SELECTION OF MILK COWS. 387 



still, generally speaking, the rule holds good that, all things being 

 alike, the cow which approaches nearest to a certain standard, 

 will be the best milker. The head must be rather lengthy, 

 especially from the eye to the point of the nose; the nose and 

 muzzle should be cleanly cut, and free from thick skin or fleshy 

 lumps; the cheek-bones thin, and, in like manner, devoid of thick 

 skin or flesh (not thick chapped;) eye prominent, of a placid and 

 benignant expression, with little cf the white exposed to view. 

 If horned, the horns should taper gradually to a point, and have 

 a clean surface, free from rugosities : the breed will determine the 

 shape and set of the horns. The neck should be long, thin, and 

 free from loose skin. A good milk cow may be deer or ewe- 

 necked, but never bull-necked. The chest and breast should be 

 deep, rather than broad, and the brisket should project forwards 

 and downwards; and, whether large or otherwise, should be 

 round, well shaped, and without loose folds of skin depending 

 from it. The girth, behind the shoulders, moderate, and arising 

 more from depth than breadth of chest; shoulders rather narrow 

 at top; back-bone on a line with the shoulder-top; ribs arched, 

 and well home to the haunch-bones, which should be wide apart, 

 and form a straight line across, neither depressed in the center, 

 at the lumbar* vertebrae, nor drooping at the extremities ; hind- 

 quarters lengthy, and the rump, or tail-top, nearly on a line with 

 the back-bone; thighs rather thin, but broad, well spread, and 

 giving plenty of room for the udder; belly projecting outwards 

 rather than downwards, with plenty of room for food ; the udder 

 should be large in a lineal direction, that is, well backward as 

 well as upward, between the hind legs and forward on the belly ; 

 also broad in front, filling up the space between the lower flanks, 

 but rather short vertically ; a deep hanging udder, from its swing- 

 ing motion, being always the cause of great fatigue to the animal 

 when walking; the teats should be moderately long, straight, and 



* Near the loins.-L. F. A. 



