WHAT IS THE ESCUTCHEON. 181 



while a medium-sized Jersey with the same grade of escutch- 

 eon would give but fifteen quarts. The breed and size 

 will always modify the quantity, to raise or lower it. Let 

 the learner not be disheartened at that ; for practice, and his 

 own knowledge of what cows of certain sizes and breeds in 

 good condition will do, will soon guide him in forming his 

 judgment. The figures represent what cows will do that are 

 rather above the medium height and size. Guenon graded 

 his cows into three sizes. His high cow is five hundred and 

 fifty to six hundred and fifty pounds, dressed weight; the 

 medium, three hundred and twenty-five to four hundred and 

 fifty pounds ; and the low, a hundred and ten to two hun- 

 dred and twenty-five pounds. To Class 1, Order 1, he gives 

 to the high, twenty-four quarts; to the medium, nineteen 

 'quarts; and to the low, fourteen quarts. It would not, 

 therefore, be judging by the Guenon system correctly, unless 

 the size was taken into consideration. 



The escutcheon is that surface of the udder, the perinseum, 

 and the thighs, where the hair grows upward. On all the 

 remainder of the animal the hair grows downward. Es- 

 cutcheons extend, according to their class, from the centre of 

 the four teats to the level of the upper extremity of the 

 vulva, and may extend in breadth from the middle of the 

 hinder surface of one leg to the middle of the hinder surface 

 of the other. By their form or configuration, escutcheons 

 rharacterize and distinguish the ten families which together 

 constitute Guenon's classification. 



Each of the classes, or families, is of fixed form, always 

 similar to itself, but variable in the dimensions of its surface, 

 and is estimated by the limits of the escutcheon. The ex- 

 treme limits are the hams, the interior surface of the legs, 

 and vulva. It is the variation of the extent of this surface 

 which divides each class, or family, into six orders. The es- 

 cutcheon of the first order is the most developed, and is also 

 the best marked ; that of each of the lower orders is similar 

 in form to the first order, but is in a reduced proportion, or 

 with the dimensions reduced, or brought into less extended 

 limits, reaching no longer the hams, nor covering the interio 

 of the thighs, nor yet reaching up to the vulva. In any case, 

 the broader it extends upon the thighs, the lower down and 

 higher up the broad part covers, and the higher up and the 



