

 to avail yourselves continually of the skill of the English 

 breeder, Avho has produced for you the Shorthorn ; you who 

 have learned that it is no accident that will enable a man to 

 feed an animal for beef profitably now, but that it must be 

 done in accordance with the most accurate rules most skil- 

 fully applied, — you will learn with astonishment what the 

 structure of this cow was, which in those early days was con- 

 sidered so profitable. And you who are compelled, in your 

 production of milk for the milk market here and in every 

 other city in the Commonwealth, to select animals which 

 can be fed most profitably for that purpose, and know per- 

 fectly well that a cow will produce her milk profitably or 

 unprofitably according to her physiological and anatomical 

 structure, and that you must select with care a heavy, well- 

 made, easy-feeding, milk-producing animal if you want a cow 

 that will be profitable for dairy purposes, — you, too, will be 

 astonished when you learn of the structure of this remark- 

 able cow. She had no quality which a breeder of these days 

 would value. Her countenance was gloomy, dull and sour. 

 Her head was ill-shaped. She had none of those fine lines 

 which, to the English or to the American breeder, would sig- 

 nify thrift, easy feeding and a rapid production of either beef 

 or milk. Her neck v as ill-shaped ; it was not properly put 

 upon her body ; and her shoulders were so rough that they 

 seemed to stand above her chine, so that you would imagine 

 they must have been two inches higher than her backbone. 

 Her back was rough, uneven and irregular; her -hind- 



