38 GuENON ON Milch Cows. 



and particularly if this vein is double, extending and ramifying over the 

 udder well back in prominent veins, and if the veins extend over the peri- 

 neum, we may then, with great confidence, look for a large well-shaped and 

 formed escutcheon, marked first class, order first, by an oval on each side 

 of the back of the udder, and perhaps two thigh ovals or dips where the 

 vertical escutcheon rises from the broad or thigh escutcheon; and just to 

 finish and find all points corroborating, we will look on the vertical escut- 

 cheon for some spots of oily lemon colored dandrufi", and at the end of her 

 neat, lightly made tail to find some large yellow pieces of dandrufi". We 

 don't like to see it dry and brown ; and as we step back from her, we 

 just give a parting look to see that her hips are rather large, bony, some- 

 what drooping, that her capacious udder has room to project between her 

 legs. 



Then, we feel sure that a loose, open made cow, rather pointed, or sharp 

 and well-defined, and the contrary of what we would look for in a flesh or 

 beef producing animal; with a skin mellow and yellow, covered with soft, 

 fine hair, and the nearer it comes to the quality and color of a first class 

 Guernsey or Jersey cow, breeds which have for hundreds of years been 

 bred for butter making, then we repeat we know she must be a good, rich 

 milker and butter maker ; for we never saw a thick, hard skin cow, with 

 coarse, long hair, that was a good butter maker, or fit for anything but 

 giving poor milk, if a strong milker. 



Our preference is for a medium sized cow, one that will dress five hun- 

 dred and fifty or six hundred pounds ; and, as far as our observation goes, 

 a Jersey sire, with an Ayrshire dam, is the best cross for a milk and but- 

 ter cow, and the most profitable for the amount of food consumed ; though 

 a Jersey or Guernsey sire to the milking stock of Durhams, or a Holstein, 

 or a large yielding native cow, will produce a better cow for butter than 

 the mother was. 



To get thorough practice in valueing the escutcheon, take this book in 

 hand, and go into your dairy-yard ; compare the escutcheon of each cow 

 with her picture in this book ; see what it calls for time and quantity, and 

 then thoroughly test your cow ; don't guess at it, as most farmers do ; and 

 make your own comparisons. Remember the size and class of the es- 

 cutcheon will give you the quantity and time ; the skin and hair will give 

 you the quality ; and always remembering the size of the cow, and of what 

 breed she is, for they must qualify your opinion somewhat. 



Opinions of the System. 



A writer in the Country G'en^Zeman of July 17, 1879, S, Iloxie, of Whites- 

 town, New York, so thoroughly expresses our experience and convictions, 

 that we are led to quote it : 



" The writer has been acquainted with ' the escutcheon theory' ' ever since 

 about 1850. During this time he has been a practical dairyman in central 

 New York. At first he approached the study of the escutcheon as a doubter. 



