184 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



short, narrow ribs, not much bent; short, thick tail; thin, long, bristly hair; unequally 

 vaulted udder, with a few long hairs; teats of unequal length and thickness; hind legs like 

 those of a goat, bent in the form of a sickle; thin lacteal veins, almost imperceptible without 

 a fork, terminating in a point and without any, or with a very small and shallow indention at 

 the end; when the milk- wart is nearer the throat than the lower lip. 



It will be noticed that among these favorable and unfavorable signs, there is no one of 

 them that is in itself reliable, but several of them must be combined; neither do they indi 

 cate the yield of milk, the duration of the yield, or give any hint with regard to selecting 

 male animals that will perpetuate the desirable qualities of a breed. If the Guenon system 

 can be relied upon to the extent, or even to a moderate extent, of what its advocates claim, it 

 has certainly proved of great utility in the selection of animals for the various purposes of dairy 

 use. 



It seems to us that the classifications adopted by Pabst, Magne, and others, appear to be 

 far more simple and satisfactory than the more complicated classification of Guenon. With 

 out pretending to judge with accuracy of the quantity, the quality, or the duration which a 

 particular size or form of the mirror will indicate, they give to Guenon the full credit of his 

 important discovery, a new and valuable element in forming our judgment of the milking 

 qualities of a cow, and simply assert with respect to the duration of the flow of milk, that the 

 mirror that indicates the greatest quantity will also indicate the longest duration. 



The attention of the editor of this work was called to Guenon s method of judging 

 cows several years ago, and since that time we have examined many hundreds, with a view 

 to ascertain the correctness of its main features, inquiring, at the same time, after the views 

 and opinions of the best breeders and judges of stock with regard to their experience and 

 judgment of its merits; and the result of my observations has been that cows with the most 

 perfectly developed milk-mirrors or escutcheons are, with rare exceptions, the best milkers of 

 their breed, and that cows with small and slightly-developed mirrors are, in the majority of 

 cases, bad milkers. 



We say the best milkers of their breed, for we do not believe that precisely the same 

 sized and formed milk-mirrors on a Hereford, or a Devon, or an Ayrshire, will indicate any 

 thing like the same or equal milking properties. It will not do, in our opinion, to disregard 

 the general and well-known characteristics of the breed, and rely wholly on the milk-mirror. 

 But we think it may be safely said that, as a general rule, the best marked Hereford will 

 turn out to be the best milker among the Herefords, all of which are poor milkers; the best 

 marked Devon, the best among the Devons; and the best marked Ayrshire, the best among 

 the Ayrshires; that is, it will not do to compare two animals of entirely distinct breeds by 

 the milk-mirrors alone, without regard to the fixed habits and education, so to speak, of the 

 breed or family to which they belong. 



It is true that there are breeds, such as the Short-Horns, for instance, that are inferior 

 milkers, when compared with some others; and yet we often find on them very fine escutch 

 eons, and this fact may at first seem to conflict with the Guenon system ; but it must be 

 remembered that the Short-Horns were originally a good milk breed, and that having been 

 made particularly a beef breed for a long time, the milking propensity has, in most families, 

 been to a great extent bred out, and hence, notwithstanding this change, they may retain the 

 escutcheon more as a characteristic mark of the original breed than as a mark of milking 

 quality. Without regarding the escutcheon as an infallible sign of the quantity and quality 

 of milk, we believe it to be one of the best indications of the milking quality that nature has 

 given; but, as has been previously implied, in the use of the Guenon system there must be 

 taken into consideration the breed, the age, the feed, the treatment past and present, the 

 health, etc. 



