370 AMERICAN CATTLE. 



the legs, standing far apart, leave a considerable space as a recep- 

 tacle for large milk vessels. (See plate 30.) 



"The blood flows in great abundance to the milky glands, and 

 keeps them in activity at the expense of the other organs ; the 

 muscles are slender, the buttocks and thighs small and narrow. 



"The cows we recommend as milkers, are those whose chine, 

 instead of being all of one piece, shows, towards its center, a 

 space occupied by a kind of shrivelling, the effect of the distance 

 between the spinous processes of the vertebrae :* the process of 

 the last dorsalf vertebrae is strongly bent forward. 



"In some cows, we have observed that this distinguished 

 mark, is owing to the processes of the last dorsal vertebrae. In 

 that case, the back has, at its middle, instead of a wrinkled or 

 shrivelled part, a depression which is continued to the rump. 



"When this mark exists, the chinej is often double in its 

 posterior half; the ridge of the vertebrae is large and wide, and 

 seems forked, and a slight depression prevails along the medial 

 line of the body, and is more especially visible near the rump. 



"This mark is much looked for in Flanders, where great 

 importance is attached to it ; and among the dairymen of Paris, 

 as well as the south of France, where a common saying is, that 

 a cow will be productive of milk, especially when, towards the 

 middle of the spine of the back, the processes stand" apart so as 

 leave two spaces of two fingers' width. 



"If the chine is double, the vertebras are thicker, the haunches 

 more apart, and the loins and rump of greater width; in this 

 case, the hind quarters are more largely developed, the pelvis 

 more ample, and, consequently, the organs lodged in the cavitv, 

 and even th<} milk vessels, of larger dimensions. 



CONSTITUTION. 



"It is desirable that the special marks which indicate a great 

 activity of the milky glands, and, consequently, a good milker, 



* Joints of the back bone, t Pertaining to the back. * The back bone. 



