REPORT TO THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. 



THE congress had just expressed a wish that &quot; Guenon fs Theory of the Milk-giving Prop- 

 \ erties of Cows&quot; published some years since, should be thoroughly examined and reported on 

 ) when M. Guenon himself arrived in Paris. Called here on business of a private nature, he 

 ) readily set aside everything to place himself at the disposal of your honorable body. 

 ) After many disappointments, he came to ask of you a public expression of your approba 

 tion, and of the countrv, an exhibition of national gratitude for a discovery surrendered 

 without reserve to the common good, when he might have kept his secret to himself, with 

 its certain emoluments. 



A just love of celebrity, perhaps even the vague hope of a recompense proportioned to the 

 service he had rendered the country, brought him to your bar, and placed him under your 

 patronage. 



It was immediately decided that a committee should accompany him to some dairy, and 

 there apply aud demonstrate the principles he has promulgated. If a decisive test confirmed 

 all that you were led to expect, it became you, gentlemen, to give from this spot the great 

 centre of knowledge a striking consecration, too long desired, of Mr. Guenon s singular 

 discovery. 



The farmer exercises an art essentially practical, and will not reject an obviously useful 

 processs because he may not appear to understand it. His science is that of facts, which 

 he studies with a view to their application. 



In obedience to your call, forty or fifty members of the congress assembled on the 30th of 

 March, to enter upon the investigation that you had ordered. At the head of your com- i 

 mittee were two of your presidents M. Fouquier d Herroul, known for his eminent services 

 as chairman of the committee on cattle, and M. Dupin, who is always te be found at his post 

 where the national interest is concerned. Other distinguished agriculturists were upon the 

 committee, and the intelligent ami ingenious man on whose account this meeting was held, 

 and for whom the investigation was to be decisive, accompanied it, with a calm confidence 

 derived from the hope of an impartial decision and a deep conviction of his rights. 

 Arrived at the dairy, thirteen cows were offered for inspection : 



2 Cotentines,* thorough-bred. 

 I Cotentine, half-blood. 



6 Normans, more or less crossed.. 

 1 Swiss. 



3 of Flemish and Durham blood. 



Before proceeding to the proof, Mr. Guenon called our attention to the fact that the excep 

 tional manner in which the Parisian cows were fed, might produce some abnormal results. 

 This was considered a sufficient reason to allow a latitude of one or two pints to his estimate, 

 instead of anticipating the exact results which he claims under ordinary circumstances. 



As soon as a cow was brought out, the amount of miik which she gave for two or three 

 weeks after calving, was privately made known to the committee, and immediately put down 

 in writing. Mr. Guenon was then called upon to examine the revealing signs, and without 

 being allowed to touch the cow, gave his estimate, which was likewise set down. The amount 

 of milk furnished by the cows submitted for examination, varied from fourteen to twenty-four 

 pints. 



In eleven of the cases, the estimate of Guenon proved to be correct, and there was some 



uncertainty about another cow recently purchased, that had been sick since she was bought. 



i 

 * So called from Cotentin, a district of country from lower Normandy. j 



