32 GuENON ON Milch Cows. 



"Mr. C. L. Flint, in his work on ' Milch Cows,' says : — 



"These classifications, adopted by Pabst, Ma^ne, and otliers, appear to be far more 

 simple and satisfactory than the more complicated classification of Guenon. Without 

 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 discover3\ as a new and valuable element in forming otir 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. 



">ry own attention was called to Guenon's method of judging cows some eight or 

 ten years ago, and since that time 1 have examined many hundreds, with a view to as- 

 certain 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 excep- 

 tions, the best milkers of their breed, and that cows with small and slightly developed 

 mirrors are, in the majoritv of cases, bad milkers. 



"I say the best milkers of </teir breed, for I do not believe that precisely tlie same 

 sized arid formed milk-mirrors on a Hereford, or a Devon and an Ayrshire, or a native, 

 will indicate anything like the same or equal milking properties. It will not do, in 

 my opinion, ta disregard the general and well-known characteristics of the breed, and 

 rely wholly on the liiilk-mirror ; but I 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 Here- 

 fords, ail of which are poor milkers ; the best marked Devon, the best among the De- 

 vons ; 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." 



" In ray own herd of Ayshire cows, the largest milkers have the best 

 escutcheons, and these cows have, in most cases, transmitted these marks 

 to their descendants. On the other hand, the cows with medium or poor 

 escutcheons have rarely transmitted to their calves better ones ; but, gen- 

 erally, of the same or lower class than the dams. 



"Bulls. — Guenon's second and hardly less important discovery was 

 that the bull had the same marks as the cow, only somewhat shorter and 

 narrower. " Guenon bestows upon these marks the same name, ' milk- 

 mirror,' which may be justified, in as far as the bull has greater influence 

 upon the sustaining or obtaining of an abundant yield of milk, as well as 

 the improvement of the breed." 



" Some Testimony Mr. L. A. Hansen, of Bay St. Louis, writes, in a 



letter to the Country Gentleman : 



" I served my apprenticeship for three years on a dairy farm with two hundred cows, 

 performing all the labor appertaining to a farm, the same as one of the hired men. 

 After ihis, for twenty years, I had dairies of from eighty to one hundred and seventj'- 

 cows. Living in the best dairy country then known, and our butter commanding the 

 very highest market prices in London, England, ( taking the i^remium at a buttc^r ex- 

 hibition in London,) we considered it the best policy to buy our cows insteatl of rais- 

 ing them, and I consequently had to purchase from twenty to thirty cows every year. 

 Having adopted the Guenon system as a helping guide in my purchases, I nccossarily 

 examined more than a hundred cows annually, besides having under daily observa- 

 tion my own cows and thofee of the neighboring dairy farms. Thus, I had continual 

 practicrb through a number of years. The cla.ssifications of the professor, mentioned 

 in my former article, were, witli very rare exceptions, right. In the first two classes, 

 they did not fail once ; in the lower classes, more frequently ; but as the lower classes, 

 with their sub-division, aieof no importance to thodairyman — only the twolirst being 

 tit for a dairy — the study of ihem becomes imnecessary, and it is of little avail if they 

 are minutely correct. 



'•As nothing in this world is perfect, we cannot reasonably expect the Guenon sys- 

 tem to bo without defects; but, as already stated above, the imperfection is to be 

 looked for in that part which is immaterial for practical application. Under all cir- 

 cumstances, an far as viy exjjericnce goes, the Oaenon t/ieory will always remain a 

 valuable guide in selcctxoig milk cows.^' 



"Mr. L. S. Hardin writes, in a prize essay: 



"Very few, if anv, modern writers upon cattle have accepted the complicated 

 theory of Guenon, w'liile no two of them agree as to the extent in value of the escutch- 

 eon. As a point of beauty, it should certainly bo cultivated in the herd. As to its 



