GUERNSEY CATTLE. 237 



The breed must be thought highly of, as large shipments, 

 from time to time are made from the island, and these in the 

 face of high prices, as only the best are purchased, heavy 

 expenses for transit, and a three months* quarantine on the 

 other side. 



One other fact about the island. Now that depression in 

 agriculture has become so acute, people have given up looks 

 and show points, and gone in for animals that are likely to pay 

 their way. The Guernseymen, recognising this, have taken to 

 making tests to show what their breed is capable of, and in this 

 praiseworthy endeavour they are well assisted by the Eoyal 

 Agricultural Society of G-uernsey ; and the modus operandi is as 

 follows : Anyone wishing to have his cow tested, notifies the 

 Royal Society of his wish ; they appoint two persons to see the 

 test is fairly carried out. These two attend at the farm, night 

 and morning, for a week, see every milking, and see the milk 

 carried away and locked up. The whole milk is churned, and 

 at the end of the week the judges send in their report of the 

 quantity of milk at each milking, and the amount of butter 

 made therefrom. Such a test can be relied on as being abso- 

 lutely exact. It is feasible in a small place like Guernsey, but 

 it has not as yet been attempted in England ; and in America, 

 the country of magnificent distances, it would require some 

 working. 



These tests are only just commencing in the island, but it 

 shows that the Guernseymen are becoming alive to the fact that 

 now-a-days utility must be their watchword, and that they must 

 prove what their animals are capable of. Now, with regard to 

 England. Here the breed has made tremendous strides in 

 public favour ; and within the last few years, from being almost 

 unknown, it has become universally known, and, what is more, 

 thoroughly appreciated — not as a pet lawn cow, or to grace a 

 park, but as a reliable rent-paying beast, either pure or for 

 crossing purposes. The writer was visited by a farmer who 

 makes butter in a large way, and had kept Jerseys for thirty 

 years. He had seen and been struck by the appearance of the 

 Guernseys at the Bath and West of England Show at Brighton, 

 and determined to cross his Jerseys ; and he came and bought 

 three young Guernsey bulls for that purpose. The fact is 



