18 GuENON ON Milch Cows. 



4. Epi vulve, vulvan tuft. This is also a deteriorating sign ; is a tuft of 

 descending liair directly under the vulva, as in class one, orders three and 

 four. 



5. Epi batardi perinaeal tuft. This is always a bad mark, as it exists 

 on otherwise good marked cows, and indicates a diminution of milk, as 

 soon as the cow becomes pregnant. It is seen on class one, bastard. A 

 cow is to be looked upon with suspicion that has this mark largely de- 

 veloped. 



6. Epi ciiissard, thigh tufts. These are diminutions of the escutcheon 

 by encroachment of descending hair, and denote a diminishing of the 

 quantity of milk, proportionate to their extent. See class one and two, 

 order four. 



7. Epi jonctif, mesian tuft. The mesian or dart-like tuft, with soft silky 

 ascending hair, is rarely seen, and only in those classes in which the es- 

 cutcheon does not ascend to the vulva. It is like a V hanging beneath 

 the vulva, and is not fully represented in the plates, though class ten, order 

 two, shows it somewhat." 



In these observations among cows, not only during their work as mem- 

 bers of the commission, but also in preceeding examinations, Messrs. 

 Blight, Harvey, and Hazard noticed a series of marks, which they have 

 denominated thigh ovals. The plate showing the escutcheon of Mr. Haz- 

 ard's Jersey cow furnishes one of the best illustration of these marks yet 

 met with by the commission. Where the vertical escutcheon joins and 

 widens out into the thigh escutcheon, there is usually a dip of a curved 

 shape more or less in extent. In the plate above alluded to these thigh 

 ovals descend nearly to the base of the udder. In their careful examina- 

 tion of more than two hundred cows, the commission alwaj'S found these 

 marks only on good cows. 



In his examinations Guenon found cows of apparently each class with 

 certain variations in their markings which distinguished them and pre- 

 vented their incorporation into any class, and, yet the similarity gives 

 them a claim in their particular class. In all cases he claims to have noted 

 that cows thus marked would milk as well as other members of their class, 

 until they were got with calf, but as soon as this was accomplished, the 

 quantity of milk fell off rapidly. The commission claim it is this style 

 of marking which is most likely to deceive the superficial or amateur in- 

 vestigators, and that these have caused the assertion that a poor cow may 

 be well marked, when in reality, if properly understood, she was not well 

 well marked. This class of cows Guenon styled Basta7'ds, and he practi- 

 cally assigned to them a distinctive or seventh order in eacii class. 



In 1822, Guenon seems to have first reduced his S3'stem to a classified 

 basis, and from that time until 1828 he appears to iiave given it much of 

 his time and attention. Having, as he deemed, sufficiently arranged and 

 tested his s^'stem, he, in 1828, applied to the academy of Bordeaux for a 

 public test of the correctness of his mode of judging of cows and their 

 milking value. 



The following, from the proceedings of the academy, shows that Guenon 

 did not make his system common property. The minutes of the academy, 

 under date of June 3, 1828, contains the following record : " Mr. Francis 

 Guenon, of Libourne, possessor of a method which he deems infallible for 

 judging, by mere visual examination, of the goodness of milch cows, and 

 the qixmtity of milk which each can yield, has solicited the Academy to 

 cause the efficaciousness of this method to be tested by repeated experi- 

 ments. The case presented by this request was one of a secret method 



